Page 46 of Wings of Lies (Daughter of the Seven Circles #1)

Chapter

Twenty-Eight

N o words. I had no words as I gazed up at Oliver.

He stood in nothing but a green pretty boy sweater vest and dark jeans.

He shoved one hand into his pockets, and the other ran through his wind-blown hair, the streak of black mixing with his blonde strands.

He continued to rub his head nervously, smearing the cut along his forehead.

A cut I secretly hoped I gave him in our struggle.

“So, did you miss me?” he asked.

One phrase. That was all it took to entice the coiling power in my blood. I scrambled off the ground, letting my Infernus cover my hands, and moved toward him.

Oliver’s face paled. “Lucy, come on. You don’t want to do this,” he said, backing up, hands raised.

“I don’t?” My voice was quiet. Lethal. Similar to the male’s voice who liked to invade my head .

I backed him into a tree. “Last time I saw you, you placed me into the hands of the same male we were running from in the first place,” I spat.

He laughed and looked everywhere but my eyes. “About that… I had no choice.”

“You had no choice?” I shouted. “That’s your excuse?”

Oliver’s gaze hardened the tiniest fraction. He didn’t look angry, only determined, as if he had something to prove.

“My excuse?” he said and laughed. The fear shot right out of him.

“That’s what you think it was? An excuse?

” He took a step forward, and I yielded a step.

The shift in his emotions startled me. “I regret that I played you. I regret that I had to lie to you. But when I say I didn’t have a choice. I didn’t . You have no idea.”

“ I have no idea? I’ve been through hell because of you!”

“Welcome to my world.” He walked around me, no longer concerned, like I wasn’t a threat.

I grabbed his arm and whipped him around to face me. “No! You don’t get to walk away this time!”

He wrenched his arm back, brows furrowed. A small patch of icy crystals attacked his skin, turning it angry and pink. He was lucky that was all I did to him after he shoved a knife in my back.

“I almost died because of you! A pack of Hellhounds almost killed me!” I jerked my shirt up to show him my scars and had the pleasure of seeing shame in his eyes.

“I almost died because you set me up. I trusted you, and you handed me over to the Mother of Demons! You turned me over to be used and tortured!” I shrieked.

“The only reason I got away from Aspen and Brock was because of some male in my head. ”

I let my Infernus crawl further up his arm, surrounding his skin in ice.

His face pinched. Seeing his pain helped a little.

I thought about letting it consume him or at least leave angry patches all over his body, but without food, water, or proper rest, I felt the toll it was taking to hold the ice on his arm.

I let my Infernus flow back into my body and sat against a tree.

Oliver’s eyes widened. “Looks like you’ve been practicing.”

“Well, when you’re shoved into enemy hands and have no other defenses, it’s kind of hard not to.”

“I’m sorry, Lu—wait, did you say Aspen?”

“Yeah, Aspen. The Tenebrous Prince. You know him?”

His expression hardened. “The prince has a knife with his name on it.”

“What’d he do, steal your favorite toy?”

“No, but him and his wretched court have my sister, and he works with a monster who killed my mother.”

“Marcus.”

He rose a brow. “How do you know that?”

I laughed, refusing to explain myself. “That’s rich.” I dug my nails into my palm, near to breaking my skin. “You tried to hand me over to a male who murdered your mother and sister.” I might’ve kept the flames at bay, but not the vitriol in my tone.

“She’s not dead!” he screamed, eyes flashing.

“Why would you let that piece of shit live!” I raged back. My Infernus opened an eye, eager to come out, but I pushed it away, not needing it.

Oliver’s eyes turned to emerald fire. “I tried! I tried to kill that murderous fuck and get my sister back, and this is what it got me!” he yanked his vest down and showed the mangled flesh on his chest. “He held a ball of his hell flame against my skin. He forced me to hear and smell the sizzle of my flesh and live in the agony of his slow torture so that he could hear my screams. Marcus could’ve killed me.

But instead, he laughed and told me I was too pathetic to kill.

He marked me. Here and here.” Oliver pointed to his chest and then to the strip of black hair.

“Told me it was so I always remembered my place and that I’d never see her again.

” He sank back against a tree opposite of me. “I tried,” he whispered.

I almost felt for him—almost. “How do you know she’s not dead?

And why hand me over to him? I was going to help you, and you betrayed me to a male who is a lying scum bag.

