“Is it true she possesses all five weathers?” the duke inquired.
I didn’t respond.
“Are you being stubborn again, son? You know how much I don’t like that.”
When his arm rose over my head, it cast a shadow across the ground. His fingers waved as he beckoned Gaius to him.
With that arrogant look plastered on his face, Gaius strode toward the duke. Once they were both behind me, everything inside me rebelled against having them there, but I kept my chin high and my gaze straight ahead.
Fuck them.
Neither said anything, but their shadows shifted before Gaius’s hand gripped mine and the cold bite of steel pressed against my finger. I didn’t react as everything inside me braced for what was to come.
And I knew exactly what that was, even before the blade sliced through my flesh, caught on my bone, and broke through with a crunch that made Callan recoil. I’d hear that awful sound for the rest of my days, but I still didn’t give them what they wanted.
Inwardly, a fiery pain erupted throughout my hand. It spread up my arm and into my chest, where it clenched at my heart before coursing out to the rest of my body.
Gripped by the agony created by my missing finger, I forgot to breathe. And then my lungs started burning and I inhaled a small breath through my gritted teeth.
I didn’t utter a single sound as the duke strolled around to stand before me again. With a look of distaste, he kicked Val’s head aside; it rolled over to stop before Tucker, who didn’t acknowledge it.
The duke stopped before me again. He smiled as he dropped my finger, with the ring still attached, on the ground.
“Holy shit,” Callan breathed. “Holy shit.”
“Shut thefuckup,” I snarled at him. “It’s just a finger.”
I’d lost a lot worse over the years; this was nothing compared to my mother and my dignity. I missed my ring, but this asshole would never know that.
The minstrel’s mouth closed. Veni handed the bloodied dagger back to Gaius, who wiped my blood on his pants before returning it to its holster.
“Consider that your divorce,” the duke said to me.
When I grinned at him, alarm shimmered in the duke’s eyes. “You can consider it whatever you want, but I’m still married,” I told him.
“Until death do you part,” Veni gloated.
“No, it will endure long after that and anything else you do. She’s coming, you know. She will find me… andyou.”
The duke couldn’t stop his eyes from flitting nervously toward the forest. “Then she’ll be too late.” He turned and strode to the portal. “Bring them all. One of them will tell me where she is.”
CHAPTER FIFTY-ONE
Ellery
I hadno idea where I was in the woods as I raced onward, following a draw that was growing increasingly weaker. That knowledge only caused my panic to grow; I tried to push myself faster, but I was already at my limit.
My lungs burned for air, but I didn’t dare stop to take a break. I’d already lost too much time following the black dog; I couldn’t risk losing any more.
Please, I silently pleaded.Please let me find him.
But with every passing second, I felt the chances of that slipping further and further away… just like my connection to him.
Tears burned my eyes, but I couldn’t shed them. There was no time for crying.
Scarlet and Ianto stayed close by my side. Thankfully, they kept watch for anything treacherous while I remained focused on finding Ryker.
“Can you still feel him, Lery?” Scarlet panted.
