Chapter 26

As agreed, I waited in the in-between, trusting that Roan would emerge with Aither as he'd promised. He seemed convinced that he knew what to say to get Aither to follow him, and I'd alerted a few of the nearby guards just in case.

So long as we got Aither in here, we'd get him to the Pit.

Caius fidgeted next to me, his shadows weak from not feeding enough recently. "Do you trust him?"

"Roan?"

Caius grunted.

"Not particularly. That's why you're here."

He glanced at me. "Me?"

"Roan doesn't give a fuck about me." I shrugged. "But he always wanted to impress you. Sure, he betrayed you and stole your position, but I doubt that desire for your approval has ever truly left him."

"Evrin! Selene needs you!" one of the guards yelled, sprinting toward me.

I didn't even pause to say goodbye to my brother or issue any instructions. I'd made my wishes for Aither known, and if there had been any change in circumstances for Tallulah and Austin, that was my priority.

The moment I approached, I saw the small glimmer of darkness that definitely hadn't been there earlier. I didn't need any encouragement from Selene to dive through it, vaguely aware that I could be walking into a trap as I felt myself change, my physical body vanishing into my ephemeral human-realm form.

But I didn't care. So long as I got to see Tallulah, nothing else mattered.

I emerged in a dark corner of a packed room, the center of it brilliantly lit, illuminating the metal bars and the two ex-Hunters within them.

Tallulah!

She looked so distressed. Her skin was pallid, and the light in her eyes had all but gone out. I needed to get her out of here.

It had been instinctual to call for her, to communicate the way that Shades communicated when we were in this form. But she didn't respond. She didn't hear me. Without a mating bite, Tallulah had no way of communicating with me in this realm.

"Someone is here for you," Austin said, squinting into the darkness where I was waiting. Right, Austin was mated. He could hear me. "I'm guessing it's your baby daddy."

"Don't try to be funny right now, Austin. You know he's more than that."

"Sorry, I did know that," Austin said, sounding genuinely contrite. "Sorry, Evrin. I'm having a rough day. How's my wife?"

A little frantic. The sooner we get you both home, the better.

"What did he say?" Tallulah asked.

"That Selene is missing me." Austin's voice cracked slightly, and he cleared his throat.

Please tell Tallulah that I'm missing her. That we are going to get you both home, whatever it takes.

This time, Austin relayed my message word for word. Tallulah promptly burst into tears, and I panicked that I'd said the wrong thing.

"We don't have long. Lochan is coming back to replace the light in the corner," Austin rushed out. "Do you have a plan?"

Maybe. I'll be back.

It took all of the discipline I'd curated from years of patrolling the in-between to go back into it, to leave Tallulah behind, but I needed support. My human realm form wasn't enough.

The moment I solidified in the in-between, I came face-to-face with Meera.

"I need Astrid," I said, looking around. Where had Selene gone?

"Selene has gone to get Astrid and Soren, but you don't have them right now. You have me."

"And us," Andrus said, ushering over a few more members of the Guard. Ones who'd usually do anything to avoid getting so close to me.

"There's not enough darkness for all of us right now—"

"Get me in there," Meera demanded, grabbing my forearm. "I'll take out the light. Then more can follow."

"Where did you even come from?" I looked around somewhat desperately, hoping Astrid would materialize in front of me, but she was nowhere to be found.

"I thought I could help! I can help. Come on, Evrin." Meera tugged on my arm, eyes wide with worry.

"Fuck! Okay. Fine. Please don't get killed," I muttered, dragging Meera along with me. I didn't have complete confidence in this decision—Meera was no warrior, as far as I knew—but time wasn't on our side.

There was no subtlety to our entrance—Meera basically fell through the darkness into a stack of boxes, sending them tumbling, and only just catching herself before she landed on her face at the last minute.

"Meera!" Tallulah whisper shouted. "Oh my god, what are you doing here? Where's Astrid?"

"I also have a solid form and opposable thumbs," Meera snapped, kicking through the boxes of assorted junk and crossing the room, hitting little white things on the wall that made the room increasingly dark. She flicked off the one by the only door before turning it back on again, staying in place with her hand, ready to do it again.

I couldn't communicate with her, but we seemed to have landed on the same plan, regardless.

Andrus and Galen slipped in behind me the moment there was enough darkness for them to materialize in, floating through the cell bars with ease, though they had to stick close to the wall to stay out of the circle of light still cast by the one over the door.

Take Tallulah and Austin back to the shadow realm,I ordered.

"Wait!" Tallulah cried. "Evrin, what are you doing? Why aren't you leaving?"

"We're not leaving without Lochan," Meera said calmly.

"No!" Tallulah shouted as Austin dragged her back, Andrus and Galen guiding them into the darkness. "Just leave him! Come back with me!"

