Page 120

My shadows retreated into me as I slowly turned, the cell gate swinging open as my eyes connected with Landers.

“Burn him.”

Landers didn’t hesitate as he stepped into the cage with me, his hand reaching down to squeeze mine for only a second beforeslipping behind me. I felt the heat of fire at my back and watched as Ata’s eyes widened. Not at me, not at what I had done, but from the flame I knew she had just seen drip from Landers’s lips.

The smell of burning flesh filled the prison and Landers came to my side, his hand falling to the dip in my back as he led me out through the cell door. Silence pulsed between the five of us as the flames set the golden cage alight. I turned toward the stairs and climbed from the depths of the prison—away from the scent of Taft’s burning body. My throat swelled, my hands beginning to shake as I swallowed back the sickness that was turning in my stomach.

We stepped into the dim afternoon light, our boots crunching over the frozen snow as I sucked in a deep breath and felt the warmth of Landers’s arms wrap around me.

“Are you okay?” he whispered against my ear as he pulled my back to his chest.

I tilted my chin up to look at him nodding as his lips brushed against my forehead. I was surprisingly okay. The sickness wasn’t from guilt or the violence of what I had just done, but from what he had said.

If you do this, she wins.

The sentence danced in my head, playing over and over again.

“No daemon is that easy to kill. Their creators can call on them at any time, pull them out of any situation,” Andrues said, his voice grave as he looked over at us. “He was meant to die here today.”

“I know,” I whispered as a chill tightened around my spine.

“Does anyone else feel like . . . this just became a lot bigger than a war between realms?” Ata asked, crossing her arms over her chest as her eyes flickered over us. “Daemons can be used as a conduit by their masters and Taft has been with us since we were children. I think it’s safe to assume anything ever spokenin his presence has been heard by someone else. Whatever plan he’s speaking of, it’s not new.”

A heavy silence fell, the weight of Ata’s words settling into it like a warning.

“Where did you interrogate Brakan when he was brought into Locdragoon?” The question was a low growl as it rolled from Landers’s lips and Wren’s complexion paled at the sound of it.

Wren swallowed. “In the cell next to Taft.”

“This stays between the five of us, not a single word to anyone outside of this group do you understand?” Landers said, his body tensing against me.

“What about—”

“Not asingleword,” Landers snapped, cutting Wren off. Wren gave a sharp nod, clasping his hands behind his back as Landers continued. “I need you to get your best officer and meet with Malik again, see if there is any information on who in Ammord may be creating daemons.”

“I will leave tonight with Pri,” Wren said.

Landers shook his head as he ran a hand through his hair. “No, I need her to rest. Find someone else.”

Wren’s jaw tightened, but he nodded in acquiescence. “Understood. I’ll find someone suitable,” he replied, his expression betraying a hint of frustration as he tethered from our sides.

“Tell Elric I need a list of every person that has spoken to Taft since his arrival here, and that we need to speak to them,” Landers said to Andrues, the muscles across his body rippling with tension.

“Go,” I breathed, letting my hand fall to Landers’s chest as I turned toward him. “Take care of what you need.”

His lips fell to mine as he pulled me a little tighter against his body and kissed me. There was an urgency to the kiss and Ifelt it too, swelling in my chest—almost as if we were living on borrowed time.

Chapter thirty-five

ATALIIA

Ikickedthebottomof my boot against the door, slamming it closed behind me and flinching at the way it rocked the house. I swallowed back the static the noise awoke beneath my chest, my arms tightening around the crate cradled between them. Oxygen filled my lungs as I inhaled deeply to ground myself, and I rolled my eyes into the air.

Just another annoyance to add to the growing list of things that made my nervous system shrivel like a scared child.

Though it was inconvenient to be triggered by a fucking sound, it was also comforting. Comforting because I was no longer numb enough not to feel it, and maybe that was the first step to healing.

A knock sounded at my back and I turned, setting the box on the floor and pushing it against the wall before pulling the door open. A grin spread across my lips as Andrues came into view, casually leaning against the doorframe as his thumb fiddled with the rings on his right hand.