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I didn’t have anything but the bow, dagger, and sword at my disposal. I couldn’t give her the sword because Kieran had gifted it to me, so I removed the dagger from the sheath on my left side. The vines twirled around the handle, feeling very Summer Court. I would leave her with something that represented her home.
I placed her hands over her chest and put the dagger in them.
“What are you doing?” Kieran’s voice rose.
“She deserves respect. I want to leave something of mine behind with her,” I explained as I moved her hands to clasp the dagger. I looked at her ravaged face. “You will be missed and thought of each day.” I leaned over and kissed the top of her forehead, hoping that in some way, somehow, she’d realize how much I’d grown to care for her in such a short amount of time. “Thank you for being my first real friend here.”
I didn’t want to leave, but I had to think of Kieran, so I stood and waited for the boos to come.
The arena was eerily quiet.
Kieran swallowed and waved. “Let’s go. The sun will be going down soon.”
He didn’t insult or criticize me. He was just ready to go.
We took off running.
Willowy trees overhead offered some shade as we followed the path. With every step we took and didn’t run into trouble, my stomach shuddered. The willowy trees thickened, providing better coverage from the heat. Things were going too well. We kept moving inward, toward the circle, and I kept expecting something horrible to strike at us.
“Look,” Kieran shouted excitedly. “It’s the center.”
My heart stopped. He was right. We’d found the center, but we couldn’t just walk into it. A large canopy of vines began at the bottom of the hedge and grew over the central circle. A sign said that to reach the center, everyone had to climb over the wall.
There had to be a catch, but I had no clue what it was.
“Come on.” Kieran rushed to the limbs, but as soon as he touched one, he hissed and stumbled back.
Chapter Twenty-Three
Iscrutinized the hedges and canopy for something that could harm him. There were no thorns or anything threatening that I could see. I hurried to him and studied the palm he was examining. There was nothing there.
My brows furrowed. I looked up to ask what had happened, but his face was pale.
I swallowed, feeling as if knives were stabbing my throat. “Did you drink the same water as Moire?” This was how she’d looked not five minutes ago before she’d started bleeding.
He blinked and exhaled. “No, I didn’t. You saw me the entire time. Why would you ask that?”
“Because you’re pale … well, paler than usual.” My body tightened. What if the vines were poisoned and he was in the beginning stages? Maybe he’d gotten a tiny cut I couldn’t see. I held his hand closer to my face, trying to find an injury. “Did you get pricked? If we get the poison out before it circulates, you might stand a chance.” Maybe I could find something to suck the poison out like some humans did on Earth.
“I didn’t get pricked,” he said, cupping my cheek with his free hand. “I’m not poisoned. I promise.”
Between the buzz of his hand on my cheek and his minty breath, I wanted to taste him again. Once was most definitely not enough.
His hand closed around mine, and the world stopped.
A dark laugh came from close by.
“At least the traitor died,” Curry croaked. He must be back where Moire’s body lay.
My breath caught and white-hot rage swirled inside me. That prick not only had the audacity to laugh at her death but to actually show gratitude for it. No one celebrated the death of someone I cared about.
No one.
I released Kieran’s hand. Not even the buzz of our connection would distract me from what I had to do. I’d felt this sort of rage before and buried it, not wanting to become the type of person who acted out the same horrors I’d witnessed in foster care and detested. I’d run away and found Stan, then channeled my rage into training kids who’d been victims of the system. I’d tried desperately not to become this vengeful person, but all that changed today.
Today might be the first time I killed someone and maybe, just maybe, danced over his dead body.
I grimaced. Okay, I’d taken that too far. I hated how callous and vindictive the prick was.
