“If you do that again, I’ll lock you in the tallest tower I can find and never let you out.”
I leaned away from Easton, looking down at our wounds and knowing that it would take time to heal these, though we couldn’t stay here for long.
“I’m going to do what I have to, to protect everybody. And you can’t stop me.”
“Watch me,” Easton snapped.
The others were suspiciously silent, but I understood. I had scared them. I had scared myself.
But Easton wouldn’t always be able to protect me. And we both knew it. That was the fear I saw in his eyes. Not the fact that I had used the crystals—or rather, they had used me.
No, it was because we all knew what would happen when I met The Gray again.
There was only one way we could win. One way the prophecy had foretold.
And that meant I wasn’t coming back to him.
This wouldn’t be the only time I would be covered in my blood.
This wouldn’t be the last time that Easton held me while the others looked on in helplessness.
It was only the first.
Chapter Fifteen
Lyric
I knew anger simmered beneath Easton’s skin on most days, but I’d never seen it boil like this before. The idea that the anger was directed at me and what I’d done didn’t help.
The only way I could ensure that I would never get that look again was to promise that I would not risk my life for my people and friends. That I wouldn’t risk my soul to save those I loved. And that was something I would never do.
I would always put them first. That was my destiny, to save those I loved, even if I risked everything I had.
And the fact that I had scared my soulmate? That was something I would have to learn to deal with. Something Easton needed to live with, as well. Because I would do anything to protect him.
Even if he hated me for doing it.
“We’re almost there,” Rhodes said suddenly, breaking into the silence that had become deafening between us all.
“Should be interesting,” Easton grumbled, and I pulled at his arm for a second, meeting Rhodes’ gaze. Rhodes lifted his chin and directed the others to keep going. Thankfully, Easton stopped moving.
He needed to give in for me to stop him, and the fact that he did, told me that maybe we hadn’t hurt each other too much.
“Stop acting like this,” I said softly, hoping the others couldn’t hear.
“I’m not acting any differently, Lyric. This is the same man I’ve always been.”
“You say that, and yet I see the anger in your gaze. Don’t hate me.”
Easton glared at me. “I could never hate you, pet.” He cupped my face with his hands and leaned forward, resting his forehead against mine.
“Then why do I feel like you’re disappointed in me?”
“Because I was,” he said, the word slashing at me. “Only I was more disappointed in myself. I hate to see you in pain. Especially when I can’t damn well do anything about it. And I know what you’re supposed to do, what your new destiny is—at least what we both know you might have to do. But I hate the idea of you constantly putting yourself on the line to protect us with powers that we don’t understand.”
“I don’t understand them either.”
“You were part of that ‘we’ I just mentioned, Lyric. You’re always part of that.”
That warmed me, even if I was still confused.
“This is all scary. Everything is unknown. And the fact that you have the crystals inside you now freaks me out a little. I don’t know what’s going to happen next, but every time I turn around, it seems you are throwing yourself into the fray to protect us. It scares me. It terrifies me so much, and I don’t know what to do about it.”
“I don’t know what to do either. But I know I can’t stop. I can’t simply walk away from who I am because it’s scary.”
“Let me walk beside you, then,” he whispered.
“But I can’t lose you.”
“And I can’t lose you.”
He looked at me then, and I wasn’t sure what else to say.
I didn’t think there was anything else to say.
“I truly hope I’m not interrupting anything,” a familiar, deep voice said from behind us. Easton and I whirled, our Wielding at the ready.
Slavik sauntered from the tree line, his palms outstretched, not ready to Wield but to show that he was unthreatening.
There was nothing innocent about the pirate king.
“Slavik,” I said, a smile playing on my face.
I could feel Easton’s glare.
He was quite good at that.
“I knew you couldn’t stay away for long,” Slavik said, taunting Easton.
I rolled my eyes. I might not have had the best interactions with Slavik before—after all, his second in command had kidnapped me and threatened to kill me as well as many other people. But Slavik had made good decisions in the end, and I knew that he was protecting his people, even if I didn’t always agree with the ways he went about it.
“We’re here to ask you for your help,” I said, knowing that someone with a better pedigree or more training would probably have been able to get past all of the hidden meanings and tangled words to stroke his ego. They probably would have let things evolve slowly, making Slavik beg to help us rather than the other way around.
But I was not that person. And frankly, we didn’t have that kind of time.
“You know, I was expecting a bit of flattery or at least some groveling before you asked,” Slavik said, mirroring my thoughts.
“You are a member of the Obscurité Kingdom. I shouldn’t have to ask you,” Easton growled.
“Oh, yes, my king. Should I have gone down on my knees in a show of fealty for you? Or just thanked you again for letting me live all this time and not making me follow all of your pesky little rules.”
“Slavik.”
“Don’t chide me,” Slavik said, narrowing his eyes at me before glaring at Easton again.
“I know what you need, and I understand why you need it. But some within this kingdom, one that doesn’t quite exist anymore if there are no wards, need help beyond putting their bodies on the front lines in a war that was already lost, long before the Spirit Priestess took her first steps into our kingdom. Whatever that may be.”
“The war isn’t lost. Hope isn’t lost.”
“Those are some mighty ideals for a girl who has died how many times now?”
“And yet, I always come back,” I spat. My hands fisted at my sides.
Slavik looked down at them, at the Water and Fire swirling around each of my hands. I couldn’t help it. My Wielding was sometimes far too strong for me, but it wasn’t hurting anybody else. If anything, I was showing my force. At least, I hoped I was.
“My mother let you do whatever you needed to do because you were protecting others, even if you pretended that you were some pirate without law and order,” Easton said.
“I don’t know if I liked the word let just then,” Slavik drawled.
Easton narrowed his eyes. “The truth is that she let you. And we both know it. You might pretend that you don’t care about anyone but yourself and the people you’ve chosen to protect, but we both know that’s not the case. You fancy yourself the Maison realm’s version of the humans’ Robin Hood—stealing from the rich and giving to the poor. But have you ever truly done that? No. For the most part, you’ve hidden when things got scary and dark. And while I understand that, there’s no more time to hide. No place to retreat.”