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"Not just that." And now, Flame won't meet my gaze.
And it hits me.We’retheir bargaining tool today. They've sold us out for their own safety. The sense of betrayal that flows through me is a shock. I didn't think they didn't owe us anything. But I've watched my brothers bleed, nearly die for our people. They deserve better. Hell, I deserve better. What's more, there's no world in which the shadow king will give these men anything. They have to be smart enough to know that.
I glance at Onyx. He’s watching, reading the scene, body tense, eyes alert while Rayne moves to stand even closer to Ann, almost completely blocking her from the men, but she glances around him.
"Don't do this," Dusk says. "Only a fool would make a deal with a monster."
Flame nods at Phantom. “It's already done.”
His men unsheath their swords and Phantom shakes his head. After last night, after we fulfilled the mating bond, we’d thought this whole thing was finished and the king would be nothing but a bad memory of a worse time. Now we don’t even know if the prophecy is real. But either way, I don't think any of us expected this.
“What did he offer you?” Phantom’s voice is strong and angry.
“He’s pardoning us,” Flame says, drawing his head up taller.
Phantom gives a humorless laugh, shaking his head. “He’ll just enslave you in your beast form.”
“But he won’t be killing us.” To Flame, enslavement beats death. Beats fighting to live. Beats suffering the torment of a mad king. To Flame, this is the best he could’ve done for the men who trust him to speak for them.
Phantom cocks his head, anger in his gaze. “I might just have to do it for him.”
I’ve never had a gripe with Flame, but after today, he’s top spot on the shit list.My hand curls around the dagger handle at my belt, and I imagine putting this blade through his skull. I won't enjoy it, but I also won't feel too bad about killing a traitor, a man foolish enough to be tricked by my father after all he's seen in these many months. Mistakes often have consequences, and it's sad that his death will be one, but I can't focus on that right now. Can't focus on the idea that soon I'll be killing my brothers in arms.
“We completed the mate bond. Don't you even want to see if it can be the thing to save us? Aftereverything?” Phantom stares at Flame, but it’s no use. They’ve decided already.
“The shadow king won’t care.”
"But he won't be able to claim her now, and getting to her before we mated her is probably why he made this deal. What do you think he'll do when he realizes he can't have her?" I have an edge of desperation in my voice that I don't like.
"The king said that mated or not, he'll have Ann." Flame winces as if he wishes he didn't have to speak the words.
My stomach bottoms out.The king wants her still? He'll take her whether she want to or not, whether his sons have claimed her or not? I feel sick.
"That's impossible." Phantom truly sounds shocked.
Onyx signs, and all eyes are on him. Finally, I reluctantly speak his words. "He believes father is so far gone that he'll take her to hurt us, not even because of the prophecy, but because he doesn't care about our most sacred of rules."
Flames sighs. "Just come with us. It doesn't have to be like this."
I draw my dagger in one hand and my sword in the other. “None of you will take her with me still alive."
There are easily thirty of them. Four of my us. And Ann. The odds aren't good, but then, the odds have never been good for us.
Phantom looks at Rayne. “Protect her.”
He nods and the fight begins like an explosion. Like a storm that barely gave a warning before shaking the world.
Men surround us. Swords clank against swords. I see Onyx lop off a head as my own blade meets one enemy's then another's. They're trying so damned hard to reach us, but with us in a circle, we're making it fucking hard for them to catch us off-guard. There are screams of pain and growls of anger. But we encircle Ann, striving to keep her safe from danger. Even though it's obvious to us, to everyone, that we can only fight these numbers for so long.
One way or another, these men will get us today. And then... we'll be prisoners of the shadow king.
FIFTEEN
Ann
The fight endedwith too much blood and too much death before all my men had their weapons stripped away and their hands bound. Phantom has a cut on his cheek that drips blood down his face, Onyx's mouth is swollen and bleeding, and Dusk's eye is swollen nearly shut. But I know those aren't the worst of their injuries. The worst ones are the ones I can't see, but distinctly remember. The backs of swords smashed into their stomachs, shoulders, and even the back of their heads. Punches. Kicks. Yes, it could have been worse. If these men wanted my shadow beasts dead, they'd be dead.
But it doesn't really matter. Even if they didn't kill us, there's no question they're marching us off to a fate worse than death.
