Page 137 of Gift from the Wing

“Oh, don’t even try. You knew what Caspian had planned or you wouldn’t have called Ry right away. You would’ve waited until this morning when you had more word, then formed another team to go in,” I argue, not letting his big ass get out of this.

“I’m upset with all of you. What if the Mastery had shown up, or it was a setup? There were too many unknowns for you three to go alone.”

“Hey, I was sleeping with you the whole time. I had no clue,” Corentin says, his smile turning into a scowl.

“Okay, so I’m not upset with Corentin.”

“Listen, trouble, I get it. We’d be fucking livid if you and Oakly pulled this. But I couldn’t risk them disappearing or the Mastery hiding them. What if we hadn’t apprehended them and then this morning, they packed their shit and left? Oakly wouldn’t get the justice she deserves, and she’d be looking over her shoulder, constantly wondering if they’re just going toshow up and take her,” Ry says firmly but softly. Pleading with her to hear him out.

I don’t think she’s really mad anyways. If she were, there’d be far more cussing and yelling, or fuck, even worse, silence and tears. Right now, her bond is just on high alert and all the wrongs that could’ve happened are running through her mind.

She lets out a long sigh, dropping her crossed arms, and then strides between me and Cas. “I know it was the right thing to do, but I need a break from rescue missions for a while. Next time just wake us all up and we’ll go, no questions asked. Together.”

“Okay, Primary.”

“Whatever you say, little wanderer.”

“Thank you,” she says, snuggling into us before turning to Ry. “And you. You will be the one to tell her that her parents are in the dungeons. I’m not doing it.”

“Palace prison,” Corentin quietly corrects, then quickly holds his hands up when she narrows her eyes on him.

“I will, I promise. I’ll tell her before your date today,” Ry easily agrees.

“Okay then. So what did they say? Did they try to apologize or were they regretful? What happened?” she fires off as we start making our way down the hall toward outside.

The three of us share a loaded look. None of us want to tell her the truth. Just because the Folders believed their daughter wouldn’t die from this experiment, doesn’t mean that justifies any of their actions.

Ry’s the one who bites the bullet and tells the others everything. Not only is the fury obvious on Willow’s face with each word he says, I can practically feel her dragon’s growl within my chest. Her beast is just as protective of Oakly as she is, and when she came out in a blaze of glory in that volcano, I was fucking mesmerized.

There’re no limits we won’t go for the ones we love.

“They’re fucking idiots. How could they remotely believe that bullshit? It’s a given that this would kill her, kill anyone who gets everything that makes us, well us, stolen from them.”

“Well, you bunch are up early. Who’s pissed my Adored off as soon as she woke up?” my—Keeper says as he comes around the corner of the exit to the dungeons.

“Shit, you scared the hell out of me. What are you doing up so early?” Willow asks, pressing her hand to her chest.

It’s cool and freaky as shit that he can move so silently. Even with our advanced hearing, she nor I can pick up his movements without him wanting us to.

“I’m always up early. Vampires don’t require the amount of sleep that you all do,” he says.

“Yeah, I definitely didn’t get that trait from you. I need my beauty rest.” I catch myself as soon as the words are out of my mouth, but it’s too late and they’re out there now.

He smiles proudly at me and nods without further acknowledging what I said. “You most likely get that from Tanith. If she doesn’t get enough rest, she’s incredibly cranky and more feisty than usual.”

“Same,” Willow says, causing us all to chuckle, and it breaks up my awkwardness.

“Switching topics completely here, but I haven’t had a chance to bring it up to you, Keeper. I need to ask you about the ritual the Summum-Master performs to steal the gifts. You had mentioned that it was a concoction of things that he did to create it. Have you seen it performed? Also, the family that’s betraying us led Oakly’s parents to believe she wouldn’t die from this, only be left without any of her blessings. We already know that’s bullshit based on everything Darstein said, but can you confirm it?” Tillman asks, bringing everyone right back into serious moods.

“That’s far from the truth. I heard whispers about it countless times, but only seen it happen once. The individual who loses their gifts most certainly perishes. Actually, in the instance I watched, both individuals passed, and the Summum-Master absorbed the gift. This was many, many years ago, and I have no doubt he’s strengthened the acceptance rate of transferring the power.”

“Do you remember what happened?” Willow asks.

“I do. It was like nothing I’d ever seen, nor did it feel like anything I’d ever felt. The energy wasn’t right with the magic he was using. It was as though the relic he uses was attempting to fight him off. Many relics are sentient and know when they are being used improperly.

“The Summum-Master and the scientist knew this was an experiment going wrong and they were still trying to force it. Ale brought the man who was infected to the forest in a rush, complaining to the Summum-Master the infection was taking root far faster than he assumed it would. So the Summum-Master went to the nonmagical realm and returned within minutes. It was as though he had the other waiting for his call because they didn’t fight back or anything, just laid down as he told him to.

“With a dagger much like the one used to mark people, he sliced both of his palms, then a hand each of the men’s, and began chanting. Not in the language of old from here or my realm. I’m not sure where the dialect originated, but the more he said, the relic he placed between them began to glow. When it was as bright as a Star gem, he aligned his sliced hand over the infected man’s cut, and his other directly to the relic.

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