Page 91 of Obsidian Throne
My dagger was in my hand in an instant, precariously balanced against Theo’s throat. “Help or get out of my way.”
“I won’t help you march to your death,” he said calmly, wrapping one solid hand around my wrist.
“We’re moving the soldiers. It will be fine,” I said, reluctantly forced to let my hand drop.
“No.” Theo shook his head sadly. “It won’t. Iiro controls Elk’s forces. They are marching with Wolf. They will come in at an angle to cut off the other forces, and there is no help to be had on the eastern front.”
Theo’s normally calming presence couldn’t touch the sheer horror creeping in on me. He held my gaze with his golden green eyes, like he was trying to will me to understand.
“Clan Bear will fall,” he said bluntly. “And when it does, my brother will be sure to make an example of those who thwarted them.”
That was said with a significant look at me, but all I could think of was the person who had made Iiro look the weakest.
Evander.
“No.” I shook my head in denial. “You don’t get to tell me my husband just waltzed off to his death and then expect me to just go back to Elk with you and wait for it to happen.”
My mind was reeling, terror and panic and rage beating thunderously in my eardrums.
“No,” Theo agreed. “I have men to take you to the tunnel, to take you home.”
“This is my home,” I snarled.
Evander is my home.
Or he was, before he left me here. Before he took my choice from me and subjected me to the thing I was the most terrified of in the entire world.
Losing him.
I took a deep breath, clenching my shaking hands in an effort to steady myself.
“They’re your men,” I hissed. “Find a way to fix this!”
The silence that filled the space between us was palpable. A tangible, evil thing that said far more than he could.
“Rowan,” Theo finally spoke again. “There is nothing I can do. There is nothing anyone can do. The men answer to Iiro, and Bison has refused to come. There are no more soldiers to call.”
Something niggled at the back of my brain when he said that, but his next words effectively distracted me from whatever it was.
“Evander obviously knew that, or he wouldn’t have…” Theo wisely did not finish that sentence, but it didn’t matter because my brain filled it in anyway.
Or he wouldn’t have left you here.
Was it possible to break apart from the inside out? My chest physically ached, like it had been cleaved in half with a sword. Two things kept repeating on a rote in my head.
Evander left me.
Evander went to die.
“I’m sorry,” he said. “But we need to leave quickly. I will be missed soon, and we will lose our chance to get you out safely.”
I was only half listening to him, because the thrumming on my spine had started up again, and it seemed to be pulling me toward the bedroom. I spun on my heel and walked away, shutting the door behind me.
T tingling was more intense here, shooting bolts of lightning down through my body in time with my stilted heartbeats. And it grew worse, the closer I drew to the saddlebag that held...
The box.
Rayan had said I would know when I needed it.