” Marcus wanted Oliver to suffer. He didn’t just leave him alive so he knew his place, but so he always suffered with the knowledge that his sister was either dead or in a kingdom that was unreachable without…

I glanced down at the cuffs at my ankles.

Without something infused with demon energies.

I had the one thing that could get him over the border to his sister, yet I said nothing. They wouldn’t come off without Aspen’s key.

“Why take her if they were only going to kill her?”

I could name a few reasons, but I kept them to myself.

He sighed, head falling back to gaze up at the body of the giant tree, squishing some blue mushrooms in the process.

“I found a way to rescue my sister. But the help I gained came at one steep-ass price.” He flicked his gaze to his wrist, staring at his tattoo.

“You’re not the only one with an angelic rune.

Except mine is still active and forcing me to keep the deal I made. ” He laughed. “I sold my soul.”

Did he mean he literally sold his soul or something else? Either way, it didn’t sound good .

He continued. “I’ve lived long enough where I’m not as na?ve as I used to be. I called Marcus, told him about you, and acted like I believed he’d return my sister in exchange for you.”

I squinted at him, not yet understanding.

“It was a game—all of it. The male who had one of his cronies put this on me,” he shook his wrist forcefully. “Told me my next move was to hand you over.”

“Your next move?” I didn’t like the sound of that.

He sighed, again running his hand through his hair. “My first move was to find you. There was a reason I was in those woods.”

“You were looking for me?” It was a suspicion I always suspected.

“No. He’s looking for you. I just happened to be in the area, and he sent me because of some intel he found.”

Oh…no… I didn’t like the direction of this conversation.

“He who? So, you knew about me?”

“No, yes!” Oliver slammed his fist into the ground.

“I haven’t met the male. I made the deal months ago through his cronies.

The messages I receive aren’t in person.

He doesn’t give me much to go on except a when and a where.

And I listen because the way he speaks, even if I didn’t have the rune, I feel like he could kill me with his voice.

” Oliver shuddered. “He sent me to those woods without telling me what I was searching for, only if I found anything suspicious to intervene and help. And there you were, a tangled mess, seeing me despite my shadowing. It was suspicious. You shouldn’t have seen me, so I figured you were the target he wanted. ”

“But that doesn’t make sense. I was in the woods because I escaped from Marcus. If he wanted to hand me over again, why not take me back to where I escaped from? Why take me to Elora? ”

“He told me you needed to be tested, and he needed incriminating intel about Marcus.” His hands scrubbed at his head.

I had a feeling I knew where this was going.

“The male contacted me when I went into the cafe without you. Originally, I told the male no to his instructions, and instantly, it felt like icicles were stabbing into my body. It was the rune, he said. It’d force me to whether I wanted to or not.

But for some reason, he took pity and told me that doing this could help them bring down Marcus.

I called Marcus to tell him I had his escapee and said I’d hand you over, but only in Elora.

The male said you had to cross the portal into The Divide to alert the Mother of Demons.

” His emerald irises flashed with hate and disgust.

I closed my eyes, wanting to laugh at all this absurdity. “He set it all up.”

That derailed Oliver. “What?”

“You said you’ve never seen this male, so how is he speaking to you?”

No answer. I opened my eyes. Oliver stared at me, but I couldn’t tell what his expression said.

“My head.”

I nodded. “He wanted you to take me through the portal so it’d alert the Mother of Demons, so she’d send Aspen to intercept us. He wanted Aspen to take me over Marcus. Marcus must’ve not known about the portal.”

“You know who the freezing asshole is?”

“Yeah, he’s a king, I guess.”

Oliver raised his brows at that. “Huh. But why did he want Aspen to intercept you? ”

“To prove that Marcus was betraying his queen. Right before I was knocked out, Marcus was surprised that Aspen had shown up. You were already out for that part.”

Oliver grunted. “Okay, but why the prince?”

I thought about that for a second. Why would he want Aspen to take me and not Marcus when he may be the one who had my mom?

I’ll tell you everything I know, but only if you survive this. Prove to me that you aren’t some weak-willed, naive wimp.

“The river was my test.”

“The Corruptible River? He told me you were headed that way, but not why.”

Of course it was called that.

“He told me that ninety-nine percent of people die in it.”

“Yeah,” Oliver scoffed. “I’m pretty sure everyone is taught not to go near it while in their mother’s womb or incubating up in heaven in their little creation pods.”

I laughed, shaking my head. “Well, he told me to jump into it.”

Silence.