Page 80 of For the Ghastly and Beautiful

Chapter23

Adelaide

DAY FORTY-EIGHT

Iwent to sleep between Connak and Talodus last night. And before the sun had fully risen, I woke up wrapped around Imryll with Ecaeris pressed against my back. I vaguely recall everything they said to me.

That was how the rest of my morning should have gone.

But it’s not going that way at all.

This time, I wake up to Rinya’s gaze burning a hole in my face. She’s not as warm as the guys.

“I don’t want to get up yet,” I mumble, rolling away from her.

“Someone kicked in your door,” she says in greeting. “Our plan worked?”

I sit up and grimace. “In part, yes. Poko was waiting when I came upstairs, just like we thought. He wasn’t in my room, though. He attacked me from behind.”

“Did he give you the villain speech you were expecting?”

“Mmm,” I hum, tipping my head left and right. “It was more of a deathbed confession.”

“What did he say?”

Seriousness overtakes my tone as I get dressed. “Do you want to know?”

“No. I need to know.”

I would too, so I simply nod. “He admitted to me what he did to you and why, both the assault and the attack.”

Her eyes glisten, though the tears never fall. She rolls her hand for me to keep going.

“With the assault, he was hoping that breaking you would break Ecaeris. He wanted the prince to fuck up so badly in his anger that Isolde would be forced to punish him. And the loss of her only child would weaken her enough for the Shade queen to win the war she’s been trying to start.”

Rin scoffs, her hands fisted to hide the shaking. “What a fucking idiot.”

“The attack happened because of me.”

“What?”

“We’re always together when I’m not with the guys. He wouldn’t risk getting too close to me when they were around, but you guarded me just as fiercely. He thought if you were out of the way for a few days, then he could catch me by myself. The attack made me stick closer to you, which he wasn’t prepared for.”

When she stares at me for too long without speaking, I look down. “I’m sorry. If I would have known being my frie—”

“Don’t be stupid, Ada,” she snaps, glaring at me. “This thing between us? It’s permanent. You don’t get to back out of friendship with me. End of story.”

“You didn’t let me finish.” I fight a smile as I continue, “I was going to say I would have warned you if I had known it was going to be dangerous to be my friend. However, I’ve always been a catastrophe, which is the warning I should have given you.”

“You?” Her sarcasm is so thick I can physically feel it, then she laughs with an edge of hysteria. “We’re both shipwrecks. Don’t try to make it sound poetic.”

“We’re unsinkable, even if we are in need of a few repairs,” I begin, and she groans. “Fine. I won’t be philosophical today. It’s just my default mood when I’m feeling melancholy.”

She turns to look at me, cataloging everything about my appearance before she swallows. “Did he—”

“He’s dead, Rin.” I shake my head. “I killed him.”

“Good.”