Page 183 of Once the Skies Fade

“Because I lost my entire family!” I growled, squirming my hips under her, but she was surprisingly strong and held firm.

Ignoring my outburst, she spoke over me. “I’d warned your foolish parents time and time again.”

Fuck this.

I’d heard enough, and she was keeping me from getting to Matthias.

“My parents were fools indeed to keep a bitter bitch like you at the castle,” I said. Not the most original words I could spitat her, admittedly, but any distraction would do. Calling to my shadows, I held Ami’s stare in a silent dare to try something, but after a few moments—why, I couldn’t tell—she tore her eyes from mine, flicking them to the far doorway. Her grip loosened slightly, my signal to unleash my wickedness.

Before she could bring her gaze back to me, my shadows took hold of her neck, wrenching her head back at a grotesque angle that forced her hands to release my shoulders and her whole body to slacken in surrender. Tossing my chin up, I sent my shadows—with the healer in their powerful grasp—to the wall behind me where they twisted her around and slammed her back against the rock, holding her firmly while I stood up. Her feet scrambled to find the floor, but it was a good half-meter below her as my darkness held her by the throat and pressed her wrists into the stone. Fear flared in her eyes, her lungs frantically gasping for air.

Had I been in this position a week ago, I would have already killed her, but despite my earlier words, my parents weren’t fools. They believed in mercy, forgiveness, and justice. While justice sometimes had to be dealt on swift, murderous wings, other circumstances warranted a more judicious approach.

“Get it over with,” Ami rasped out, a flicker of courage briefly gleaming in her expression before it was replaced instantly by panic.

“I’m not going to kill you,” I said. “Not yet, anyway. I think you deserve to come home and stand trial before the kingdom you tried to destroy.”

“I was trying tosavethe kingdom,” she hissed, her worried look shifting once again into bitter resistance.

Sighing, I twirled a finger in the air, and my shadows tightened around her throat, squeezing until she slipped into unconsciousness. Sure she was still alive, I ordered my shadowsto carry her back out to the canyon where Asher could guard over her.

“When did Calla Vael learn mercy?” Graham’s voice, its familiarity worn ragged by his betrayal, seared my heart like a branding iron. I said nothing as I slowly turned to face him. His haggard look and slumped shoulders sparked both delight and dread in my gut. On one hand, if he was as stressed and exhausted as he appeared, he’d be easier to defeat. On the other, if he looked this bad, I couldn’t bear to imagine Matthias’s state.

“Where is he?” I demanded. Stalking toward him, I noted how his brow lifted slightly in surprise when I tucked my shadows back into my palms.

“He’s still alive,” Graham said, leaning casually in the doorway.

Pressing my tongue hard against the roof my mouth, I restrained my fury and continued to approach. “Not what I asked. Is he back there?” I indicated to the room behind him.

“Don’t you want to know why?”

“Nothing you say can undo what you’ve done, and I’m in no mood to endure your gloating over all you’veaccomplished.”

“What if I could tell you who killed Brennan?” He cocked a brow, as if he were offering an enticing dessert.

“Doesn’t matter,” I said, shrugging casually as I stopped a couple meters away from him and clasped my hands behind my back, if only to prevent my shadows from lunging out and ending him before I was ready.

“No shadows for me?” He flashed me that boyish grin he used to give me back when the worst I expected from him was unwanted infatuation. Now it turned my insides with disgust.

Shaking my head, I pulled the corners of my lips down, mimicking the upside down smile my mate often wore. “This is something I prefer to do with my own hands.”

“Lucky me, though I admit I had hoped to have your hands on me under better circumstances.” My nose wrinkled before I could suppress the reaction, and Graham’s eyes darkened. “It’s funny how fae and humans each think themselves superior to each other, when both are little more than self-centered, high-and-mighty bastards, too good for those who just want to be wanted.”

Pushing away from the wall, he stepped toward me and shoved his hands into his pockets. I lifted my chin. He wouldn’t intimidate me. I wouldn’t back away from him.

“Your family saw me as nothing but a charity case—the poor bastard son of a female you couldn’t even bother to protect during the damned war started by that family you chose to marry into. My own father couldn’t risk his crown or his reputation to admit he’d bedded that female, because if his kingdom knew he’d slept with the enemy, a fae, they would have strung him up on his own ramparts.”

Wait. Was his father…

Trying to piece together all he’d said, my eyes darted away from him for one moment too long. I didn’t notice he’d slipped his hand from his pocket—didn’t recognize the weapon in his hand—until it was too late, the blade driving into my side, sending me stumbling into the wall.

Chapter 91

Calla

My eyes squeezed shut.

I started to slide down the wall, as if my body insisted I sit and rest, but Graham’s fingers wrapped around my neck under my jaw. His hot breath hovered over my ear, the scent of blood and sweat and betrayal pulling bile up into my throat.

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