Part 23 (1/2)
Austin stands up straight. ”You would prefer Brianna lie down and wait to die?”
I let the tip of my sword fall to the ground. Even the suns.h.i.+ne can't mask Blake's pale complexion. His eyes are dark and sad.
”Of course not. You need to get her out of here before the Gathering. Everyone could see that she's defenseless.” Blake finally looks at me. ”What happened? Did he do something to you?”
”No.” I lift the sword again. I may not have magic, but I'm not defenseless.
Austin steps forward. ”She paid a high price for your life.”
”What's that supposed to mean?” Blake glares at Austin, much more comfortable in the role of aggressor. ”You're the one who put my life in danger in the first place.”
Austin rolls his eyes. ”The bond put your life in danger. And hers. Emotions are closely linked to the soul, and being forced to feel someone else's blackest thoughts twenty-four seven will take its toll. Eventually one soul will dominate the other. You would have grown to resent each other more than you cared for each other.”
Is what Austin says true? Would I have started to feel Blake's emotions more than my own? Or vice versa? When we were bonded, there were times when our emotions bled together until I didn't know if what I was feeling was mine or his. Times when his emotions were stronger than mine, but that was usually when Blake believed in me and I didn't.
Blake believed in me.
I push the thought away. It doesn't matter now. Blake may have thought he believed in me once, but he didn't trust me. Not when it mattered. Somewhere along the way he stopped loving me. I set down the sword and put my hand on Austin's shoulder. ”Can you give me a few minutes?”
Austin nods, but he throws his sword on the ground with more force than is necessary. ”I'll be just inside.”
I wait until Austin is gone before I look at Blake again, taking in the shadows that ring his eyes. ”Are you okay?”
I've caught him off guard. The vein on his neck throbs in response to my question. ”Me?”
”You've looked better.”
”I'm fine.” Blake says the words like a petulant child. He lifts the arm in the sling. ”Just a flesh wound. It's you I'm worried about. What happened to your power?”
”I guess there's a price for bringing someone back from the dead.”
He stares back at the house. ”He was right then. You paid a high price. This is his fault.”
”Blake, it's not.” Austin thought he was protecting me, but I was the one who sent the ball of fire that killed Blake. ”I'm the one who killed you.”
When Blake finally turns back to me, his eyes are softer. ”You shouldn't have saved me.”
”Of course I should have. I would do it again. Blake, I-” I stop myself from saying I loved him. It doesn't matter now. ”I would never let you die if I knew I could save you.”
Neither one of us says anything for a few minutes. We stand a few feet apart, but there may as well be oceans separating us.
”We can't stop the war from coming,” Blake finally says.
”So we fight.”
”You're bringing a knife to a magic fight?” Blake's first hint of a smile.
”I was pus.h.i.+ng for automatic weapons, but Austin said that the broadsword is the weapon of choice when it comes to battling demiG.o.ds. Go figure.”
”He's taking care of you?” He doesn't hide the pain behind the words. Blake is hurt? He left me. He bonded with Portia.
”We're taking care of each other.” I don't say the words to hurt Blake. I just need for him to understand that I am with Austin by choice. On my terms.
”Then leave. Get as far away as you can. If he loves you, he won't let you anywhere near the Gathering.”
”If he loves me, he'll let me make my own decisions.”
Blake picks up one of the broadswords with his good arm and throws it as far as he can. It sails over the gra.s.s, over the edge of the bluff, dropping into the sea. ”The Sons don't trust you, Brianna.”
”And you do?” Since when?
He ignores my question. ”They'll kill you without a second thought. I won't be able to stop them.”
I walk to where Austin's broadsword lays on the gra.s.s. I pick it up with both hands and slash at the air. ”I won't go down without a fight.”
”Either way, you end up dead.”
”Why are you here?”
The shadows under Blake's eyes grow darker. ”I wish I knew.” He turns and walks back toward the house. He doesn't look back.
THIRTY-NINE.
After Blake leaves, I don't go into the house. I walk to the barn. Malcolm automatically moves toward Panda, but I take the brush box from his hand and wave him away. The next half hour goes by peacefully, as I brush Panda until her dark coat gleams.
When I'm done, I ask Mick to take me into town. He looks skeptical, but I remind him that I'm not a prisoner here and he finally relents. I text Braden on the way. If Austin and I are going to survive, we need allies. Or at least fewer opponents.
Braden meets me at the little bakery with the layered tea cakes. ”What happened to laying low?”
I don't bother with small talk. I need to make sure the fuath don't fight against us. ”Is it true that the fuath are aligned with Liam?”
Braden wipes a yellow crumb from the corner of his lip with his thumb. ”We're weighing our options.”
”The Seventh Daughters are outnumbered. My money's on the Sons.”
”Are you here to recruit me? Cause I was kind of enjoying the lack of strings in our friends.h.i.+p.”
”I'm not recruiting you. I'm trying to convince you to stay out of it.”
Braden grins. ”Because you don't want to see me get hurt?”
”Because I don't want to have to hurt you.”
”Aw, you actually mean that.”
”Stop sucking on my emotions.”
”It's not like I can turn it off. Wait. You're worrying about hurting me if I align with you? That doesn't even make sense.”
I don't say anything.