Page 22 of Taloned Heart

“I’m here now,” Lore whispered, brushing aside what was left unsaid between them. “I’m going to fix this.”

“How?”

Lore shrugged. “Like I always do, I suppose. I’ll figure it out along the way.”

Ever the supportive friend, Beauty gave her a nod and firmly agreed. “Of course you will. I never questioned it for a second.”

And then Lore realized that Beauty had only looked at her. The tree had likely blocked her companion from Beauty’s gaze, and that meant her friend hadn’t realized who she’d brought. The shadows in Beauty’s eyes said the same thing. She thought Lore had been too late. She thought that by Lore returning here, that meant that she hadn’t found Abraxas.

So Lore stood to the side and held out her arm for Beauty to follow her pointed finger.

Abraxas stood with his arms lax at his sides. He didn’t even look at Beauty’s father, who still held the crossbow trained upon him. Instead, he had eyes only for them. Soft eyes that were currently locked on their dearest friend, who thought he had died.

The air caught in Beauty’s throat. She stepped forward once, twice, her eyes wide as though she were seeing a ghost.

“Is it really you?” she asked, her voice heavy with unshed tears. “But you... You said you were going away to die.”

And her powerful, stoic, never ending pillar of strength dragon crumbled. Abraxas’s features fell as he stared at the woman who had been loyal to them both for such a long time, and then he spread his arms wide. “I’m sorry I made you think that, Beauty.”

They came together as only dear friends could. Beauty wrapped her arms around him and held him tight against her. Abraxas looked so large as he folded himself around Beauty, his hands so gentle, as if he was afraid he might hurt her with his claws or his powerful grip.

Even Beauty’s father lowered his weapon as he stared at his daughter sobbing in the arms of this man.

“Who are you?” he asked, staring at Lore as she tried her best not to cry again.

She didn’t know if she should answer. Beauty’s father deserved the truth, of course, but he also didn’t need to know everything that his daughter had been up to. What if Beauty hadn’t told him about her part in all this? What if Lore was the one who let all the secrets out?

It was Beauty who turned to her father and choked out, “It’s them, Da. They came home.”

There was no way to know if the old man understood what his daughter was telling him. His eyes widened, though, and then he cleared his throat. “I’ll finish up. You bring them down, little one, and I’ll get everything we need.”

And then he left as though he hadn’t just been holding a crossbow to their heads, saying that he was going to kill them at any moment.

“How things have changed,” she murmured as she watched him leave the house. “I remember you saying that he was a kindly old man who was afraid to do anything that would change Tenebrous for the better.”

“A lot has changed since you’ve been gone,” Beauty agreed. “Him most of all. There’s so much I have to tell you, but first, why don’t we all get somewhere safer?”

It was left unsaid that Lore and Abraxas would be perfectly safe if they stayed out here. No one cared if magical creatures were investigating an abandoned home. In fact, Lore thought maybe others would be more likely to join if they saw them standing here.

The sad thing was that Beauty herself would be in danger. In the place where she grew up.

Lore had the strangest sense of déjà vu, as though she’d been here before. And she supposed, in a way, she had. This was the very place where she had been in danger for such a long time, with humans hunting her down because she was an elf. Now the mortals were hunted.

She’d thought maybe there would be a small sense of justice in her chest. That it was right for the humans to run and hide when they had been the ones doing this for years. Instead, all it did was make her feel rather sad.

No one needed to experience what she had. No one needed to know what it felt like for their homes to no longer be safe. Knowing more people lived that life now? It made her heart hurt.

“Let’s go,” she said, her eyes flicking to the door. “Where are we going, exactly? There are very few places here that are safe, it seems.”

Beauty nodded. “Borovoi had one last trick up his sleeve, apparently. He took the magic of this house with him when he left, but there was more to this building than he let on.”

“You knew Borovoi?” Abraxas asked, a frown on his face.

“Everyone knew Borovoi. But he helped me get ready for the bridal trials. Same as Lore.”

“How terrible,” Abraxas muttered. “That man had his fingers in more than I ever gave him credit for.”

“Which is precisely why I said we needed to come here,” Lore said. “I’d like to point out that I was right and that Borovoi didn’t just leave everyone to their own devices and then run.”

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