“You are under arrest for treason.”
Baut turned around, his magic at his fingertips, and the atmosphere became so loaded with power I couldn’t breathe. He pulled his lips back into a snarl and glared at the guards, willing them to come for him. He was ready to fight—he was enraged and hungry for blood.
Guards charged him, but Baut threw power at them. The warriors were prepared, though—they’d trained with Dex, after all.
They countered, and in almost no time, they were on Baut.
“Baut!” Carlin cried out, jumping to his side. A new power rose—it was like Nylah’s power, but something about it reminded me of Lucia.
Carlin grabbed her husband, yanking him toward the window. Magic rose and burst out from her in the blink of an eye. Next to me, Nylah’s power rose to counter it, but the windows shattered, and Carlin and Baut stepped toward them…and disappeared.
The guards breathed hard, looking around the room.
“They’re gone,” Dex said.
“Damn priestess magic,” Ren grumbled.
Nylah shook her head. “I didn’t expect that. I should have known they would do something.”
I stared at the spot where they’d vanished, stunned.
“Oh, Goddess,” Nylah whispered under her breath and dropped her head into her hand.
Dex’s face was grim, his lip pursed into a thin line.
The guards left with the threat gone, and we were left in the aftermath. I reeled with what I’d just seen, with what had just been said.
Ren sat down with a sigh. “That was unnecessary.” He rubbed his forehead with his fingertips.
“Will they really wage war?” I asked, lowering myself into my seat again.
He nodded. “They’re furious about Lucia’s death. I tried to reason with them after we got back, but there’s nothing as dangerous as a male who is convinced beyond all reason that he’s right.”
“But…what does it mean? The prophecy she talked about? Destruction…”
My heart sank, and I filled with dread. It had been a lot to swallow, finding out that I wasn’t fully human. But to think that I was bad, that my existence would bring destruction? I scrubbed my face with my hands, trying to figure it out.
“She didn’t say what the prophecy was. There would be only two reasons to hide it,” Nylah said. She tried to sound reassuring, but I could tell she was as rattled as I was. “Either she won’t tell us everything because it’s not true, or she doesn’t know.”
“Whichever it is,” Ren said, “we’ll find out.”
“We will,” Nylah assured. “You shouldn’t worry about it. We’ll do it together.”
It was easy to tell me not to worry. It was easy to say everything was going to be fine. But what if it wasn’t? What if I really was a problem? The last thing I wanted was to hurt anyone, to do what Lucia had done.
Even if it was unintentional.
“Don’t,” Ren said, knowing my thoughts. “You’re not like her. And I don’t believe it. Not for a second.”
I swallowed and nodded. “Okay.”
“We’re taking this one step at a time,” Nylah said.
“That’s right,” Ren agreed.
“What’s the first step?” I asked.
Ren was grim when he answered.
“We prepare for war.”
* * *