Page 126 of Crown of Wrath

“Lysara take him,” I snarl and immediately reach out for the cobblestones where my revulsion shadows had been. I pull myself out of the void and look around. Gethin isn’t anywhere to be found. I’ve lost him.

Chapter 63

I had foreseen it. Somehow, I’d known. Maybe Saelira had begun to wake. Maybe Calyr had whispered in my dreams. I’d already asked myself what I’d sacrifice, and I didn’t hesitate when that sacrifice was called in.

~Cole Cyrus, A History of Flames

Cole

I curse myself for a fool as I fly around the cobblestone road below the breezeway we’d been on. I shouldn’t have left Maeve alone even for those few minutes with Gethin. It had only been a few minutes, though. She fought him before, and there’s no one in the world that I’d rather have at my side in a fight. She’s already shown that she could handle him.

There aren’t any signs of combat. No scorched or broken walls. No obvious revulsion shadow marks along the stone. Nothingexcept that broken railing on the breezeway. I reach out through the bond, and again, there’s nothing. It’s just like when she’d been in the void for so long. Not dead. Just missing.

Shouting from the city gates carries through the air like a steady buzz. There’s nothing identifiable. In fact, the longer I hear it, the less I even notice it. It’s like the rain in a thunderstorm, a thousand drops pelting the wall instead of the steady dripping from a slow leak.

But here, it’s quiet. Gethin knew what we were trying to do. He’s insane, and yet he’s a genius, predicting our moves flawlessly. It makes me question just how much he knew. Did he know Brenna controlled the Nothing? Did he know I was the Shade this whole time?

He knew what we were going to do, and yet he’s still here mostly alone. Movement out of the corner of my eye draws my attention. Then a shout. “Cole!”

I fly faster than I’ve ever flown toward the cloaked figure trying to move into an alley, the oversized hawk wings flapping so fast that I question if my back will be strong enough to hold me up when I land. The figure shuffles toward the darkness of that alley, but then I see her. Maeve. She slips from under the figure’s cloak and rushes toward me.

And I understand why there aren’t any revulsion shadow marks anywhere. A steel collar wraps around her neck. Somehow, Gethin trapped her with a collar, and now she can’t use any of her powers. Even the one who wears the Painted Crown can’t beat a steel collar.

Gethin moves like lightning, and he wraps one arm around her waist, the other going to her neck. A finger transforms into a bony knife and presses against her neck hard enough that a trail of blood runs down her neck to the crystal armor she wears. The steel collar shimmers in the afternoon sunlight, and I want so badly to reach out and pull it off her.

I snarl as he presses the knife harder against her neck while she struggles in his grasp. “Stop it. Let her go.”

The corner of Gethin’s lip curls up while the other side looks almost in pain, and the expression only reinforces the madness that’s controlled him for so many years. “You’re here to kill me, Prince Cole. Let’s not forget where we all stand. Your beautiful bride is here to kill me. The ten thousand humans outside my gates are here to kill me. A hundred shadow walkers? Your father? Everyone outside of my own House wants to kill me, so let’s not pretend like this is all going to work out without anyone dying.”

I set my jaw and do the one thing I can. Think. Gethin is many, many things, but he’s not stupid. So why is Maeve alive? He obviously could have killed her, but instead, he’s left her alive. It has to be because he doesn’t believe she’s a threat. While…

He believes I am.

In his eyes, she’s merely a Wyrdling who was set up to steal the Painted Crown from him. The only reason that he’s even aware of her existence is because of the power she wields. He knows, better than anyone else, the difference between power and experience.

I’ve offered to duel him hundreds of times. I’ve even offered to duel him and Rhion together, and he’s turned me down every time. I can see the hate in his eyes when he looks at me. Something about me scares him. I don’t know if it’s my skill with a sword or flames, but even with the relics he has, I make him nervous.

Now he’s using Maeve against me. I look at her, at the girl that taught me what love was. I look at the only person who’s understood me completely. She’s the only one who has helped to carry the weight of my life. The only one who showed me I could laugh.

I shake my head softly, and through the bond, I whisper,I’m sorry. I knew it would come to this. I don’t know how, but I was sure of it. For days, I’ve felt the lingering feeling that my time was coming. I’d spent my life coming to this very moment. I became strong enough to protect the world, just as Calyr told my father. I saved my friends. I redeemed myself and my failure after the Shattering. My debt to Brenna is paid.

And I married the only person I could ever have fallen in love with. The most beautiful woman. The kindest, most wonderful person. Someone who was ripped from a life of quiet solitude and thrust into a world of terrible people. She’s stepped up to every challenge, and she’ll step up to the challenge of this as well.

I know what’s going to happen next. Gethin does, too. It’s the only reason he’s kept the person with the Painted Crown alive.

“I’ll trade her for me,” I say.

Gethin’s smirk isn’t something I can miss. He thinks that he’ll be able to kill me and then immediately kill Maeve since she’s powerless right now.

That won’t happen, though. I can keep her safe. “I’m not taking off her collar,” Gethin says.

“I don’t expect you to.” The silence in this part of the city would be deafening without the quiet rumble of voices and weapons moving only a few miles away. A soft wind blows across the road carrying the familiar scents of the markets. Spices and leather and the sweat of hundreds of bodies. There may not be anyone at the market today, but that smell lingers.

Gethin pulls the bony blade away from Maeve’s throat, and I take a step toward him. Only two feet separate us, and once again, I whisper through our bond,I love you, and I’m sorry. I… Stay strong.Remember your debt. I will wait for you in the void, my love.

“Done,” Gethin says and moves just as quickly as he had a few moments ago. He shoves Maeve away from me, and then he grabs my arm.

“Run,” I say. “Run to the gate. Scream for help in your mind. Sia will hear you. I’ll always be yours. There is no till death do us part for a soul bond.”

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