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“No, he’s not.”
“Why?”
He sped to the emerald on the bed and rubbed it between his fingers. “Because you’re getting out of here. Once you’re out, seal the underworld. Make sure it stays that way. Do what you said. Go back to your coven.”
My heart hammered as I glared at the deep-green gem. “What about you?”
“There’s no way out of this castle. Don’t you think I’ve tried?” His shoulders dropped. I heard each of his pained breaths as he tried to stay standing against the wall.
“I’m not leaving, even if you don’t want me here.” My breath hitched. “Even if you don’t want me. I’m not giving up hope. I came in to get you and Thalia out, and I’ll be damned if I’m leaving without either of you.”
He gestured toward the door. “Go, open it.”
I sped to the green door, so deep it could have been black, and lifted a trembling hand to the handle. I gasped when it swung open into a black void filled only with the faint screams and echoes of my question. “I thought we were in his castle.”
“We are. These are prisons, meant for the worst of the worst. There’s no way out unless he lets us out.”
“Why not just kill us? Why put us in here?”
He scoffed quietly. “He believes in giving everyone a fair trial.” His jaw clenched. “As if he even knows what that is. He thinks himself above us all, the god of justice, the fair ruler,” he spat, venom lacing his words. “The trial could be now or in a century. He’ll keep us in here for as long as he feels is necessary. He went after Aziel first.” His expression contorted. “He always hated him the most.”
I walked slowly to his side, feeling calm in using my legs at a normal speed. “What do we do?”
“We do nothing.” He moved away from me. “I’m sending you out of here and then you are sealing this place so he can never get out again.”
“I can’t just leave you here.”
“Why?” He turned to face me. “Why would you possibly stay when I already told you I don’t want you here.”
A lump formed in my throat. I didn’t know what to say. My heart dropped. Stupid thing. “You’re hurting. You lost your brother and?—”
He slammed his hand into the wall next to my head, jolting me. “Stop trying to save me. I don’t want you to save me.”
“I know you care, that a part of you does. It has to,” I whispered, moving my fingers to his arm. “No one’s that good an actor. This can’t just be about protecting innocents. You wouldn’t be trying to send me back if you didn’t. You wouldn’t give up your only way out of here for me if you didn’t.”
“I don’t.”
“Don’t lie to me,” I begged. “There was a moment, with Lucius, when I thought he’d killed you and me.” I paused. “I felt like the world had been pulled from under my feet. I can’t help how I feel. I?—”
“Don’t,” he warned before I could say anything else. He pulled away, walking to the other end of the room, and paced. “What do you want me to say to you?” he shouted. “That I care? That I want you? That I’m capable of love?”
Tears brimmed in my eyes.
“Because even if I did, it doesn’t mean anything anymore. Aziel’s gone. Thalia’s fuck knows where, and I’m trapped here. I can’t be that man for you.”
I wanted to go to him, to hold him, but something told me to stay back. “I’ll find a way back here. I’ll go to Edmund and?—”
“No.” He stormed toward me, closing the distance between us. “You’ll go back. You’ll close that portal, seal it, and forget I existed because, Elle, trust me, I’m not worth saving. Not anymore.” He held the emerald. “I wouldn’t have used this anyway, knowing Thalia is trapped here. I couldn’t leave her… Wherever her soul is.”
“Raiden, please.”
He pushed it into my hand, his penetrating eyes finding mine for the last time. “Don’t come back.”
“No!” I shouted as I was transported through realms. The air was pulled from my lungs, and my limbs pulled each and every way until I landed flat on my back in the snow, gasping for air.
Naomi came into view, swirling overhead as my vision reset. “What happened? Where’s Thalia? Raiden? Aziel?”
Pain pinched through my head.
