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I couldn’t read anything from Asheral’s face. I wasn’t sure if he was mad about what had happened, impressed that I’d killed so many before Ziriel put a knife to my throat, or out for revenge. Nothing showed.
“Don’t worry about my father. You were outnumbered. Two against all of us.” His eyes were filled with smoke, which told me that even if his words were a little flat, something was brewing under the surface.
I smiled as I was supposed to, but I couldn’t really talk about what happened. “You were here?” I remembered him from before, but I didn’t remember him being in the room when Eli and I started the fight. To be honest, that day was a blur.
“Yes. And it’s not something I’ll forget.” He pressed his lips together, and I knew this probably was a lost cause. There was no way he’d be able to look past what I had done, to marry me, and I wasn’t sure I could either.
Coming to Gales was exhausting me. I felt like a thick fog was settling over me, and I wasn’t sure if I was crashing after the adrenaline rush from back-to-back attempts on my life, or if it was just normal disappointment at how badly this was going. “As you know, I can’t speak about it, but I hope that what plagued your court is gone.”
“That’s the problem, isn’t it?” His smile this time was filled with bitterness. “We have different ideas where the shades of gray fall.”
I suddenly felt cold, scanning the room. “All that and they’re still here?”
“In some form or another. You were too many centuries too late to change that. You see, there is no separating us from them anymore. We are one.”
“Wow.” That was it then. It was official. I couldn’t marry into the Gales. Knowing what I knew. It just… It wasn’t possible.
My gaze found Chris, who was leaning forward, elbows perched on the table, watching me. I had to warn him. Did he know about the meat?
Oh, God. If he didn’t know…
I turned to Van, and he nodded. Not needing me to say any words. He crossed the room and sat down next to Chris.
“Are you okay?” Asheral was looking at Van, and then turned to me. “You’ve gone pale. Something I should know about?”
“No. Everything is fine.” I took a big sip of wine to buy myself some time. I was gripping the cup a little too tightly, and made myself relax. I had to calm down, but Chris being here was throwing me massively off my game.
I flashed Asheral my biggest smile, but I was tired. Utterly exhausted. That wasn’t surprising since I hadn’t gotten much sleep lately, but my eyelids shouldn’t be so heavy. “So, I don’t know much about you. I know about your father, but I don’t think we spoke last time I was here.” One more sip of wine, and I would be able to do this. I could do this.
I lifted the cup but it slipped from my hand, and I couldn’t bring myself to care or do anything about it. All I could think was that the wine looked like blood splashed across the table.
The room started to spin and I felt myself bottoming out.
“Cosette?” Asheral reached out, touching my arm, and I wondered if he’d said my name before, but I couldn’t think. “Are you okay?”
I looked at the cup of wine. The bitter taste. The way I couldn’t control my nerves.
“Van!” I yelled, but it came out much softer. Barely a whisper.
I felt myself falling…
Falling…
Falling…
Strong, familiar arms caught me and I left out a soft sigh.
“Chris.” My voice was soft and airy but the arms tightened around me.
“I’ve got you.” The rasp was thick in his voice, but I knew I was safe, so I let my dreams take me to another place. A safer place. A place where he held me before…
A soft brush of fingers pushed through my hair, and I looked up to see Chris’ face hovering over mine. He let out a slow breath. “Glad you’re awake again.”
He had me cradled in his lap, resting with his back against a brick wall.
“Where are we?”
“Couple buildings over from the police station. I didn’t want to carry you very far. Michael is coming with a car in a few.”
