Page 82 of Broken Fate
“But they’re dead,” I whispered. “I held their bodies. I watched them burn! This is impossible. Some kind of dark magic. It has to be. It’s not real. It can’t be …”
Arcadus shook his head. “Do you really think I’m stupid enough to throw away a bargaining chip such as this? Come now, child. I’ve been Alpha of this pack for centuries. Do you think you’re the first to try to destroy the stone?”
I looked away uncomfortably.
“Please,” he sneered with all the knowledge of someone who trulyhadseen it all before and judged my efforts contemptible. “You are nothing but the latest in a line. All of whom have died. Just like you will if you don’t put the stone down.”
What could I do? Arcadus held the upper hand, and he knew it. Coming on that suicide mission to destroy the stone was one thing. I could handle that, choosing my own death, knowing it had, hopefully, accomplished something worthwhile.
But condemning my parents to death, being forced to watch them die in front of me, was something else entirely. I wasn’t sure I possessed the strength to make such a decision.
“Jada, honey, is that you? Are you—ack.”
“Don’t hurt her!” I shrieked as the guard pulled the sword in a little tighter until my mother’s blood ran over it, having cut through the skin of her throat. “Mom, it’s okay. It’s going to be okay.”
“Jada,” Andi hissed. “You can’t. We have to destroy it. This is our best chance.”
“Those are myparents,” I moaned, the stone still held in my grasp. “How can I make that decision?”
Arcadus’ mouth twitched. Beside him, Andracis broke into a full-blown grin. He was probably anticipating how to hurt me, make me bleed and suffer for as long as possible before he killed me.
A body came sailing into the chamber as the sounds of fighting outside died. The corpse slid right between our two sides, the face of theVolktwisted horribly in death.
“You don’t,” Kiel said, stepping into the room, seeming none the worse for wear.
I glanced over my shoulder at him, sagging slightly at the apparent lack of serious damage. His outfit was torn to ribbons, but no blood flowed from any wounds I could see. Other than that, the only other change was that his hood and scarf had come away during the battle.
“You!” Arcadus shrieked unexpectedly.
My head whipped back around, stunned by what I saw. The normally composed, arrogant Alpha had gone red, his eyes as round as coins. He stabbed a finger at Kiel so hard it shook, his nostrils wide.
“Enough of this, Arcadus,” Kiel growled, coming up to stand by me. “It’s over.”
“No,” the Arcadian Alpha hissed. “No, it’s not. Not until I say it is.”
Kiel turned to me. “Do you trust me?”
Amid all the chaos of our entrance to the palace, the fighting, my parents’ miraculous return from the dead, and the apparent blood feud between Kiel and Arcadus, that was thelastthing I expected him to ask me.
“Do I trust you?” I echoed.
“Yes,” he said, his eyes flicking back and forth from Arcadus to me, lingering on neither. “Do youtrustme?”
“I …”
Did I trust him? I was there and, for the moment, still alive after following his directions. To some extent, yes, I did trust him, but that wasn’t what he was asking. Not really. Coming had been a group decision, and Kiel had led us. Now, however, he was asking me if I trusted himimplicitly.
“And if I do?”
“Then you have to put down the stone,” he said calmly, not taking his eyes off me.
“But … we came here to destroy it. This was your idea,” I protested, looking from him to my parents and back.
“I know. But we’ll have another chance,” he said. “Just put it down. We’ll save your parents.”
Hesitation stilled my hands, locking my arms tight.
“Trust me,” Kiel added, laying one hand gently atop my forearm. His fingers curled into a soft squeeze.
