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“I know.”

“She’s dead, Jade!”

“I know that!”

The numbness and the adrenaline in my body was replaced in a wash of emotion, filled with anger and shame and despair. I didn’t ask for this. I didn’t ask for Tessa to die. To be killed by the very fae I risked my life to protect.

Did he not see that? Did he not see that my very reason for living had just been ripped away from me? That without Tessa, I had nothing?

Anger built inside of me, igniting a fire that used my despair to grow hotter and hotter. I should have seen this coming. I should have known she couldn’t be protected here. Tessa was too fragile. Toogood.

“Jade, calm down,” Malachi whispered roughly. “You’re losing control.”

I didn’t care. I didn’t care if I lost control. I didn’t care if this entire damned kingdom burned to the ground.

“Jade!”

Malachi’s wings were around my body in two seconds, followed by the uncontrolled flare of my own power.

His massive black wings kept the sudden flash contained.

I wanted to stay there, wrapped away in the darkness.

But when the flash ended, Malachi slowly peeled them back.

And as soon as they parted, I saw the horror on my father’s face.

I would have killed him, too. My power would have killed my own father if it weren’t for Malachi.

And he knew it.

Hands were on my body, lifting me up and saying something I couldn’t focus on. “Let’s go. I’m taking you home.”

CHAPTER28

Malachi

“Talk to me, Jade.”

It had been hours since we left the garden. I had to drag Jade away from Tessa’s body, carrying her up to my bedroom.

And she hadn’t said a single word since.

I didn’t blame her. I had to hide my own shock when I saw Tessa laying there. She looked so small, so fragile.

So helpless.

Jade knew it, too. She knew that Tessa could have done nothing against a fae if a fae wanted her dead. It was a very similar position that Jade was in not too long ago.

Now, Jade had other problems.

“Just let me know that you’ll be okay,” I pushed. I sat next to her on the bed. She stared at the dark ceiling, although her eyes had been glazed over for the last hour. She wasn’t in there. She was a hollow void, completely numb to any emotion.

I had felt similar at many times in my life. I knew Jade had, too.

Raw. Emotionless. Empty.

I brushed a piece of hair off her forehead. It wasn’t until my skin made contact with hers that she blinked twice and her eyes met mine. “I can’t do this,” she admitted. “I can’t do this, Mal. I can’t be this person.”