“Are you okay?” he asked, not giving me a chance to answer before asking a follow up question. “What the fuck were you thinking? Using your powers on Seb like that.” He grabbed the front of my armor, holding me in his face as he demanded a reason.
I tried to wriggle out of his hold, but he had no problem making me aware of his strength.
“Answer me. We are in the middle of a war here. And in case you didn't know, you're not exactly what I would consider to be an experienced soldier. You shouldn't be alone out here.”
I contemplated using my magic on him as well, but the more I thought about it, I might actually need his help. I was sure that setting Blythe free was the key in all of this, but how was that possible without using a force of magic that I had no ability of? How did one release a goddess from constraints put on her by other deities?
My brain replayed the visions to myself. Something I'd neglected in all of this was Blythe’s appearance when shereached out for me. Her hand resembled her statue, stone-like and cracking as if it were breaking into rubble. Pieces had crumbled off of her skin as I touched her.
“Maeve?” Kohen's purely irritated expression turned to one of concern. “Can you hear me?”
I looked over his shoulder as a break in the haze cleared, a crystalline statue peeking through the musk in the courtyard, illuminated by the starlight that had surfaced in the heavens.
“You're so close to stopping this. Come to me.”
I looked up at Kohen, finally responding to his concerns with a nod. “I don't have time to explain, but if you don't want to die, I need your help.”
His brows raised as he loosened his grip a bit, but not fully letting me free.
“Kohen. Please,” I begged.
He glared at me like I was deranged, then to my surprise, swallowed audibly and released my shoulders. “What do you need me to do?”
Chapter
Forty-Five
SEBASTIAN
Pia and I manned the wards inside the castle. Well, she did. I paced back and forth through the corridor, torturing myself with every possible outcome if Kohen couldn’t find Maeve in time.
Fuck!I should have told her everything. She never would have done this if she had known the full story. If she had known all the facts. I stomped my boot on a shard of broken glass, crushing it under my weight and shattering it into microscopic shards.
Pia cleared her throat. “Seb?”
“What?” I huffed, grumbling under my breath and peering out a crack in the barricaded window as I paced. The sky was dark aside from various shades of lights exploding across the sky as the battle continued.
I should have been out there fighting for my kingdom instead of cowering away inside. But in all honesty, I didn't give a shit about any of that anymore. All I cared about was her and making sure she was safe. Though she completely screwed me out of being able to do that. So instead, I’d continued to roam, trusting I’d hear good news from Kohen soon.
Pia advanced on me, placing her hand on my back to cease my marching. “Seb, she's okay. Maeve’s smart, and I'm sure Kohen’s found her by now.”
I shook my head, the shags of my dark hair brushing against my forehead. “No. You don't even know. You have no idea. You…you—” I couldn't finish what I was trying to say. The words caught on my tongue as if it were being cut from my mouth.
Pia’s eyebrows lowered. “What are you not telling me?”
I looked up at the ceiling as my eyes started to sting. I wouldn't cry. I was a soldier. And soldiers didn't fucking cry—not during battle.
As horrible as it was that I'd been hiding so much from Maeve, I'd been hiding the same information from Pia. And Sawyer. Kohen. Everyone.
I turned from Pia, tearing her arm off of me, though she knew me too well. She wouldn't let this go. And she shouldn't. She had a right to know. They all did.
Outside, explosions and death chanted, the violence shaking the room. Everything was falling apart right before my very eyes. “FUCK,” I blurted out, needing to releasesomething.
Pia’s eyes widened as she watched me lose control. I ignored her, pretending she wasn't there, even as her voice wavered. “Sebastian…tell me what's going on.Now.”
I drew a deep breath into my lungs. “Pull yourself together,” I mumbled to myself on the exhale, but it was no use. I had to tell someone. Needed to get it off my chest. If I died in this war and this information got lost…
Every muscle in my body clenched as I turned back to Pia. I released a hefty breath of stress, preparing to tell her as much as possible with the very limited time we had. “My mother was a seer. And I only know this because I found her journal hidden in her closet a few years back. She wrote down her visions, the things she saw before they happened. Shepredicted this war—I’ve known it's been coming for years. She also predicted Maeve—she didn't give a name, but she described her. I knew the minute I laid eyes on her at Jewel-Light that she was the one my mother wrote about.” My fingers ran through my hair before I continued. “Most of her visions were loosely described, but some things she saw so clearly that when I read them, it was like I could see them, too. I don't know if she just didn't see it all, or if she didn't want to write too much in the fear her journal got into the wrong hands.” I dipped my eyes from Pia’s gaze as I pulled the journal from my pocket. I never went anywhere without it. Passing it to her, I tried to avoid the judgment in her eyes as she reluctantly took it and started to flip through the pages.
