Page 120 of Tangled Hearts

Sunshine, no. My heart broke. We messed up, we shouldn’t have sent her away. My stomach soured. We should have stayed together. I looked up at Ryder and Soren.

“We thought we were doing the right thing,” Ryder said.

He opened his mouth, but he closed it quickly before he looked away.

“We failed her,” Soren said, looking up.

His jaw was clenched, his breathing was heavy as tears fell down his face.

“So, will we be free?” I wheezed.

It was silent and I thought maybe I didn’t speak loud enough.

“No, we will be imprisoned with her,” Ryder said.

“So, we will?—”

The door opened to the cell. Taylin came in with a scowl on his face. He pressed a lever that released Soren and Ryder on the ground.

“Your job is to get her out of here. I will take you to her and you need to get her out of here,” Taylin said, handing each of us a vial of Oria. “If she imprisons her again, we will all die. You need to take her to the Fae lands to find her mother and father.”

“We tried looking for them,” Ryder said, uncorking the vial.

“Where did you enter?” He walked to Max.

“Death Valley,” Soren said.

“I will give you a map.” He knelt down by Max, turning him on to his back.

“Drink,” he said, looking at me, then poured the liquid into Max’s mouth.

I uncorked the vial, drinking it all.

It was different from her healing me, but within a matter of minutes, my body was almost completely healed. The Kark lingered, but I almost felt like my old self.

“Why are you helping us?” Ryder asked, walking up to Taylin, looking like he was ready to murder him.

“I had a plan to get her to safety, to get everyone to safety, but you had to show up and screw it up,” Taylin snapped, looking uncomfortable. “I’m impri— Our…. Fuck! I can’t say anything, I’m bound by magic.”

I looked at the guys, wondering if we were going to believe him. Max gasped for air, looking around frantically.

“You!” he yelled, pushing Taylin away.

“Shut up,” Taylin snapped. “We only have a few minutes before they notice I’m missing.”

“I can’t tell you—” His face contorted in pain.

“She spelled him to stay quiet,” I said to Max.

“I was hoping hating me would make this easier,” Taylin whispered. “I was selfish, entitled and I didn’t know how badly I had fucked up until it was too late. You need to get her and run. Get her back to the Fae.”

“We can’t run, if we run, we will be running for the rest of our lives,” Ryder growled.

“He’s right and we couldn’t find the Fae,” Max said. “Oria and I had a plan in place before you came for us.”

He glared at his brother.

“They are trapped, I will give you a map. We can’t sit here and argue about it,” Taylin snapped. “She is going to heal her and then we need to get her and you out of here. I might be able to buy you some time, but I can’t know for sure.”

---