Page 67

Chapter

Sixty-Four

E ach beat of her heart slammed in her ears, mocking her with its vigor.

Lessia backed into the wall, agony ripping at her chest as she stared from Amalise’s stricken face to Ardow’s white one.

She couldn’t do this.

As she started to shake her head, opening her mouth to tell them she was leaving the election, the tattoo on her arm pulsed, and she had to brace herself against the wall not to bend over.

Panting, she tried to come up with a way around the oath she’d been forced to take.

But there wasn’t one.

“Lessia, it’s all right.” Ardow’s voice was gentle. “I knew this was the risk.”

“No!” Amalise cried behind him. “I’ll go! I’ll go!”

Her eyes sliced frantically between her closest people.

Her friends.

The first people who’d accepted her for Lessia .

Who loved every broken piece of her.

“Can… can I talk to him alone before I decide?” She forced the words out.

Frayson started arguing that he was a prisoner, but Loche interrupted him. “She will be allowed to talk to him. I was allowed time to make my decision, and she will be as well.”

“Loche…” Frayson started, but Loche stalked up to him, his eyes glacial as he glared down at the man.

“I am still regent, and this is an order, Frayson.”

With a clenched jaw, Frayson finally nodded, gesturing for the guards to leave the room.

Amalise burst into tears as two guards started to drag her toward the tunnel, and Lessia had to fight with everything in her not to cover her ears as her friend’s heartbreaking cries reverberated between the walls.

Zaddock stalked up to her side, and shoving the two guards out of the way, he held Amalise up when her body nearly slumped to the ground.

Whispering something into her ear, he managed to stop the worst of the crying, but tears still spilled down her cheeks when she stepped into the darkness of the passage.

Loche was the last one to leave. With a pained expression, he hesitated for a moment. “I can’t buy you much time, so get to the important stuff right away.”

She nodded once, and Loche finally followed the others.

When she could no longer hear any footsteps or Amalise’s sobs, she walked up to the cell again.

Her eyes lingered on Venko’s body on the floor. “Is he alive?”

Ardow inclined his head. “They roughed him up quite badly, but he’s breathing. He’ll live. At least for now.”

She stared at her friend. “Why, Ardow? Why would you do this? ”

His gaze flitted to the dark passage for a moment before returning to hers. “Why do you think? You know better than anyone that we’ll never be treated right here or anywhere in Havlands. It’s time for new leadership—a new world where everyone is welcome.”

“But it’s changing. Loche is changing Ellow!”

Ardow’s eyes narrowed. “It’s not just about Ellow. It’s about every oppressed person and creature in Havlands! And while Loche might be a lesser evil, he used blackmail to win last time, Lessia! Blackmail made possible by someone who wanted to control Ellow through him! He’s not a good man.”

She shuffled her feet. “He didn’t do what they wanted, though. He’s following his own path.”

“You knew!” Ardow growled. “I can’t believe this!

You knew he only won because he blackmailed people into voting for him!

That all that comes out of his mouth are lies!

And you still trust him to lead Ellow? Have you lost your mind?

You, out of all people, I thought would understand…

especially after what your king did to you! What he continues to do!”

“Loche told me about it. He trusted me with it,” she mumbled as heat burned her cheeks.

Ardow slammed his hand against the wall, and she jerked at the sudden movement. “You’re in love with him.”

She started shaking her head, but Ardow interrupted her. “You can’t trust him! You can’t! This will end badly for you, Lessia. Mark my words.”

“And I can trust you?” she snarled, unable to contain her anger. “You kept this from me! Loche is at least truthful. How long has this been going on?”

Ardow glared at her. “Longer than you think. But I wish it had been longer! This was in the works for decades. We just needed the numbers before we acted.”

She glared right back at him. “And what do you think you’ll accomplish? You’ve killed people, Ardow! They came after me!”

His eyes dipped. “They weren’t supposed to. But you weren’t supposed to become friendly with anyone. You should be on our side, Lessia!”

“And whose side is that?”

Ardow snapped his mouth shut.

She laughed hollowly. “You’re not going to tell me.”

He reached through the bars for her hand, but she shied away from him. “Lessia, you know why I can’t.”

Biting her cheek, she drew a breath through her nose to calm the simmering rage. “I can’t believe this.”

“I’m sorry,” he whispered. “I didn’t want it to come to this. But you need to decide whose side you’re on. This is bigger than me. Bigger than any of us, Lessia. It goes far beyond Ellow. And when the next phase starts… those that stand against us… it won’t be pretty.”

“Who are you working with, Ard? And what do you want?” she cried. “You can’t ask me to stand with you when you won’t tell me anything!”

“I’m sorry,” he mumbled again.

Pacing back and forth outside the cell, she covered her face with her hands. “You need to stop this. You need to promise you’ll work with Loche and Frayson and the rest. Maybe they’ll spare you if you agree to spy for them.”

“I can’t do that.” Ardow’s eyes glossed when she looked up at him.

“They’ll kill you!” she screamed, not caring if the sound traveled to wherever the rest had gone.

“Then they kill me,” Ardow said gently. “I am happy to die if it will allow others like me—like you—to lead a better life. Think about Kalia, Harver, Fiona, and the rest. You convinced me we needed to help them, and that’s exactly what I’m doing. Trust that, if nothing else.”

“There must be another way!” Lessia stared up at the stone ceiling, the cracks weaving their way through the white stone mirroring those splitting her heart open. “Loche has promised to make it better for us here. I believe him, Ard. Please!”

“And what about those not in Ellow? We can’t rescue every single half-Fae from Vastala. Especially not if it becomes common knowledge what we’ve done.”

She wrapped her arms around herself when his words cut deep into her heart.

There was truth to what he said.

But Ardow would die.

“Please, Ardow. Please don’t do this,” she begged.

When he remained quiet, she shook her head. “I can’t let them execute you.”

“Lessia—”

Steps reached her ears, and she steeled herself, hardening her shattered heart.

“No! I am so angry at you right now. So. Damn. Angry. But I can’t live without you. I’m sending Amalise away. And once I can, I will get you out. We’ll have to find somewhere to go after that—all of us.”

Ardow stared at his boots. “I’m sorry it’s come to this.”

“Me too.” Lessia breathed a shaky sigh as exhaustion crept into every single one of her limbs.

Voices drifted toward them as the group returned, and she forced herself to reach in and squeeze Ardow’s hand.

“I’ll get you out,” she promised under her breath when the first guard walked into the cellar.

Loche’s eyes sought hers when he made his way inside, but she kept hers on Amalise’s bloodshot ones .

Walking up to her friend, she gripped both her hands with her own.

Amalise stared straight into her eyes, and her chin dipped at whatever she saw there.

“I’m sending Amalise away.” Lessia continued holding Amalise’s blue gaze as she spoke, and her friend squared her shoulders.

“Very well. She may stay until after the vote closes, but after that, she is banished from Ellow forever.” Frayson clasped his hands over his stomach. “Let’s retire for today. The Fae delegation will be here tomorrow afternoon, and then this mess will finally be over.”

Without looking back, Lessia dragged Amalise with her up the stairs, heading straight for the doors and into the cold winter night.