“Sorry.” I motion to the shackles and Zane shrugs. “About all this.”
“Don’t be. I get it. Better to be safe than sorry.”
“Right.”
“What can we do to help?” Amaya calls out as I’m making my way to the door. I pause and turn around.
“Akari is doing research to create a sort of study guide over the beasts that currently reside in the Dread Woods. I bet she could use some assistance.”
Amaya nods. “Perfect! We’ll get right on that.”
I gotta give it to Reign. She may not let too many people into her life, but the ones she does are good people. I suppose that’s just a reflection of who she is, though.
“Hey, I was just coming to find you,” Elias says, nearly running over my foot when I step out of the war room I had spent the last several hours in. “There’s something you need to see.”
I follow him, impressed with how well he maneuvers up and down the stairs. Even with the chair’s magical assistance, it doesn’t look easy. I refrain from offering to transport us. Something about it seems rude and to be honest, I could use the walk to clear my head.
When we get to the Hall and the Center doors open, I’m taken aback. 75% of the beds are gone and there’s a slew of injured walking around with the assistance of others. I was just here this morning, and the place was filled with bedridden patients.
“You did this.” Elias passes by and motions for me to follow. “You championed people to discover their individual strengths. You inspired people to carry on when times got tough. You created community and a home where there wasn’t one.” Elias points to a healer supplying medicine. “That guy right there… he failed out of the Sector his second year and now he’s one of our best healers. And that woman over there… she couldn’t wield a sword to save her life, but she’s one of the most skilled earth witches I’ve ever seen. Her ability to grow and mix herbs created the medicines that have half of the people in this room able to walk right now.”
As we stroll through the middle of the room, people smile and bow just slightly. Some are stretching. Others are exercising cautiously. The sight of it all makes me proud. This is what I wanted to build here. This is what I want to build back in the realms. The only thing standing in the way of that dream now is my father.
“Come in, Reign.”
“How did you—”
“What do you want?” I don’t bother turning around to look at her. It only makes wearing this cold demeanor harder. Instead, I stay focused on the small tornados blowing around outside.
“Yeah… okay… so…”
“Spit it out.”
“I have a bad idea that I know you’re going to hate.” She says it fast as if it’s all one word.
“So why are you here then?” I demand dismissively.
“Well, if you would turn around and look at me, I might actually tell you.”
Mother, I hate that I find her annoyance with me charming.
“Not seeing the appeal here.”
I’m just about to take a step closer to the window when I spin around to catch a dagger an inch from my head. Her arms are crossed, and she’s leaning on her hip as if to tell me I had it coming. When I reappear in front of her, she doesn’t move a muscle. I can see she’s fighting back the smirk at my predictability.
Fine. If a reaction is what she wants, then a reaction is what she’ll get.
In less than a breath, I have her pinned against the wall, held down by my shadows. Using the dagger, she so viciously threw with my back turned, I press the sharp tip just beneath her chin, forcing her to lift her head and look at me. Her heartbeat races, pulsating through my shadows as if it were my own. My eyes can’t help but fall to her chest that rises with each breath.
That’s when I see it.
Removing the dagger from her chin, I loop it through the silver chain hanging from her neck. I lift it, dragging the star-filled, round pendant from beneath her low-cut shirt that is making it hard to concentrate.
“What’s this?” I ask in a cocky tone I know she’ll loathe. She snatches the necklace, nearly cutting herself on the dagger.
“What? Am I not allowed to wear it now?” she sasses back with an adorable, forced scowl.
“By all means, wear it. That is, after all, what it was meant for.” She rolls her eyes and tries to push off the wall with no success. “Thought you tried to get rid of it?”
