Page 9

“Oh my gods.” I scrubbed my hand down my face with a groan. “You are so fucking naive.”

“Fuck you. I’m twenty.”

Twenty. Fuck me was right.

“A baby,” I scoffed, dropping my hand. “You follow a guy you don’t even know onto a train, with no idea of where it’s going, because of a gut feeling?” I was throwing stones, though, because tree fairies’ powers were about instinct and harmony with the earth. Complete intuition. But I had lived a hell of a lot longer than this girl. Knew far more and had been through a lot more. “You are getting off at the next stop.”

“And I said I am not,” she challenged. “You can’t force me.”

“No, but you aren’t staying with me.”

“Why not?”

“Why not?” I sputtered. “Because you can’t,” I explained, like that was a rational answer. “Whatever you think, I am not a good guy.” Not anymore, anyway. “And where I’m going and what I am doing? It’s dangerous. No one can come with me.”

“We’ll see.” She wiggled back in her seat with absolute assurance.

“I mean it.”

She grabbed my coffee off the table, taking a drink before biting into my strudel.

Theaudacityof this girl. A scream bellowed inside my head, frustration digging my hands into my head.

“I’m”—she paused like she was unsure—”Scarlet, by the way.”

Taking a few huge breaths, a strained laugh caught in my throat at the sheer insanity my life had taken on in the last twelve hours.

My attention turned to the rushing landscape outside, exhaling with a shake of my head.

“Ash.”

Thick, turbulent clouds covered the sky, sinking into my bones like an omen. The moment we crossed over into Hungary, tension pinched the back of my neck, causing my legs and hands to fidget, growing steadily worse the closer we got to the city. I couldn’t escape the stop here, needing to switch trains to continue our route southeast, but when we hit the bridge crossing over the Danube, the sight of the newly restored Parliament building and Killian’s palace sitting proudly on the hill restricted my airways. Construction and new business signs dotted the skyline. Even in just three months since I had been gone, things had grown and changed.

It was my home. Where my true family was. Though right now, it was my purgatory. A hell I couldn’t escape.

Every memory from that night came back with a sharp stab. The sounds of shooting, screaming, clashing of swords, and booms of cannons. The rancid taste of gunpowder and death on my tongue.

Standing there, watching the bullet enter Lucas’s brain, his eyes wide with shock and grief. The genuine heartache Lucas felt as Iain fired. Murdered by his own brother. But that was Lucas. Deep down, no matter what, he still believed in the best in people. The glass was always half full.

The agony I experienced, the grief swallowing me whole. I didn’t think anything more could be taken from me. I didn’t know that in just one more breath, Kek would join him.

The sound of the blade cutting through her neck, the rage twisting Sonya’s face as she took the other part of my soul.

The sick thump of Kek’s head hitting the stone, her body following.

I thought I had experienced pain before in my life. The loss of people I loved. But losing those two was like my own death.

Nothing about a demon and tree fairy should have worked. Kek and I were opposites in so many ways, but with her, I felt more alive than I had with anyone else. She challenged both me and Lucas, and without realizing it, I fell for her. Fell for both of them.

Hard.

We brought out the best in each other. The emptiness of being without them had no bottom, a circular nightmare I would never get out of. And a part of me didn’t want to.

Here, they were still fresh and vivid, even if they destroyed any humanity I had left. Without them, what was the point of anything?

“Hey?” Scarlet bumped my boot with hers, her brow furrowing. “You okay?”

Jarred by her intrusiveness, I frowned. “Yeah.” I twitched and shifted again, becoming aware of how much I was moving around, not able to sit comfortably in my seat. “Fine.”