Page 120 of Until the Stars Fall

I pulled it out and quickly stored it in the pouch at my waist.

“Let’s get you moved, Wolfie,” I whispered, shuffling my way around his head and slipping my hands under his arms. I pulled with all my might, but I couldn’t move him. As desperation mounted, a tortured scream tore from me. I needed Rosie to move. She was fading quickly, and if I couldn’t get her to move now, I’d have no hope of getting her dead weight off him. Crawling across the dirt, ignoring how the sharp rocks dug into my knees and shins, I reached Rosie’s face.

I was about to coax her to move when a pair of boots came into view. My tears welled up as I laid eyes on our attacker and the bow in her hand. I knew this face—those deep brown eyes and crooked nose. I’d seen her before, though we had never spoken to each other. She was a member of Raven’s group, one of the hunting party. What was she doing here?

“Why? Why do this?” I shouted, my voice choked by tears.

She showed no remorse as she narrowed her heartless gaze on me. “Because they’re fae.”

“But they are good!” I screamed, leaping to my feet and rushing toward her. Although the woman was slightly shorter than me, she looked at me scornfully as if I were a young child in need of discipline.

“You are a fool,” she hissed. “I told them you couldn’t be trusted, that your love for them would make you weak, but they insisted.”

“Who isthey?” I demanded, but I knew. They’d given me those daggers. They’d encouraged me to pursue Brennan despite his engagement. Had they orchestrated this whole thing?

I was nothing but a pawn. Again. Always and forever someone else’s tool to be wielded.

I was about to say this when a woman spoke behind me.

“You’ve done well, Lieke.”

I whipped around and locked eyes with Anna, who stood a few paces away beside her husband. Neither wore the warm smiles or friendly expressions I was accustomed to seeing on their faces. Today, these two weren’t the loving parents of my best friend.

They were rebels.

Murderers.

“But not well enough,” Owen added, frowning.

My mind flooded with questions, but that didn’t matter right now. There was one thing I cared about at this moment, and I shoved all other thoughts aside so I could focus on it.

“Tell me how to heal him,” I demanded.

Anna’s eyes glided down to the ground where Connor still lay, breathing shallowly. “But this isn’t the prince you love.”

“Why should that matter?” I challenged. “He’s still good and noble and deserves to live. He’s trying to make things better for all of us!”

Owen barked out a laugh. “Is that what he has you believing?”

“I’ve seen his goodness with my own eyes. Now HEAL HIM!” I screamed as tears spilled over and trailed down my face. I didn’t bother to swipe them away.

Anna walked slowly toward me, studying me as she approached. When she was within arm’s reach, my hands fisted by my sides, and I had to fight with all my strength to refrain from punching her in the face. She pulled one side of her mouth up into a snide grin. “He’s not going to die, Lieke. Not yet anyway.”

“What? What do you mean? I saw the needle in his back.”

“Those were my idea,” Owen called from behind his wife, as if I should congratulate him for his murderous ingenuity.

Anna ignored him. “The one that hit him was treated with a different poison. It merely knocks them unconscious for a spell. The guard, though, got one coated in—”

“The same poison as my knives,” I offered, glaring at her husband and then at her.

She nodded. “We need you to finish your mission, Lieke.”

I flinched away from her slightly. “I have no mission here, and I’m not going to help you!”

“Ah, but you do. And you will. Because if you don’t—if you don’t stop this alliance with Arenysen—we will kill your precious prince.”

“No, you can’t kill Brennan.”

---