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Onyx begins to sign, his face pinched in pain. “We’ll find a way.”
She shakes her head. “Perhaps you will, but I will not.”
“Imara–”
She lifts a hand. “I have fought and fought. I have held out hope. But there is no more hope within me. I am going to the human towns and lands. I will find a way to have some peace before everything ends.”
Rayne laughs and shakes his head. “Are you fucking kidding me? You’re just going to let the world end?”
Her angry gaze pierces his. “My world already ended. I’m letting your world end now too.” He looks like he wants to say more, but she turns back to me. “Your brother was taken?”
I nod, not knowing what else to say.
“Thenifyou defeat them, you will be king, and I hope this time you won’t show any of our enemies mercy.”
It’s like a knife twisting in my gut. A reminder that I failed my people and caused all of this. “I won’t make that mistake again.”
“Even with your brother?” Her tone leaves no room for argument.
But I won’t hurt him unless I have to. “I’ll do what needs to be done.”
She nods and rises. “I would suggest you all leave with me now.”
“Imara–”
“Although I already know you won’t.” She tilts her head and studies the three of us. “May the Moon Goddess protect you.”
“May the Moon Goddess protect you,” I say, and then she turns and heads out of the cave, disappearing from view.
“So, she just came to tell us to fuck off?” Rayne asks in shock.
I shake my head. “She’s a warrior. If I’d told her to stay, she would have. She came here to see if whoever was in charge would let her go, so she could leave honorably, and to warn us about the Void.”
“Why didn’t you tell her to stay? We need the help.” Rayne sounds annoyed and I don’t blame him. He doesn’t know our ways. He doesn’t realize that after all she’s given to us, I would not be the one to tell her to spend her final days fighting for a cause she’s already given so much to.
“It was her choice,” is all I manage, and then that hollow emptiness where Ann holds my heart echoes inside of me, and I want to sleep and… I don’t know what. But I want to do anything but keep feeling this empty and lost.
My words are met with silence, and then Rayne says, “And it’s my choice too to go to the shadow realm today and try to get Phantom and Ann back.”
I jerk my head to look at him in shock. “Rayne, you need us by your side. That world is too dangerous for you alone.”
He glances between me and Onyx. “You need more time to heal. I don’t. Besides, it’d be easier for me to go unnoticed if I go in alone.”
Onyx frowns and begins to sign. “The fae is too soft. He won’t survive there. We need to serve as a distraction so that he can take over the king and bring Phantom back to us, then rescue Ann.”
Rayne must have understood most of what Onyx said, because he looks annoyed. “I’m not soft. I’m just different from the two of you. I spent a lot of my life alone, hiding, and know ways to go unnoticed. I know that I might not be able to fight the shadow beasts or the king, but I think I can stay unseen.”
“And what if you can’t?” I ask.
The fae gives a sharp nod. “I can.”
Onyx signs angrily. “We’re just going to lose him too. This needs to be planned out better. We need to be able to shadow him. There’s no reason for us to stay here without Ann. One more day, that’s all we need.”
“I can’t give you one more day,” Rayne says softly, signing as he does. “One more day might be too late, for Ann, and for this world. We certainly can’t fight them off if they attack again tonight, and I’m not willing to gamble any longer on Ann’s life.” He draws himself up taller. “When I said I was going today, I meant it. I’m not asking for permission, I’m telling you.”
Onyx and I exchange a look. This is the kind of stuff that Phantom usually handles. The kind of stuff I handle wrong. But from the expression on Onyx’s face, he’s thinking the same thing I am… that we just have to let Rayne do this.
“Alright,” I tell him. “But give us a few minutes to at least prepare you the most we can.”
