Page 93 of Of Blood and Banes (The Arterian #2)

Report to Arterias at once. I will be holding your sisters as ransom until you appear, and if you do not show in three weeks’ time, I will kill them one by one. Starting with the youngest.

I gasp, glancing over to Cole who hangs his head in anguish, his eyes squeezed shut as he shakes his head. I scan the rest of the page.

Bring the ring, and come alone. Try anything, and I’ll kill them without hesitation and destroy all of Padmoor in your name.

— King Aaric

I clench my gloved hand tighter around the paper, and as I open my mouth to vocalize my disbelief about its authenticity, I whisper, “Where did you get this?”

“It was slipped under my door this morning.”

Just when we thought we removed any spies in Nightfort. What if we were wrong about Nolan being the only traitor? What if he isn’t the only one on this side of the border working for the King?

I toss the letter onto his desk. “It has to be a trap.”

He shakes his head, pounding a fist into the wall. “Fuck…I mean, maybe? But I’m not willing to risk their lives by calling a bluff.”

Arabella. The King will kill her first. How could he threaten such a thing, when he lost his own daughter who was only a few years younger than her?

Seeing Cole’s expression, him struggling with splitting pain crushes me with guilt.

I tear my glove off my left hand and touch the ring.

“He doesn’t know you’re not the one wearing the Blood Ring…

” I murmur, sliding it up and down my finger.

It snags on my knuckle as if refusing to leave.

I’ve been pulling too much magic, tipping dangerously close to being sealed.

Forever. “We have to review this with the rest of the group. Have a meeting and see what can be done?—”

“There is nothing that can be done, Kat.” He turns to me, tears lining his eyes. “I have to go.”

The tension from my ring slips, and the metal band slides up off my finger. But I can’t take my eyes off Cole. “No! He’s luring you, and there has to be some way around it?—”

“I don’t care. He can dangle them in front of me, and I will come running. Every. Single. Time.” He pushes off the wall, grabs his cloak, and secures it around himself before slinging an already packed rucksack over his shoulder. He glances at the Blood Ring, now off my finger. “Put that back on.”

I slip the ring back onto my finger with a swiftness that may convince him to stay. “Then give yourself a chance to think this through for a second.”

“Unless you can somehow kill him before he kills them, there is no way around it.” He gently shoulders past me for the door.

I whip, snatching the back of his shirt so he’ll listen to me. “You can’t. He will kill you, Cole!”

He still won’t turn to face me, his voice soft with resolve as he slips out of my grasp. “Then so be it.”

“How do you expect him to release your sisters? He won’t just let them go without the ring. Do you truly think he’s capable of negotiations?”

“I have to try.” He pushes open the door and exits.

I race after him, pulling my glove back over my hand. We descend the front steps into the street. “I know you’re scared, but you can’t make such a rash decision. We have to think this through, together!”

He continues on, his head low and pace steady. With a grunt, I jog past him and turn to face him head on. But he won’t stop, and I walk backward as I fight to get him to look me in the eyes.

“Look at me,” I whisper.

He still won’t. His eyes are on the cobblestone street, his hand white-knuckling the strap of his rucksack.

“I said look at me!” I roar.

He stops in his tracks, his body flinching like I’ve hit him.

I grab the front of his shoulder and take one step closer to look up at him. “You can’t go.”

He finally looks up at me, his amber eyes soft. “And why is that?”

It’s a simple question. One that should be easy to answer. And the look in his eyes is so legible it makes my knees tremble.

“Why? Because I still—” I choke, my heart racing like a rabbit for its life in my chest until pain wraps around it like a snake constricting it from breathing.

Love you. I still love you, even if it hurts. Even if at times it feels wrong, and I try to ignore it. Or distract myself from it. Even if it aches to admit it to myself—I love you, Cole, and I don’t want you to go.

But I can’t say the words. They won’t slip past my heart.

“...because I still need you,” I finish, in a voice so quiet the rest of the pattering footsteps around us nearly drown it out.

His confidence wavers with the softening of his eyes, the slow sag of his shoulders. But then he squeezes his eyes shut, closing me off, and shakes his head. “I’m sorry.”

“No. No, you’re not.” I prod his chest with two fingers. “You’re scared, and you’re rushing into this. You’re not in this alone?—”

He presses a soft kiss to my forehead and slips past me again.

I seize his rucksack and yank him back, my voice cracking. “Don’t you fucking dare. Don’t you take one more step.”

He freezes, and I swallow against the constriction in my throat.

Against the tears rising to the corners of my eyes.

There’s no way the King will let him survive if he returns without the ring.

And I know there’s no logic in sending him with it, even if there was any chance I could convince him to take it.

“Please don’t make me beg you. Please…I just barely forgave you.

Don’t give me another reason to hate you. ”

His head dips. “Maybe it’s better if you do.”

“Look me in the eyes and fucking say that.” My voice wobbles, and a tear slides down my cheek.

He turns his head, and I shift in front of him again. But he proves me right—he still can’t look me in the eyes.

I bite down against my drowning terror and desperation.

“If you love me as much as you say you do…give me this chance. Out of the two of us, you’ve always been the one to lead with logic.

At least let us see what the others think.

Maybe they can help us come up with a better plan than the two of us can on our own. ”

He doesn’t respond, but he doesn’t move.

“You told me your word means nothing if it’s not for me…right?” My lips tremble. “In Arterias, you promised me we’d stay together. And in Mossmead, you said you were always here for me. What changed?”

“Nothing ever changes about me when it comes to you,” he whispers and looks up at me with eyes that tear into my soul. With a deep breath, he nods. “We’ll take it to others and let them weigh in.”