Page 18 of Wings of Betrayal

“Excuse me?” I fold my arms and glare at him, and we have a stare-off before the others quietly vacate the room, giving us some space.

His chest heaves with each heavy breath, and he grinds his jaw, seething with anger. “What makes you think you can handle such a mission? This is no time to prove your strength, Zarla. This is dangerous.”

My mouth drops open, and then I close it and grit my teeth. The nerve of this male. “Do you honestly think I have to run this by you? You don’t own me. You do understand Harlum approved this mission?”

He rears back slightly, his brow furrowed.

Right. So he didn’t know. Typical. I raise my brows, awaiting his response, and he shuffles from one foot to the other.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t know. I thought this was some sort of rash decision on your part.”

I shake my head, unfolding my arms, and narrow my eyes at him. “Of course you did,” I say, crossing the room to strap more weapons to my body.

I snatch two swords and slip them into the holsters on my back, crisscrossing the blades. Footsteps sound as he slowly approaches behind me. He’s too close, and I don’t like it. At least, I shouldn’t. But I do. Sort of.

He gently touches my upper arms, and I jolt away from him. Despite how my body feels, my mind knows what he’s done. What he’s kept from me. And I can’t pretend it doesn’t kill me inside.

I reluctantly turn to face him, and he raises his hands, a look of concern in his eyes.

“Did I do something?” he asks. “Because you’ve been acting off for a while now.”

Gods above, I want to tell him what I know. Tell him I know what he did. I want to yell at him, hit him, make him understand how broken I feel inside. But I can’t. Not yet, at least. So instead, I’m going to pretend everything’s fine. I have to get down to Earth. That’s my priority right now. Not Amaros’s hurt feelings.

“I’m fine. I have to go.” After snatching up my cloak from the coat stand in the corner of the room, I throw it on.

I yank the door open and find the others are already gathered in the corridor, and they look like warriors with all their weapons. Good.

Amaros grabs my arm, and I reluctantly face him.

“Let me come with you,” he says with urgency, his eyes searching mine for something he won’t find. “Please.”

I don’t like seeing the sadness in his gaze. Despite everything he has done, I am struggling to stay mad at him. But I can’t pretend the hurt he has caused isn’t there, and I’m not even close to being ready to speak to him about it, let alone forgive him.

I gently tug my arm free, and his shoulders sink, along with any hope he was holding on to at being allowed to tag along.

“Be safe.” His gaze shifts to the guards behind me. “You protect her at all costs. You hear?”

He storms off and disappears around the corner, and the guards shuffle nervously, clearly unsure if they can uphold their end of his demand. I swallow the lump in my throat and plaster a smile on my face.

“Everyone ready?” I ask, ignoring the tension clogging the air.

When no one responds, Nilo clears his throat and takes a step forward. “We are.”

Without further thought, I make my way through the castle and out the main entrance. I release my wings, and the others follow suit. Uncertainty swirls inside me, but I shove it aside. Now’s not the time to second-guess myself or this mission. We have no choice. We have to find out how bad things are down there.

I take off into the sky, the sound of flapping wings behind telling me the others have done the same. Finlay and Nilo flank me on either side, and the other three guards fly ahead, takingAmaros’s demands way too seriously. I roll my eyes but allow them to lead the way.

We’re soon descending to Earth, the cool wind blasting through my wings and chilling me to my core. And then a wave of emotion hits me. Kyle’s in trouble. I tug my wings close and dive past the three guards, free-falling down to Earth faster than I probably should. But I don’t care. Safety isn’t my concern right now, at least not my own anyway.

I sense Kyle in the city, close to where he lived on the farm. A soft glow catches my eye, and my focus snaps to my mother’s ring, which is glowing red. That’s never a good sign. Is it watchers?

The city approaches fast, and I put my veil in place and land on the pavement in an alleyway behind a tall brick building.

Soft thuds sound behind, signalling that the others have joined me. I close my eyes and focus on my connection to Kyle. Once I’ve located him, I snap my eyes open and take off on foot around the front of the building and down the street.

Zarla, wait up!Finlay calls through the mind link, but I don’t have time to stop.

Something’s wrong.

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