Page 73 of Of Vows and War: Special Edition
Your fault!
Your fault!
Your. Fault.
It was my fault. But I would be damned if it were for nothing. A shout caught my attention, gold clad soldiers heading my way after my outburst caught their attention. With a deep breath, I willed every feeling other than fury to burrow down within me. I caged them, just as I used to. They could be felt later, but right now, Bellamy was here. My family was here. Even if I did not deserve them, they still came. And they needed me.
Chapter Thirty-Two
Bellamy
“You should stay here,” I said, watching as Adbeel donned his armor. It was black as night, the metal buffed since his last battle. How long had it been since he last fought? Centuries. Not since he found me.
“I will go get my granddaughter, Bellamy,” was all he said in response. At least we knew where I learned my stubbornness from.
What would Asher think of the fact that I was raised by her grandfather and she was raised by my parents? Would she think it inappropriate? Wrong?
Would she even be okay enough after whatever they were doing to her to think of such things?
Yes, she had to be relatively okay or Nicola would have said something to me. At least, I hoped she would have.
“Fine, go tell Odilia that she will be in charge until we get back. We need to be as quick as possible. I think the best thing we can do is limit who we bring and focus on retrieving Asher.” Adbeel nodded, grabbing the hilt of his silver sword and tugging it off the mount it had sat upon for as long as I had been alive.
“You go get your Trusted and I will inform Odilia. Meet me back here in no more than five minutes,” he ordered before disappearing in a beam of light.
“Bossy,” I muttered as I willed myself to the hallway just outside of mine and my Trusted’s quarters in Pike.
I went straight to my room, dressing quickly in my armor and then stepping into my small bathing room. Though I knew it was vain, I could not help myself from looking into the mirror and making sure I looked decent for my princess.
When I decided I looked well enough, I marched out of my room and into the hallway.
Through Noe’s door, I could hear the muffled voices of her, Damon, Cyprus, Farai, and Jasper. I did not bother to knock before pushing through the door. All of them turned to look at me, their conversation cut short. Noe, Damon, and Cyprus sat on her bed, the two males on either side of Noe and her arms slung around their shoulders. Farai and Jasper sat on her floor with their legs tangled together. They had rarely left one another’s side, the pure joy of being within each other’s company radiating off of them. Asher would have been so happy to see them together. Ranbir was there as well, his back hunched in the wooden chair at Noe’s desk. Asher and I would need to find a way to help him.
Something.
Anything.
“Time to go, you lazy assholes. Asher is waiting for her family,” I practically hummed. They all straightened, six pairs of wide eyes staring at me with the sort of dazed joy that could only be found when hopeless dreams became a precarious reality.
“Really?” Noe gasped out, her hand on her mouth. Cyprus looked ready to cry. Damon stood, rolling his shoulders back and nodding. Ranbir was similar, his eyes gaze fierce.
“You have to stay here, okay?” Farai whispered to Jasper.
“Absolutely not! I need to help you get Ash back!” Jasper yelled in response, pushing himself to his feet. We really did not have time for this.
“We both know you are not a fighter, Jas. Stay here and make sure that everything is ready for Ash. I am sure Ray will help you.” Farai’s tone was soothing, and when he stood he placed firm hands on either side of his husband’s face. They stared into one another’s eyes, looking as if they might be lost in the love they shared. When Jasper finally sighed and agreed, Faria placed a gentle yet passionate kiss to his lips. “She will be in your arms in no time.”
“If that is settled, then I need you all to get up and get ready. We have only minutes to portal to Adbeel’s office and then get to that ridiculous pirate.”
It turned out that they needed only one minute to disperse into their respective rooms and yank on their own armor. By the end of it, we were portaling to the weapons room, where we all armed ourselves. From there, I took a deep breath and willed us to the very edge of Dunamis. Farai looked the least steady on his feet, but he stayed up long enough to step through the wards. Though I knew he was on our side, I found myself looking his way to see if the wards would reject him for malicious intent. As he slid through effortlessly and leaned onto Noe, I nodded and grabbed them again.
The moment our feet touched down, Adbeel was there, grabbing my arm and shouting, “Now!”
Noe responded instead of me, checking the coordinates on a map she had grabbed one last time before closing her eyes and enveloping us all in the sweet smell of her Moon magic.
“Finally,” Henry’s loud huff cut through the air right as we arrived on the deck. The sky above us was fading to black, the stars popping out one by one to bear witness to the chaos that was about to ensue.
All I could think was that no matter what, I would have the love of my life in my arms by the end of the night.
