Page 65 of Payne's Envy

He didn’t listen. Instead, he crawled on his hands and knees toward Gwendolyn. My insides twisted and I could no longer see his back as I pulled because of the tears.

“Joy,” Payne called out, but even if I turned, I wouldn’t be able to see him. My vision blurred, and my heart raced. My brother kept calling for Gwendolyn. The fear was dwindling and something ugly twisted inside me instead. My nostrils flared, and I screamed, but the tension in my head kept building. I should have been used to anger because of the heat.

I wasn’t.

As I kept ripping the arrowheads out of Barron’s back, I gritted my teeth.

Our enemies were all around us in the woods. Maybe the rest of my family was out there fighting. I wanted to make the Harvesters, our attackers, pay before they hurt anyone else.

“Payne,” I whispered as my shoulders shook. “Go kill them. Go kill them all!”

Wings flapped, and the force of his flight blew my hair into my face.

When I no longer felt any arrows, I wiped my eyes and studied Barron. His wounds were healing. I saw Gwendolyn’s forehead as he scooped her in his arms. The wound was gone.

All the tension left my shoulders, and I slumped to the ground.

Barron placed his ear against her chest, and his fingers found her wrist. His shoulders loosened, and only then did my brother weep again.

“Stay with her, Joy. Watch over her until she wakes, okay?” Barron pleaded with me. “I—I’m,” he closed his eyes and inhaled sharply, “I got to make them pay.”

“Go,” Melinda told him as he placed Gwendolyn in my arms.

Next to us, Sebastian’s head rested on Isabella’s lap. Like all of us, blood coated her clothes. With one hand resting over his chest, she kept running her fingers through his hair. She jerked back when he sat up, gasping.

“Izzie—” He grabbed her shoulder, then looked over.

I rubbed Gwendolyn’s forehead, and her nose twitched. “We’re okay,” I said.

“Go,” Melinda said.

Sebastian’s eyes hardened as he looked at Gwendolyn.

“She’s okay,” I said. “Our brother’s not.”

“Go help Barron.” Isabella nudged Sebastian, which spurred him into motion.

____

After the battle, I sat in the gathering room inside the castle with Barron and Gwendolyn.

“I’m fine, I’m fine, I’m fine!” Gwendolyn repeated through laughs as Barron smothered her with his attention. She sat on one of the love seats. Barron squatted in front of her, touching and petting.

It wasn’t enough for Barron. His body still trembled as he apologized and hugged her. Despite all the arrows I pulled from his back, Barron only cared about the one that ripped through both of them.

I understood, but my chest still ached to see him so shaken. When Gwendolyn’s laughter died down and the tears began, I stood. They continued speaking as if I’d already left the room.

“Barron, now we know for sure the marks make soulmates immortal like the reapers. It’s okay—”

“I could have gone an eternity without knowing!” he exclaimed. “Twice now, I’ve seen you die. I won’t see it again, you hear me? I will do better. You won’t regret being mine. I promise.”

“Barron…”

The door clicked shut behind me. I took a deep breath, then spotted August near the entrance. In the hall, he sat with one leg up and the other stretched out. He drank from a bottle of whiskey.

“What are you doing?” I asked.

August looked up. “So, Gwendolyn really died today?”

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