50
NEVER GOING TO GET AWAY
WREN
Icatch up to the king quickly. Perhaps, if I had stopped and taken a moment to think about it, too quickly.
I race through the trees as stealthily as possible—which is to say, probably not all that quietly since my heart feels like it’s about to burst from my chest and my lungs are burning along with my muscles—while keeping the king and my sisters in my sights. He is taking them away from the battle, but they aren’t going towards the camp, either.
The twins are gagged, and their hands are tied in front of them, bound by ropes made of crimson magic. Blood is dripping down one of their foreheads, but they’re too far away for me to tell which twin is hurt.
It doesn’t matter, though, because the king has my sisters,again. He tugs them along, and they stumble, trying to keep up.
What the fuck do I do?
The thought swirls through my mind as I chase after them. Holding my dagger in one hand and a flame in the other, I desperately try to come up with a plan. There must besomethingI can do to save my sisters.
The problem is that the king is older than me and more powerful. I’ve been training with my magic for a few monthswhile he’s had years to learn how it works. And there’s also the not insignificant fact that the king has Harvested magic from hundreds of other Blessed. He stole their power, and how am I supposed to come against him?
I wish Gabriel were here. He always has a plan, and I’m sure he’d know what to do.
But he isn’t here, and I’m alone. Saving my sisters is on me, and me alone, and that might be the worst part of all this. Death follows me wherever I go, and I was foolish to think I could protect my sisters.
Every plan I come up with I reject just as quickly. They’re wrong. Too obvious, too dangerous for the twins, too far-fetched.
I think, and I run. I follow them deeper into the woods, ignoring my aching muscles, until the sound of rushing water reaches my ears. I peer out from behind a tree, my eyes widening when I realize we’re back at the same stream I crossed with Gabriel yesterday.
It feels like a lifetime has passed since then.
The king stops at the water, his back to me, and he seems to stare at it for a moment. Unsure of what’s happening, I keep my dagger in hand, hold my flame close to my chest, and press my forehead against the rough bark.
“I know you’re there.” The king’s voice is quiet, but there isn’t anything soft about his words. They hit me in the center of my chest, and everything churns.
The dagger quivers in my hold, but I don’t move from my hiding spot. A new plan starts to form in my mind, but it’s so risky. So dangerous. And I... I don’t know if it’s the right move.
“Did you think you would be able to hide from me forever?” His voice is oily and slick and makes me feel like dirt is covering every inch of my skin. I’ve never been in the presence ofanything so appalling. “You were never going to get away, Wren Nightingale.”
My heart, which has been hammering ever since I got here, lurches at the sound of my name. Every hope I’d had that the king didn’t know I was here, every hope that he was bluffing, vanishes into thin air. My breath catches, and the dagger slips in my palm.
“You never should’ve run from your Giving. You’ve made things so much worse for yourself, and your family.”
There’s a muffled cry, then a soft moan, and that’s all it takes. Even though I know it’s foolish and my plan is little more than a wisp of an idea, I step out of my hiding place.
“Don’t!” Panic has the flame in my hand burning like an incandescent flame. “Don’t hurt them.”
The king pivots, his crimson eyes meeting mine from across the clearing, and hesmirks. Actually fucking smirks as if this is nothing more than a game to him. As if the fact that he’s forced one of the twins—Marie, I can see her face now—on her knees in front of him while he’s holding Violet against his chest, pointing a dagger of pure magic at her throat, amuses him. Crimson beads where the tip of his weapon digs into Violet’s neck.
The twins look up at the same time, their eyes teary and filled with fear. The sight of them in danger once more is a blow to my middle, and I can barely breathe let alone stand upright.
“There you are,” he sneers.
A torrent of shivers rushes down my back at his icy tone, and everything within me screams for me to turn and run from this threat of a man. I don’t, though. I’m rooted to this spot, pinned in place by the horrible realization that even though I have the beginnings of a plan—a very bad one—everything as I know it is about to end.
An eagle is perched on a branch above the king’s head. Its eyes, unnaturally red, follow me. The tip of the king’s blade digs further into Violet’s neck, and she whimpers.
“Let my sisters go.” My voice is steady. It doesn’t crack even though inside I’m screaming that it’s happeningagain.
Twice, I’ve run from this man and the death he planned for me.Twice, I’ve failed.
