Page 136 of Wings of Betrayal

Em swipes her hand under her nose, smearing blood over her hand and face. “I did nothing of the sort. It was an accident, Zarla.”

I raise my hands and blast Em with my powers, sending her flying back where she smacks her head against the tunnel wall. Em is on her feet in an instant and charges at me. She grabs me around my neck and shoves me back against the tunnel wall before Nilo pulls her off me.

I breathe heavily as I glare at Em. Then I notice Finlay isn’t here. I can’t sense our bond, either.

“Where’s Finlay?” I desperately ask.

The others look at one another, but no one will look me in the eye.

I turn to Kyle. “Where is Finlay?”

He stares at me with sad eyes and gently shakes his head. The realisation slowly kicks in as the blood freezes in my veins.

“No, no, no…” I cry, holding my hand against my mouth.

My legs give out, but before I fall to the ground, Kyle catches me. He holds me tightly as I struggle against him.

“It’s okay. I’ve got you,” he gently whispers in my ear, and I stop fighting him and allow him to comfort me as sobs wrack my body.

Lacinda hurries over and hugs me from behind. “It’ll be okay. We’ll get through this.”

I catch sight of Em again. “You! This is your fault!”

Em frowns, but I can see that she knows. She did this.

“It’s no one’s fault, Zarla. The lost ones overpowered us. There was nothing any of us could do,” Kyle explains in her defence.

“No. She did this.” My voice cracks. “She shoved me down that hole into the cave with them. She tried to kill me. And when we were busy fighting them, where the hell was she? I didn’t see her anywhere.”

I glare at her, more hatred mounting for her than I have ever felt in my entire life.

“Finlay would still be here if it weren’t for you!” The words fly out of my mouth, dripping with venom and absolute heartache.

She grits her teeth, her jaw tense. “I had nothing to do with his decision to rush in there to save you. If you hadn’t abandoned him and escaped through that portal, you could have been there to save him yourself.”

“Em, that’s way out of line,” Lacinda angrily states as she storms toward her.

She shoves her hard, and all I can think of is punching her in the face again. Demetros pulls Lacinda away from her.

I charge forward, but Kyle snakes his arm around my waist, preventing me from getting to her.

“Are you fucking kidding me?” I shout. “I was sucked through that portal! I didn’t choose to go!”

Em purses her lips, staring at me with such loathing. By the gods, the feeling is mutual.

“Em, you need to leave. Your presence isn’t helping. Go back to Zarquon,” Kyle demands.

“I agree. She’s nothing but trouble,” Demetros says.

Em doesn’t budge, like she’s waiting for Kyle to enforce the command.

Kyle rubs soothing circles over my back as everyone chimes in, saying how it must have been an accident, and how Emnever meant for anyone to get hurt. Everyone but Lacinda and Demetros.

Bullshit. It doesn’t matter what they say. I know the truth.

“She did it on purpose,” I shout. “She pushed me down that damn hole in the wall that led down to those lost ones. She tried to kill me!”

Kyle leads me down the tunnel away from the others. “I know it looks bad, but it would have been an accident, Zarla. Em would never intentionally try to kill you.”

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