Page 95 of The Fifth Soul

My words have a calming effect on his energy. His breathing settles as his eyes follow mine about the room, at the many people watching.

Despite whatever connection Janelle might have to the uprising, I can’t help but feel like there’s more going on than we know. But it’s just that: a feeling. All I can do is share the known truth and allow him to make his own verdict.

“Take her to the cells with the remainder of the traitors,” Brandon commands.

The guards move Janelle out of the room, almost dragging her by the arms. She doesn’t look up at any bystanders, especially Jesse. As she passes me, she turns in my direction.

Before she can say anything, I speak. “Call it a small act of kindness. We’re even.”

She saved my life. I will save hers.

Brandon orders the rest of the castle to be checked. No room left unturned. A meeting will be held in a few hours to go over all the information currently known.

He finally turns to look at me as the room clears. This vault, the place where it all began, feels like a casket for the emotions looking to bury me in grief. The last time I stood here, I felt like my world was falling apart. I had lost the most important person in my life. Here I am again with the same emotions and much more to lose.

We have all lost so much tonight.

“She didn’t tell him about my stone,” I say, picking up the broken bracelet from the ground. “When he figured it out and had the upper hand, she killed him herself. I don’t think she wanted to be part of all this.”

“That’s no excuse.” His words come out sharp as knives. They aren’t meant for me. “She should have come forward the moment she became aware of any rebel moment.”

“She betrayed Ray,” I explain the exchange they had seconds before Ray dropped to the ground. His expression does not change as I speak, but I can tell he holds on to every word.

“She betrayed me and her people. She betrayed Jesse.”

There’s no reasoning with him right now. His red rim eyes give me pause. I take a step closer and his arms open for me. Our foreheads touch and we take a couple of breaths there.

“We need to go out there and face whatever awaits,” I say.

“It's going to be bad. It can only get worse from here,” he says.

“We will face it together.” I link our fingers together and give his hand a reassuring squeeze. To whatever awaits us, I’ll be here with him to face it.

Walking out of the vault feels like I’m stepping into another world. The library that once brought me awe is no longer there, the space I learned in for weeks no longer exists.

When I first stepped into the library today, I could barely see anything because smoke filled the space. I was so focused on destroying the threat I didn’t look twice at my surroundings. I didn’t spare a second glance at the floor my feet stormed through and what lay there.

The smoke has dissipated, and I watch in horror as guards carefully move about the space. Black burn marks make the path where the snake of fire made its way right through the middle of the rows of desks. The remainder of those desks stand burned to near charcoal. We know the desks were not empty from the equally burned items scattered about.

“Sofia,” Brandon says with a shaky voice.

“We don’t know that for sure,” I say between clenched teeth.

The more I hold tight to that hopeful thought, the more I’ll believe it.

“There is a sign-in sheet behind the front desk.” A guard picks it up from the floor behind the desk where most of the items that survived clutter the space. Without taking a single step, he scans the names on that list and looks back at the remainders of the wooden desks. His eyes glisten as they move back to Brandon. “Eight sign-ins and eight casualties.”

Two guards move to the one who holds the list and embrace him in support. They make condolences for a sister.

I can’t handle this anymore.

“I need some air.”

I move to the exit. Brandon and Roman follow me, as do a group of guards who refuse to be more than a few feet from their king. We make it halfway there before encountering a group of guards examining a man. Roman breaks away from us immediately and asks what’s happening. They pull my dagger out of the man’s neck and examine it.

“That’s mine,” I say before I grab my dagger back. I wipe it on my pants and secure it back to my thigh.

“You took out two of the Duelo siblings?” Roman’s voice of disbelief nerves me.

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