Page 131 of Bound By Roses

Ory lands first and Arabella flings herself from his arms before darting across the clearing. “How could you?!” There’s venom inher words as she moves for Kaylee, who is kneeling down on the ground beside—

Is that Rhett?

Kaylee’s head snaps in our direction, tears pricking in the corners of them. “I couldn’t lose him,” she says, her voice breaking. So Rhett is alive, but at what cost? Arabella had seen this, and Kaylee… All those moments where she knew too much. When she’d pushed me to visit the Spider. I thought that was to find a way to save Quinn, but what if that choice, and every other choice we’ve made, was to bring us right here to this moment?

I scan the gathering, and the size of it has my breath catching in my throat. Ory, Wyatt, Kaylee, Rhett, Jade, Lara, myself, and Quinn—who is only just emerging through the trees. No one else.

My attention locks on Jade. He’s standing over Rhett, wings splayed behind him. There’s blood smeared on his bare chest, and I can only hope it’s from the Guardians he killed and not the unconscious dragon beneath him. “Where is everyone?”

Cold eyes flick to mine. “The tunnels.”

“You left them there?” That wasn’t the plan. Right now, Lunae’s people should be well on their way to Marein. “Imelda is dead, but Void—”

“Dead?!” He cuts me off. “Did you kill her?”

“What does it matter? We have to get to Marein. This can’t have all been for nothing.” Arabella’s warnings play over and over in my mind.

A thud sounds from behind me as Merrick lands. “It’s done. The others will meet us…” He trails off as he takes in the scene, his brain likely reeling in the same way mine is. “What did you do?” he asks when his gaze settles on Rhett.

“Don’t!” Arabella shrieks as Merrick runs for Jade.

He doesn’t even make it halfway before shadows spring out from the trees behind his cousin. Two long tendrils withsharpened points penetrate his chest and belly all the way through and out the other side with a sickening squelch. When they pull back just as suddenly, Merrick crumples to his knees. A torrent of blood flows from his wounds, cascading down his body and seeping into the earth around him. “Why?” he gasps, only seconds before the life leaves his eyes and he falls before ever hearing the answer.

Rhett stirs, as if the sudden loss of his Regent was enough to wake him. “Merrick!” he shouts, sitting up, though not without trouble. He’s injured, but there’s no time to worry how. Ory and Wyatt sprint for Jade, but they freeze the moment he turns his glare on them.

Oh, Gods. He’s Regent now.

The magic that exists within all of them, binding them to the one who leads, has moved from Merrick and into his heir. Into Jade. Not the unborn child with a father they’ll now never get to meet.

I open my mouth, but no words come. There are no words for this. Merrick—my friend—is dead. Void killed him, and Jade… Jade knew. Looking at him now through tear-blurred eyes, I see it all too clearly. There’s no remorse in his gaze as he stares down at his cousin. No surprise or even fear.

“You promised you would let me kill her,” Jade grumbles as Void steps out from the darkness behind him as silent as the shadows he walks on.

“It had to be done.”

They’re talking about Imelda. So the ‘us’ Void was talking about wasn’t him and his mother. He was asking me to join him andJade. The other Chosens.

I think I’m going to be sick.

Suddenly, my voice wants to work again as rage and betrayal propel the words forward. “You’re working with him?!” It seemsmy legs work, too, as I storm towards them. I don’t get very far before shadows wrap around my feet, locking me in place.

When Jade meets my stare, there’s only the faintest hint of emotion in them. “I told you I couldn’t be the person you wanted me to be. The Jade you knew is dead. I’m just what’s left.”

“That’s not true! How could you do this? Merrick was your family.I’myour family.”

“Gods don’t have family,” he says as he turns from me. His eyes glow red, as do the lines streaking his body, as he raises his arms in the air. He brings them down with force, and the world cracks in response. Just liked he’d done while helping me train Ty, the land before him splits—only, on a much larger scale. It caves in on itself, crumbling into the fiery gash that spreads wide like the hungry maw of Inferna herself. Trees topple over and the smell of smoke and ash fill my nose and choke my lungs as they burn.

The crack widens, spiderwebbing outwards as it races towards Lunae. What remains of the city is alight with the flaming pits surrounding it…but then it disappears entirely.

I can’t breathe as I watch the city I once called home fall into fire, taking all those still trapped inside with it. The thousands Jade lured into the tunnels with the promise of rescue. He left them there, because this was always the plan. His sudden disappearances from Marein. He was meeting with Void. Feeding our enemies information. Planning how to tear open the rift and unleash an army that will devour everything good in this world.

And once that’s done, they want me to rebuild it.

Ash roses bloom on the ground around us, but it has nothing to do with me. A massive rift appears beside the man who betrayed me, and wraiths scream as they spill out into the night. Void’s laugher melds with their wails and everything about this is wrong.

Quinn’s grandmother was right. History repeats itself, and nothing we did could stop it.

A light flashes as something else flies out of the veil and hits Jade square in the chest. He doubles over with the impact, and all I can do is hope whatever it was kills him.

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