Page 23 of Beautiful Beast

“No,” I said. “Or at least I have not heard that they do. But considering we’re not there… they will suspect something.”

I concentrated on unclenching my jaw. The dichotomy of what was expected of us and what was really wanted weighed on me. We’d been sent to execute Katalena quickly and efficiently, but if word had gotten back of the three of us unleashing our full power on the palace of Rensara—which we hadn’t—I knew the Elders wouldn’t be upset.

If anything, they would be overjoyed. It was the three of us that did not want more harm than needed. They also grew restless with the standstill, eager to strike, though they could not. Every year our situation grew more dire. Not only ours, but the humans as well. They refused to listen, so we’d retreated.

For now.

There wasn’t much I could do. Holding back the Elders could not last forever, even if I tried. It was out of my control. Whether it was tomorrow or in another century, they would choose to wipe humans off the face of the continent rather than perish, if they couldn’t simply wait them out into extinction.

“Once they know the girl isn’t dead,” Sirrus sat down heavily, “they will order action. Or send someone to take care of it.”

Zovai punched the wall where his glass had hit it, cracking the stone. When he looked back, his dragon looked back at us, smoke seeping from his nose and mouth. He stared at me, a naked challenge in his gaze. I met it without fear.

In the centuries we’d been alive, we had fought. Nothing had been able to overcome our friendship and bond, but it didn’t mean it would always be easy. In the end, he looked away first, acknowledging his loss. “I fucking hate this.”

Above anything, it was his loss for words and actions that unsettled me. Of the three of us, Zovai was the one who hesitated the least. Jumped into action without thought. Didn’t wait. To see him spinning his wheels was unnerving.

“What’s done is done,” I said. “Rest for the night. In the morning, when she wakes, we will speak to her. And decide.”

He stalked to his rooms without saying more, slamming the door behind him.

“I think he might be struggling more with saving her life than we are.” Sirrus smiled faintly.

“And I don’t know what to think about that.”

He shrugged. “Neither do I.”

I stared into the flames and let my thoughts circle and my body ease. Sirrus eventually retired as well, but I didn’t. I stared into the flames and let them sear my eyes. Let them burn until they were all I could see, following every possible path this could lead us down.

The last time the Fallen had nudged us in a direction, it hadn’t ended well. And this felt the same. Like walking up to a precipice in human form, knowing we could not shift, and jumping anyway.

I blinked and noticed the sky lightening in the windows. Time had slipped away as I sat, dawn approaching. Despite the rest I needed, there would be no rest for me until I knew more. Until I understood.

Until I sorted out the sensation of destiny tugging at my chest, urging me to jump into the wind and fall without care.

Perhaps it was better if we didn’t speak to her at all.

Perhaps this dawn should be marked only by her death.

Standing, I made my way back to the cells.

CHAPTER ELEVEN

________

KATALENA

Ididn’t know how long I slept. There were no windows here to show me the light in the sky, but when I opened my eyes, I felt better. Rested, though my body still ached from the journey.

Varí curled between me and the hewn rock wall, snuggling into the blankets.

A scrape on stone came from behind me, making me suddenly aware.

The reason I woke wasn’t because it was time to wake, it was because there was a presence watching me. Swallowing, I pulled the blankets higher to cover Varí before I sat up and looked.

A man stood leaning against the wall in the light of the brazier, watching me. Dark hair that fell into his eyes, hands in the pockets of simple trousers. His shirt, too, spoke nothing of wealth and everything of hard work.

If Prince Andaros and this man were to clash, I had no doubt this man would win. An errant thought, but one I had to stifle my smile at.

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