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"Haley!" Kai yelled, panic tight in his voice as he grabbed me and spun me around, searching for a wound. The kitchen whirled like a funfair ride. I swayed into him, pain thumping through my chest where the magic had struck me.
"Are you clinically insane?" Wynvail demanded, ripping me out of Kai's arms and scanning my eyes. "I could havekilledyou."
"You could have killed Kai," I snapped, shoving him away and ignoring my wobbling legs. "Don't act like you give a shit about me."
Wynvail just laughed, a sneer curling his lip. "Am I not your mate?"
"Unfortunately," I spat, gritting my teeth as the pain in my chest faded to an ache. The dizziness persisted though, not helped by the fact I still felt sick. I killed my own family…
I leaned into Kai, watching Wynvail's every move, waiting for him to do something sneaky.
Instead, he made a riot of noise opening and closing cupboards, ripping lids off canisters, and slamming them back on. The kettle boiled, so loud it drummed in my ears. When he handed me a baby pink teacup, I just laughed.
"It's poison."
"You just watched me make it," he pointed out, his mouth set in a firm line. "And I'd rather not have you vomit on the couch; it's bad enough this riffraff dirtied the rug."
Kai hissed, his forked tongue lashing the air.
"Don't," I sighed, stroking my hand down Kai’s side and watching him melt. "He's not worth it. And anyway, he's right. He kept us alive for some reason; it would make no sense to kill me now."
I took the tea from Wistrael, but made certain he knew this changednothingwith the vicious glare I fixed on him.
He rolled his burnished eyes, fingertips brushing over the hilt of the knife sticking out from his waistband. The knife he stole from me.1
I took a sip of the tea, rolling it around my mouth, testing for any common poisons and finding nothing but peppermint. Unless he'd used something untraceable.
"I haven't poisoned you," he muttered, shoving past Kai and out the door back to the living room.
We exchanged a suspicious glance and followed, Kai brushing my arm to silently ask if I was okay. I nodded, tilting my head to rest it on his shoulder and sighing when he stroked wet strands of hair out of my face.
"We'll find him," he promised quietly enough that it wouldn't carry to Wynvail. "I promise, Halwen. We'll find him."
I swallowed. "I know. Also, it's weird being called Halwen," I added, trying to lighten the oppressive cloud hanging over us. "I'm a forest now, apparently."
And that was all Wynvail's doing. Unless he'd lied about that, too. He’d conveniently never mentioned Wane, trying to step into the hole left in his absence. It was such a Wane thing to do, to plant whispers so the name spread and became folklore, leaving me clues and hope.
If I'd never met that farmer and he'd never told me I just came from the Forest of Halwen, I might have collapsed. Instead, knowing my mates were out there gave me the strength to drag my ass to Iarlon.
"You're awfully cosy," Wynvail commented in his usual smooth, smug drawl.
I saw why when we strode into the living room and found Harvey and Emlyn sitting thigh to thigh on the bright orange sofa.
"Mind your own fucking business," I snapped, 'tripping' across the rug and 'accidentally' kicking Wistrael. "Oh, I'msosorry. How clumsy of me."
"Careful," Wynvail replied, his voice deeper, darker. "I'm tempted to call this foreplay."
I wrinkled my nose like he disgusted me, and something sharp cut through his soul where it bound to mine. Hit successfully landed.
"Haley," Emlyn rumbled, disapproving but unable to hide his amusement.
I dropped down beside him, snuggling close. Kai remained standing. No, let me rephrase. Kai circled Wynvail like he was his next meal and he was considering how he'd gut, skin, and debone him.
"So what now?" I asked my mates, taking another sip of tea. Motherfucker had even sweetened it like I liked it. It was scary how much he knew about me. Did he have a whole folder of information about me, like General Callahan had on the alphas?2
"Nowhetells us where to find Cronus," Emlyn said in a voice like thunder. He'd put two and two together and come to the same conclusion I did, then. Good.
Wynvail laughed, stalking over to the fireplace and sinking into the chair beside it. There was a kitsch monstrosity of a clock on the fireplace just ticking around to four in the afternoon: a wolf with silver and cerise fur—and it wasfluffy.I loved it. "You think I can just summon him? Atitan.Do you really know nothing of their power? It nearlykilledthe gods defeating him—and they're gods!"
