Luka had refused to let anyone else carry Lennox. He remained silent, his gaze haunted as we made our way back to the small inn.
The way he had slaughtered those guards—I had never seen such brutality from him. If Lennox didn’t wake up herself—I feared not only for Luka, but for all of us.
No one had talked much on our way back—no one knew what to say after I revealed to them what had been done to Lennox. We had only focused on getting her back.
We hadn’t discussed what would happen if she didn’t come back herself.
If she now hated vampires—if she hated Luka—if she didn’t remember who he was to her—we’d all be fucked.
I led Declan to my room, pulling open the curtains to let theglow of the moon illuminate the room as the harpy set Nol on the bed.
“How long do you think he’ll be out for?”
I tucked a curl behind my ear. “It’s hard to know, the spell works differently on everyone.”
When I knocked out Luka, he’d stayed down for two days. Sometimes the spell kept the person down for minutes, other times hours.
“Maybe I can try and wake him.” I placed my hands on Nol’s shoulders, feeling the bone prodding through his skin.
He was so fucking thin.
I closed my eyes and pushed out with my magic.
Wakey, wakey, Nol,I whispered into his mind.
Nol jerked under my hold. His eyes flying open, his dark gaze searching mine. “Where am I?”
He bolted upright, pushing out of my hold as he looked around. “What did you do?”
“You’re safe.” I placed a hand on his arm. “I got you out.”
His chest rose and fell rapidly, and his throat bobbed. “Lennox.” He looked around the room, his shoulders going tense as his gaze landed on the massive harpy. “Where’s Lennox?”
“We got her out too.” His breathing settled slightly. “We went back in after I got you out, she’s safe.”
“She’s safe.” He wrung his hands in his lap. “Where are we?”
“We’re at an inn, in a small city outside Verbial, in the Twilight Court.” He continued to pull at his fingers. “You’re free, Nol.”
“I’m free,” he repeated.
I wrapped my arms around him. “You’re free.”
He froze in my arms, his back stiff, but after a moment he wrapped his arms around me. “I’m free,” he muttered into the crook of my neck. “I’m free.”
A sob broke loose from his throat.
I held him to me, his body heaving as his tears soaked into my shirt. I rubbed a hand over his back as he continued to mutter,I’m free, I’m free.Over and over again until, finally, his tears stopped.
I continued to hold him, longer than I’d ever held anyone, but I persisted. I didn’t know how to comfort others, but it was Nol, and he needed me right now.
“Thank you,” he muttered before releasing me. He wiped his remaining tears with the front of his shirt, his face red and blotchy.
I hated crying. It made me uncomfortable. I rubbed my hands on my legs, turning to find Declan still lingered in the corner.For fucks sake.
“I wanted to make sure everything was good here.” His voice was gravelly. He might have been more uncomfortable than I was with this whole crying thing.
“I don’t think any of us have been good for a good long while.” I flicked my gaze to Nol.