I will come back to you, I projected, hoping the message got through before they disappeared, and that either Austin or the others would pass it on.

We couldn't continue on the way we'd been going, constantly taking the high road, and merely reacting to the Hunters' attacks. And maybe I was no one, and it wasn't my decision to make.

But they'd taken my love, so I was going to be doing something about it anyway—consequences be damned.

There was the crashing of footsteps on the steps, and Meera exchanged a determined nod with me, her hand resting on the wall, ready to plunge us into darkness again.

That she was unarmed wasn't lost on me. The moment the door flew open, Meera doused the lights, all but tackling Lochan to the ground and wrestling him for control of the blade in his hand. She cried out as the dagger sliced into her forearm, but managed to wrap her uninjured arm around Lochan's neck, climbing onto his back to pin him to the ground, and yanking his head roughly upward until he was gasping for air.

"Drop the knife," she ordered, her voice as soft as it always was, though with a deadly edge to it that I'd never heard before.

The blade clattered noisily to the ground.

"Happy now?" Lochan snarled, trying and failing to buck free of her hold.

I had definitely underestimated Meera.

"There are more of us—"

"You'll be back in the shadow realm before they arrive to help," Meera said mildly.

"The fuck I will."

Soren and Astrid stepped through the darkness, materializing next to me. Astrid was so silent and light on her feet that Meera and Lochan didn't even notice her arrival.

"You're not really in a position to negotiate," Astrid said flatly, picking her way through the debris as she pulled two silver blades from the holsters at her thighs. "I did say we should have killed you on sight. I'll be sure to point out to Ophelia that I was right."

"Don't hurt my sister," Lochan said suddenly, the acrid scent of his fear filling the room. "She wasn't in on it. She didn't know. Cal Thibaut insisted that I bring her with me when she expressed an interest in going. He thought she would be a good… distraction."

"You're such a disgusting little man," Meera said, smooth and damning all at once. Between her and Astrid, they kept him solidly pinned between them as Soren and I guided the three of them back to the shadow realm, where a struggling Lochan was promptly grabbed by the guards.

The moment my form solidified, Tallulah was crashing into me, and I scooped her up off the ground, her legs wrapping tightly around my waist.

"You came back," she whispered against my neck, the scent of her tears mingling with her lingering fear and her overwhelming relief.

"Of course. I'll always come back for you, Tallulah. I love you."

I held her a little tighter as her tears got noisier, but for once, I was confident that I hadn't said the wrong thing.

"I love you too. I was so scared, Evrin."

"You're safe now. I'm going to take you home and keep you safe." I gently set her back down on her feet. "But I need to finish dealing with this first."

I looked to Selene, who had a tight grip on a smiling Austin. "What now?"

"I have to go update the king and get medical attention for Meera," Soren said, already heading away, giving me a pointed look.

"Your brothers returned with Aither," Selene said, tugging Austin away. "I'll be taking a contingent of the Guard with me to supervise his journey to the Pit."

Austin grinned. "We're not citizens of your realm. No need to bother with trials for us."

I nodded in understanding as the crowd cleared out, my shadows coming to wrap around Lochan, holding him in place.

"Are you going to kill me?" Lochan rasped.

"Were you going to kill her?" I countered, not needing a verbal response since his scent so thoroughly gave his answer away.

"Don't look, my love," I told Tallulah calmly, not taking my eyes off Lochan for a second. I'd do far worse than this to keep her safe, but I didn't want her to have to witness it. I didn't want to risk that she wouldn't be able to see me the same way afterward.

"Okay," Tallulah agreed, turning away.

Unfortunately, it didn't protect her from the fleshy, bloody sound my claws made as they pierced Lochan's chest, punching through bone to get to his still-beating heart. I held it in my fist for a moment, watching as he gurgled, mouth open in a silent scream, eyes unseeing.

It only seemed fair. He'd held my heart in his hands when he'd snatched my love and my child away from me. Now we were even.

Red blood soaked my hand and forearm, dripping down my claws as I pulled away, leaving his body to collapse to the ground.

Tallulah sighed, not in disgust as I expected, but almost in relief. "I don't know if it's over forever, but at least it's over for now."

I wrapped my nonbloody arm around her shoulders, leading her out of the in-between and back toward the palace.

"You're not afraid of me?" I checked, horrified by the prospect.

"No. Feel free to do that to anyone who kidnaps me."

I smiled in spite of myself, squeezing her shoulders. "Come on. Let's get you out of here and get cleaned up. Do you need food? Water? Medical attention? I'll arrange it. Just tell me what you need, Tallulah."

"I don't think I need medical attention, but I'm not going back to Elverston House by myself right now, so you need to find somewhere we can stay together."

"Done."