Page 165 of Till Death

I stopped, wondering if I should run. If I could trust Ezra as much as the others. Paesha tugged on his arm until all three paused.

“You don’t know me, so I’m going to give you the benefit of the doubt here. I’m not going back unless it’s with Orin.”

“Orin is gone,” he shouted, throwing his hands up. “And each second you spend trying to free him, you’re putting everyone around you in danger. Respectfully, you should have had a better plan before you got here, Maiden. Because the only thing you can do now is survive.”

“He’s still in there. You saw him in the hall.”

Ezra rushed toward me, gripping the collar of my shirt, hauling me closer. “He’s nothing more than Death’s lackey, and you’re fooling yourself if you think otherwise. His actions are demands of his father, and that’s it. My brother is gone. That thing that looks out from his eyes ate away his soul. Orin would have never laid a hand on me.”

“You have three seconds to get your fucking hands off of me or I’m going to make you wish you had the lake to escape to.”

He growled, baring his teeth. “Your threats mean nothing here, Maiden.”

I gripped his wrist, anger building.

“Dey,” Paesha whispered.

“One.”

He tugged me closer, hazel eyes nearly gleaming in the moonlight. “Two.”

“Stop this,” Hollis pleaded from Paesha’s side as she ran forward, shoving herself between us until Ezra’s grip faltered, and he let me go.

She kept her back to him, a plea in her eyes as she held her hands up. “He’s only trying to keep me safe.”

“I know,” I roared. “What do you think I’m trying to do for Orin? He needs someone. He needs me to remind him who he is.”

“Okay,” she said softly, as if she were speaking to a wild animal. “We’ll find him. We’ll do it together.”

“We won’t,” Ezra said with so much finality the twist in Paesha’s heart showed on her face.

“I will,” Hollis said, moving to my side. “I will stand beside you, come what may.”

The Huntress turned, facing the love of her life. “I will, too,” she breathed. “Because if it were me, Orin would come. He would crawl his way through any battleground for me.” She stepped forward, placing a hand on Ezra’s chest until heaving breaths turned steady. “And if it were you, I would be the one to start the battle.”

“You don’t know this place like I do,” he said, shaking his head.

“No, my love. I don’t. I know you, and I know your fear is warranted. But Deyanira is my family, too, and she needs us as much as he does.”

His eyes shifted between hers, and I felt like an intruder on a pivotal, private moment. He practically shrank, leaning his forehead to hers. “Then I will follow you into the depths of hell and grow wings for your escape.”

Ezra threw a halfhearted apology my way as we continued following whatever path he’d chosen. I didn’t condemn him for putting her safety above everyone else. He’d lost her and was likely to do irrational things to keep her now that they were reunited. But that kind of love was dangerous to me. He was dangerous.

“If not the lake, then perhaps the grove?” Hollis asked, with a note of reservation in his tone.

“You of all people know why that’s a bad idea, Hol,” Ezra answered. “But I can’t argue that it's probably the best option for a single night.”

“I’m fine with anywhere but the lake,” Paesha said.

I leaned down, swiping a dead leaf from the ground to keep my hands busy. “What’s the threat there?”

“It’s best you see it for yourself,” Hollis answered, a tiny skip to his step as he hustled forward, nearly overtaking Ezra’s long strides.

Beyond the patch of trees bordering the Lake of Lost Souls, a glowing blue light shone in the distance. As we neared, though Ezra’s steps had grown slower, the lights grew, until we were close enough to see them for what they truly were.

“What is this?” I asked, staring up at the silvery bark emitting that soft blue glow. I swiped my hand through the gentle mist that made the area feel almost dreamlike, immediately feeling a pull to step into the heart of the grove, as if I could feel the safety within, the promise of peace.

“The Whispering Grove,” Hollis answered, leaving us all behind in a trance.