1. Jace

Chapter one

Jace

I stood ten paces behind my queen, watching as she took her reforged blade and slit Vincent’s throat. I had seen her wield weapons in battle and hold her own against multiple men twice her size, but something about her finally taking a sliver of her revenge had unleashed the primal beast beneath my skin.

Lia released her prisoner’s blood-soaked, lifeless body and left him slumped in the chair he was bound to as she approached the three of us.

Gage stood at attention beside me, face hard as stone, and it was one of the few times in my life where I couldn’t read him. Zaela, on the other hand, wore her concern like a heavy cloak, her furrowed brow and tense shoulders giving her away. I couldn't take my eyes off my mate, feeling a wave of pride wash over me, knowing how much she craved the taste of revenge—needing it more than the air she breathed.

Lia re-sheathed her dagger at her side and halted before us. “We leave now ,” she announced, turning to move toward the entrance .

I took a step forward to follow, but Zaela rushed past me and caught up to her instantly. “Is this wise, Lia? I understand you are upset, rightfully so, but—”

Lia stopped in her tracks. “But?” She tilted her head to the side, and Zae physically tensed beneath her stare.

For the first time in my life, I witnessed Zaela gulp. “But,” she hesitated. “We should come up with a plan before we make our move. It could be a trap. You never know at this point.”

“It isn’t a trap. They are fleeing . I watched the fear slither into Vincent’s eyes when he realized I put it all together. If we don’t move now, we could miss them,” she said and went to turn, but then stopped herself. “And besides… I have a wyvern.”

Lia pushed past her, and I took a step closer to Zaela. “Now is not the time to question her,” I breathed as I moved to guide her with me to the door.

“Lia knows what she’s doing,” Gage chimed in from my other side, not sounding entirely convinced of his own statement.

“Let’s hope so, for our sake,” she whispered as we followed Lia into the gloomy, mud-slicked streets.

Lia burst through the townhouse’s door, and Avery and Veli were instantly on their feet, jumping up from where they sat and waited for our return. Nyra was also now alert where she sat next to Avery; her once blood-stained coat was now washed and clean.

“Where have you been?!” Avery shrieked as she stared at us with eyes full of worry.

My mate didn’t answer her as she stormed up the stairs, her heavy footsteps echoing throughout the townhouse.

I turned to Avery. “We have…business to attend to,” I said as gently as possible.

“Business?” she erupted as she crossed her arms and stared at me. “What kind of business? You all need rest! It is nearly the middle of the day, and none of you have slept. Where did you even go?”

I smirked as she tried to mother the warriors among her.

“Avery, will you please, for the love of the gods, just shut up and let them do what they need to?” Veli hissed from the corner where she stood.

Avery whipped around to her. “No, I won’t. Not if my sister is about to go on a death spree and possibly get herself killed.”

“She will be okay. Nothing will happen to her, I promise you,” I said as I gently placed my hand on her shoulder.

She looked up at me, eyes clouded with judgment. “You? Who just lied to us all? Some mate you are to her.” Avery ripped her shoulder from my grasp.

My jaw popped open, and I tried to reel in my temper before it was accidentally unleashed on her when she had only voiced her feelings. “I thought I was doing the right thing. You were all drinking, and I refused to have her out there if she wasn’t sober and battle-ready. It was to protect her. All of you. ”

Her glare softened as she continued to stare at me. “You should’ve been honest,” she whispered. “You should’ve known she would come after you.”

I gave her a curt nod. “You’re absolutely right. I made a bad call. It won’t happen again. That I can assure you.”

As if it wasn’t bad enough that I had to deal with Lia being upset with me, but now her sister, too, and my cousin.

Gods, Cadoria, what the fuck did you do?

“Promise?” she breathed as she held out her dainty pinky finger.

I chuckled, feeling the room shift into something lighter—thank the gods. I held up my pinky, but she ripped hers away.

“I take these incredibly seriously,” she stated sternly.

The corner of my lip lifted. “I would hope so. These are currency around here,” I joked, and she reluctantly wrapped her pinky around mine. Her intense stare and features slowly softened, and I stopped myself from blowing out a breath of relief.

A loud crash sounded from upstairs, followed by a guttural scream of frustration, forcing our gazes to the ceiling.

“What the hell is she even doing?” Veli asked from where she remained in the corner.

“I assumed getting supplies, but now I’m not so sure,” I answered as my heart raced.

“You all reek of death. Who did you kill?” she hissed.

Avery’s eyes flared, and she sniffed the air, which earned her a look from Zae. She turned to Veli. “That nose of yours is terrifying. What exactly does death smell like? ”

Veli rolled her eyes and ignored her as she turned to me. “Well?”

I cleared my throat. “We took a prisoner captive, and he is…no longer.”

“Kellan?!” Avery shrieked hopefully.

“His second. Vincent, I believe his name was.”

Her brows furrowed. “I don’t think I know that one.”

Gage took a step closer to her, and her eyes lit up. “He was the one who stabbed Landon.”

Her face twisted with both sadness and fury. “Then I am glad you killed him.” She then smiled up at him, and the sudden change was a little alarming, but so was the past twenty-four hours. We were all out of our minds with grief and shock.

“Lia killed him. We just captured him,” Zaela said as another loud crash sounded.

