Page 115 of The Blade in the Ashes
No, I had to believe this was real.
Itfeltreal. That swirling sensation of doom deep in my gut felt far more legitimate than any false vision Pasnia had forced upon me.
Heavy footfalls sounded as Clay rounded the corner with urgency, chest bare and sweat-slicked as if he’d run here directly from the training yard. “What is it?”
I pushed to my feet, swatting away Elaina who tried to force me into a seated position.
“We have to go!” I insisted, hurrying to him even as I was painfully aware of how wild I sounded.
Clay and Elaina shared a glance over my shoulder, and he took a step towards me and grasped my forearms. He wore the expression of an old friend instead of a king as he held me steady. “Why don’t we sit down?”
“No!” I snapped, shoving him back. I didn’t need him to be my friend right now. I didn’t even need him to be a king. What I needed was for him to be the man who would do anything to save her. That’s whatsheneeded. “I’m not crazy!”
Clay frowned. “No one is saying that, Camilla.”
“We have to go!” I screamed again, not caring about the whispers that were growing louder and louder in the corners of the room.
With a heavy breath, Clay scanned the hall before pulling us into a nearby room, ordering that no one was to disturb us.
“Camilla, I need you to calm down and talk me through what’s going on.” Clay closed the door to the dining room we had fallen into and turned golden eyes onto mine.
He guided me towards the table even as I shoved away his arm once more.
“No!”
His chest shook with a growl. “That wasn’t a question; it was an order from your king!”
Oh, for Gods sake, he was being unbearably obtuse at a time that I needed him tomove. “She’s in danger!”
This conversation was taking too long. We didn’t have the time to sit down and go through every single detail. Why didn’t he understand the urgency? Weren’t they supposed to have some great, epic love that superseded all the realms?
My voice hardened, taking on a viciousness I hadn’t adopted in a long time. “She is going to die if you do not leave this very fucking second, Clayton.”
“Who?” he demanded, stepping to the left to block me when I tried to force my way out of the room. “I need some more information here.”
“Thea!” I screeched, throwing my arms up wildly.
Her name alone was enough to have an immediate effect on him.
As Elaina’s hand flew to cover her dropped jaw, all color drained from Clay’s face. His veins darkened instantly, the blackness shooting up his arms and neck. Unable to stop myself, I stumbled backwards as he took a single, heaving breath in. I could see his mind working, running back over the words I had said and trying to make sense of them.
“How do you know that?” he asked through a locked jaw.
Words caught in my throat.
“For that brief time when you went to Inanis you trusted me with your kingdom,” I reminded him, grasping his hands in mine. “I need you to offer me that trust again. I don’t have time to explain, but I am telling you the truth. Thea is in terrible danger, and she needs us. She needs you, Clay.”
Chapter Thirty-Three
Clay
Idid trust her.
So help me, I trusted every single word that fell out of her mouth, and each one filled me with more terror than I could ever admit. I moved in an instant, wrapping my blackened fingers around her arm and practically dragging her out of the room after me. Elaina followed only steps behind, hollering my name with a chastising tone as we rushed through the halls of the house.
Camilla didn’t protest or fight me, even as I felt the dampness of her tears falling onto my fingertips as I pushed open the door to my room and led her to the desk. I threw papers out of the way, spreading the large map of Athenia onto the surface and smoothing it.
“Show me where,” I told her, working hard to keep my voice steady even as it threatened to tremble.
