"You keep her fucking name out of your mouth," he hisses, plunging the knife forward. It makes it about an inch into my chest by the time I stop it, pulling it out.
"Good try," I mutter, kicking his knee with my heel so his legs collapse. I push him onto his knees and ask the guards to remove him. I need him out of the way; Renna is all I can think about now. She can’t be much further than the forest border. I cannot lose her.
But something catches my eye as I pass her rooms. A satin-black sword leans against the pale stone wall of her hallway. Dangerous hope swirls in my chest, because she’d sooner part with a finger than that sword. But as I hear her in her bathroom, my joy is short-lived.
She’s crying.
And gods above, I hate that. I’d reforge the boundaries of this earth if it would make her happy. But she isn’t happy now, and worry spears up my spine. I’ve seen Renna go through a lot without crying, and she sounds broken.
“Rennalya, sweetheart, let me in,” I say, and the crying quiets. “I know you’re in there.”
“Leave me alone.”
“It makes me sad when you’re sad. Whatever it is, we’ll deal with it,” I say, calmly. “Whatever it is, it’s nothing you and I cannot conquer together.”
“Just leave me alone,” she sobs, and I sigh, turning around and heading to the other guest halls to try to find the one person I need to be able to help her.
Onyx glares at me from across my desk, a letter scrunched in his hand too. But what’s very interesting is that he hasn’t tried to murder me like Stellan did. It tells me that he knows I’m not the reason Renna wanted to run away.
He’s silent, so I press on his weakness. “Onyx, if you tell me what’s happened, it’ll be much easier for us to help her.”
“Do you know where she ran away to?”
“Tell me what happened,” I say, in a voice that has most people trembling.
He sighs. “We ran out of Ashhal.”
“It very rarely grows east of Fellton.”
“We figured. She wasn’t doing well this week anyway, after whatever had happened between the two of you. This was the cherry on top, I think.”
I hurt her. “How many more week’s supply do you have?”
“Days, at best. Probably less.”
We both turn to the sound of the door latch opening and Renna shuffles in. Her hands are lost in the sleeves of one of my giant shirts as she wipes her nose with the white fabric. Her eyes are downcast, shoulders slumped. It’s not the Renna I know at all. Both of us stand to go to her, but she holds up a shaking hand to keep us in place before finally looking up.
Holy shit.
My breath catches in my throat. Brilliant orange eyes, more luminous than my own, stare back at me. They’re the colour of fire, and just as bright too. Her light brown skin has a faint glow around it. She was striking before, but now she's unlike anything I've ever seen.
"Rennalya," whispers Onyx, eyes wide with awe.
"I don't want to talk about it," she mumbles, her bottom lip trembling as her eyes look from me to him. He holds her face between his hands, tilting it from side to side.
"Holyshit. Holy fuck, Renna. You're a fucking sorceress," he whispers, as if they'd not quite believed it all this time.
She nods, and he gasps as a pale orange tear slips down her cheek. "No, Ren. Don’t cry. Don't cry, because I'll cry," he pleads, and she covers her face with her hands and sobs. It breaks my heart.
"I'm so scared of what's going to happen to me!" She cries, her hands trembling with genuine terror. She’s dropped her guard, the most vulnerable I've ever seen her, and it fucking hurts. Onyx picks her up gently and carries her out of my study, every single one of her sobs splintering my chest. I've never seen her cry like that. She's terrified and it should be me in there helping her.
She told me how she fucking felt, and I said nothing back.
I rake a hand through my hair as Frian steps out of his study next door and into the hallway. He catches my eye and opens his mouth to speak but I raise a hand to silence him. Today, I’m going to send him away. Today, I need an evening off. Today, life comes first, not work.
“Not tonight, Frian.”
“There’s an army marching on us. It is six days away from the Vault.”