Avery’s eyes flared. “You know,” she gulped. “I always used to ask her what it was like to kill someone, and she would refuse to talk about it. Perhaps it bothers her more than she lets on.”

I hadn’t known that. In fact, I hated that I was unaware of that little bit of information.

As I delved into our bond that still burned with her fury, I tried to push my own emotions aside to get a better sense of any other sensations my Lia might have been harboring, but I felt nothing.

“I’m going to go check on her,” I announced, then bolted up the stairs as fast as my legs would carry me .

The wooden floor creaked beneath my boots as I rounded the corner at the top of the staircase. Peering down the hall, I could see the door to our bedroom was cracked open.

Silently, I made my way through the dimly lit hallway and looked into the room through the narrow opening of the door. When I couldn’t see much of anything, my hand instinctively moved to push the door open, and as it swung wide, the sight of the shattered mirror and the mess of objects strewn across the floor made my heart lurch.

“Lia?” My voice was gentle. “Lia, I know you’re in here.” I took a step in and glanced over to the other side of the bed. She was sitting on the floor, shrinking up against the wall, with tears streaming down her face as her chin rested on her knees.

She slowly met my gaze. “What have I done?”

My eyes widened, and I leapt over the bed and was in front of her instantly. I dropped to my knees and reached over to gently wipe her tears as they continued to pour from her silver-lined eyes. My thumb smudged the dirt and gore that had caked onto her face to find that her tears had stained her cheeks.

“What do you mean?” I asked as tenderly as I could manage, trying to keep her from sensing my concern.

“You need to get as far away from me as possible, if only until I deal with this disaster. The others, too,” she choked out.

My brows furrowed. “Lia, I’m not following.”

“Do you love me?” she asked, and my heart painfully thudded at her question .

“More than anything,” my voice rasped out as my eyes frantically searched hers.

“I cannot understand how.” She let out a gut-wrenching sob. “Everyone who has ever cared for me is dead . I’m a monster. You need to get as far away from me as possible and take the rebels with you. Please.”

I stared at her in silence for a few seconds. “My Lia,” I started, but she stopped me instantly.

“Don’t you fucking dare say it isn’t true! I killed my own mother!” she shouted. Her voice lowered to barely above a whisper. “And then my father and Lukas were murdered because of me. Everyone I love is killed. Everything I touch withers.” Her stare lifted to meet mine once more. “And if something happens to you, I will never forgive myself. The gods may as well rip my soul from the realm and burn it to ash because I won’t survive. This all started because of me, and now I must be the one to end it.”

My shaking hand reached out and cupped the back of her head, pulling her closer to me. I pressed my lips to her forehead and held it there as a tear of my own slipped from me.

“I used to think there wasn’t a single fucking thing in this realm that I wouldn’t do for you,” I admitted, and slowly released my hold on her as I pulled back. “But I just realized that there is, and it’s that.” Our eyes were locked on each other as her bottom lip trembled. “I will never leave you. I will follow you to the edge of this world and beyond, no matter what you say or do. I’m not letting you go. I won’t. So, please, never ask that of me. You know how much I despise disappointing you. ”

“What if something happens to you?” she croaked out.

I shrugged one of my shoulders. “And what if something happens to you? You think I could survive without you, either? The risk is always there, but not being at your side will never be an option. The two of us being apart won’t protect us. If anything, it would doom us. If loving you means death may greet me early, then I will welcome it wholeheartedly, because a life without you is a life I want no part of. However, I plan to survive…with you as my queen.”

A ghost of a smile tilted her lips. “I love you,” she whispered shakily as she threw her arms around my neck, burrowing her face into the nape of it.

I wrapped my arms around her, squeezing tightly, as my heart continued to race in my chest. “You just scared the shit out of me.”

“I’m still mad at you,” she admitted when she leaned back and looked at me, her mouth twisting back into a scowl.

“That’s fine,” I said, and surprise flashed across her features. “I’m incredibly sorry for lying to you, but I will be honest and admit that if given the chance, I would do it again without hesitation. It's not as if demanding you to sit out during a battle would’ve gone over well. If the suggestion even slipped past my lips, you likely would’ve locked me in a closet and gone out yourself.”

Her temper was rising to the surface once more, tiptoeing along the bond, so I continued. “You were half drunk. I wasn’t going to take the risk, and I did it to protect you, and I know you would’ve pulled some sneaky shit on me if roles were reversed.”

Her cheeks flushed, and she sucked in her bottom lip as if trying to suppress a laugh.

I raised a brow at her. “Do you deny it?”

Lia was silent for a few moments, and then her eyes flew to the ceiling as her lips betrayed her, tilting upwards. “No.”

“That’s what I thought,” I huffed out a laugh as I rose to stand. I reached my hand out to help her up when I admitted, “Gods, I thought you were up here upset that you had killed our prisoner.” I blew out a breath of relief.

“Absolutely fucking not.” Confusion twisted her face as she stared at me beneath furrowed brows.

“There’s my Lia,” I chuckled as I reached out and pulled her into my arms. I rested my chin on the top of her head and asked, “What’s our next move?”

Her eyes lifted to mine, and a mischievous grin appeared on her infuriatingly beautiful face when she said, “I have a plan.”