Page 89 of Sticks and Stones and Broken Bones

I looked at his hand. He had long fingers, a musician’s fingers, but I couldn’t leave.

Could I?

“Raevyn, don’t go,” Nox said, and pain hit me square in my chest at his whispered plea.

Maybe this was better. I hadn’t found a way to leave to meet my grandmother and I was running out of time. I wanted to save them, had to protect them, and maybe this was the best thing. For them to hate me because I left. Surely it was better that way. It had to be.

A deep sense of loss and grief grew inside me as I stepped towards Nox. “I’m sorry.”

“No, Raevyn, don’t—”

I lifted my hand and slowed time. It came to me easily now, and as Nox launched himself towards me, I halted his movements. Tears tracked over my face as I looked at him for a moment. His beautiful face twisted in agony as he tried to reach me.

“I’m sorry,” I whispered, trying to keep a steady hand on my resolve. “I just want to protect you, to protect all of you. I wouldn’t do this if there wasn’t any other way but she—“ my voice hitched as a sob escaped — “she wants revenge and I can’t let her hurt you. I won’t.”

I took one last look at him before walking back to Apollo and placing my hand in his.

It was time to go.

A whimper left my throat as Apollo’s shadows curled around my legs. My vision blurred with tears and I closed my eyes as we disintegrated, not wanting to look at the home I was leaving behind. Hawk and the Revenants had come to mean so much to me in such a short space of time and I’d sacrifice it all if it meant saving them.

I was growing to love them, I knew that now. We were so intrinsically linked that I couldn’t really imagine a life without them. But I’d have to. If my grandmother wanted my power, then I’d willingly give it to her, even if it killed me.

Chapter Thirty-Nine

Nox

She’d left us. She’d turned her back on us and left.

“Where is she?!” Hades growled. He was furious, no livid, no... fuck. I didn’t think there was a word strong enough to describe the anger and violence that poured from him. It licked at my skin, and I wasn’t usually one to fear violence, I usually revelled in it, but staring at the King of the Underworld right now, I was actually shaking a little.

“We don’t know,” Korbin said quietly, but his words were curt, his calmness hanging together by a thread.

“How could she break this spell?” Hades shouted.

Casimir was letting Deimos take the lead and his terror form was seeping from his body, like shadows caught in a breeze. He stared at the door intently, like he was trying to decipher exactly what had happened.

“And you,” Hades spat, turning his attention to me. “How could you let her leave?”

“I didn’t let her leave,” I snapped back. “She did her time thing, and I couldn’t move. I had to stand there and watch as she whispered her apologies and fucking left. So don’t you dare lecture me.”

Hawk stepped in between the King and me. “Let’s all take a minute.”

I scoffed. I was going to need more than a minute, but I stepped back and held my hands up placatingly. Still had my blade twirling through my fingers but that was as placid as I fucking got.

Hades took a deep breath and placed his hands on his tailored hips. “What did she say before she left?”

Rook snorted. “What the fuck does that matter?”

“Because,” Hades said, his tone clipped, “she might have said where she was going.”

Hawk rolled his eyes so hard I thought he might injure himself. “I’m sure she left a map to her a location too.”

The scowl Hades shot him was severe.

“No,” I said, speaking before Hades could injure the Moroi. “Just that she was sorry, and she was trying to protect us.”

“From what?” Korbin asked, pain pinching his brow. “What was so terrifying that she thought we wouldn’t be able to protect her?”

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