Page 108 of Why Broken Wings Fray

Raegan’s eyes shifted for a second, before the blood-loss crashed over him and forced his body to go limp against those chains.

Taran growled as he slapped Raegan’s face several times, the King refusing to wake in any way. With a huff of defeat he strode away from Raegan’s near-lifeless body, taking to his place against the closest wall where he rocked his weight backwards. “That’s a shame. We were just getting started.”

I knew I could reason with Rory. I hated him and I was beyond disgusted with him, but at his core he was a pixie. He knew that this was wrong, that the torture and bleeding of his king at his hand was likely to earn him some sort of curse by some sort of god.

So I stopped fighting him and pivoted into his chest

“He is losing too much blood. He is going to die. Soon, Rory. He is going to die soon. Please, let me take him home,” I wailed, finally finding the strength to rip my wrists away from him. “He belongs in the meadows beneath the sun. Do not let his last hours be in this dark, moist place. I beg of you.”

“He offered us no mercy,” Rory snarled, as far away from my friend as he had ever been. “I am inclined offer him the same.”

I did not have a second to think. The urge came over me quickly, a rage so all-consuming that I wasn’t even sure I was in control of my own body as I gripped my scalpel and plunged it forwards.

As I finished impaling Rory – a deep, horrific wound to his gut – I turned that sizzling wrath to the three Rachainn who had watched Raegan bleed, and the fairy that had bled him.

The moment my eyes met theirs, they became nothing but dust. The only warning of such a thing occurring had been the faintest of flashes — a quick brightening of the brick around us, a cloud that contained every colour of the rainbow, sparking and cracking dust and powder of purples and pinks, blues and greens. In that brief second, it almost looked as if the cosmos had exploded before my eyes.

I equated it to Raegan, who was conscious and groaning behind me.

Turning on my heel, I sped to his side and quickly worked at the chains around his wrist. Next were the two blades that had been shoved through feather and muscle and bone, that had severed the beautiful width of his wings. I yanked them out, trying my best to zone out how he reacted to it. He continued to make ailed noises, his eyes rolling around his head as his body tried to fall forward to his knees.

“I’m taking you home, Raegan,” I muttered to him, wrapping myself around his waist as he finally curled over.

I knew that taking him back meant only one thing for me.

He had known, this whole time, that I had been spying on him.

Maybe the first time he let me go out of pity.

This time, after all Rory had inflicted on him, Raegan would not let me live a second longer once he had the strength to strike me down.

That was why I was taking Raegan home.

That was why, as I heaved at the King to begin dragging him, I took us home.

If either of us were going to die in this wretched hour, it would be beneath the sun in Cluaineach.

48

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I learned that the Rachainn had hidden hide-outs all throughout Saoghal — all throughout the entire country, connected by those dark, dreary tunnels.

Moving Raegan, when they caught him in Cluaineach, was difficult as the King thrashed around. Even once he had passed out, he was a large male and his mass made dragging him along for any particular amount of time difficult, which meant that instead of taking him back to the pub like Rory might have planned, they simply opted for utilizing one of those hideouts.

That cellar-like-maze that we had found ourselves in was actually a hideout built into the roots of one of the trees that bordered Cluaineach. Which meant that as I heaved Raegan – struggling with every step – out of the hideout, it was a relief to see that we didn’t have much farther to go before he was back in the castle. Once he was there, once a healer was able to tend to him, he would be okay.

He had to be okay.

I made it all of ten paces from the hideout when my knees finally buckled and the two of us crashed down to the earth. The dirt was harsh as we piled atop it, refusing to soften the tumble and instead causing me to bite the inside of my cheek and spill blood into my mouth.

With a grunt and a quiet cry, I rose to my feet and started towards Raegan, moving for his arms that I planned on wrapping around my neck.

The King said the first thing since I had freed us.

“Leave me.”

I scoffed as I wiped at my sweaty brow with my forearm. “I’m not leaving you. Come on. Only ten more minutes, then I’ll have you back in the kingdom.”