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There were few memories I had of Eli that Fynn wasn’t also involved in. And now, Fynn was dead. And Eli had nothing.
But I couldn’t watch him sit around the castle and rot any longer. “Adonis and Lucien are on their way. We have to talk.”
Eli laughed. Cold and bitter. “Apologies, brother. But I don’t think I’m really in the mood to chat.”
I looked to the sky, willing any sort of patience from the Saints to save me from biting his head off. “I know you’re in pain, Eli,” I said, “but you can’t keep doing shit like this. We have a kingdom to run here, and I need your help.”
This seemed to amuse Eli even further.
“Rise and shine, brother,” Lucien’s voice carried into the garden as he and Adonis approached. “The King is requesting your assistance.”
Lucien bowed dramatically to make his point.
I rolled my eyes.
Adonis walked up slowly behind Lucien. “You look good, brother,” Adonis said to me. I hadn’t seen him since our return to Rewyth. I wasn’t avoiding any of them, but I wasn’t exactly going out of my way to speak with them, either.
Until today.
“We need to talk,” I repeated to my other brothers. “Esther is rotting in that dungeon. If we don’t make a plan soon…”
I didn’t have to finish the sentence. Adonis and Lucien knew the seriousness of the situation. Esther was a powerful witch, but she was rotting away down there. If what she said was true, we needed her.
But how could we trust her?
“You want us to give you advice?” Lucien asked. “Aren’t things supposed to be the other way around?”
“You were all there. You were sworn to her blood oath. You know more about her character than I do.”
“What do you want us to say?” Adonis chimed in. “The woman is a witch. She’s selfish and greedy. Jade is the peacemaker, and Esther wants to use her power for her own benefit.”
I considered his words. He stated nothing but facts, but he still didn’t offer a way out. “If we kill Esther,” I started, distancing myself from the words as I spoke them, “we’ll have no idea what’s coming. She claims she knows a way to break this prophecy. Jade won’t have to die.”
“Have you spoken to her about it?” Adonis asked. “How can you know she’s telling the truth? What if she’s making this all up?”
I took a long breath. “I can’t know,” I said. “Which is why I haven’t spoken to her since we left Trithen.”
“You’re kidding, right?” Eli chimed in from the garden bench. He sat up now, somewhat paying attention to the conversation happening around him. “She’s the reason Fynn is dead. She deserves to die.”
Silence filled the air.
He wasn’t wrong. If Esther hadn’t worked with Isaiah and Seth to try and kill me, Fynn would still be alive.
But that was the past. If I spent a single minute thinking about things like that, my entire world would collapse around me.
“We can’t kill her if she’s useful to us,” I said, trying yet failing to soften my words. “She’s valuable.”
“For what?” Eli asked. “To save your human wife? No offense, brother, but I don’t really give a shit if Jade lives or dies. Why should any of us care? What is she to us?”
A low whistle escaped Lucien, but my temper was already on fire. If Eli hadn’t looked so pathetic already, I would have pummeled him to the ground. Instead, I lifted my chin and clasped my hands behind my back.
“I know you’re going through a hard time right now, Eli, but if you say that type of shit again, you’ll pay. Understand?”
Eli stared at me with wide eyes but said nothing.
I continued. “This prophecy is equally as important to us as it is to the witches. As it is to the Paragon. If Jade fulfills this prophecy and we are the ones to help her, the fae will be the ones to inherit the power. How would you like to have magic unmatched to any in the world, Eli?” I asked. “How would it feel to be so powerful, not a single enemy could take you down?”
Now I had their attention.
