Page 179 of Remnants: Disruption
I let out a long breath and shake out the tension in my neck.
“I was going to after I solved the first crisis.”
“Which crisis?” she asks, sounding genuinely confused.
“The one you’re currently dealing with,” I hiss, and I hear her take in a sharp breath.
“I am fine, it is you that I am worried about.”
I glance down at the contingent of broken and bloodied revolutionaries.
“I have someone I’m going to bring by and we’re going to solve this. I need you here.”
She’s quiet for a long moment and I pull the phone away to check if the line is still connected.
“What did you do?” she whispers.
“I found the rats in our pantry and brought them into the light, Mary.”
I grunt in frustration and level a kick at the nearest. It actually feels pretty good.
The men seem to realize who I’m talking to now—all eyes train on me.
“Arya, you cannot just—”
“Can’t what?” I ask, feeling a bit of the panic start to build again, eating at the annoyance. “We are going to save our people, Mary.Ourpeople. And I don’t care if a few traitors get the short end of the stick in the process. I willdowhat is necessary.”
“I—” Cass sounds bereft. It shatters my heart, but we need to do this. “They are prisoners are they not?”
Azazel lowers their hand from where it pressed at the communicator at their ear.
“Hiraeth, they are breaching the Casket.”
“When?” I say, hearing Cass take in a sharp breath, too.
“Now.”
“Fuck!” I curse, and the shadows in the room flail a little at the ends. Several men let out cries of pain as the ones still in their body respond.
“I need to go,” I say, turning again to face Azazel.
“Arya, please,” Cass’ desperation pauses me again. “I will be fine. I need time to rest and—”
“My love, we don’t have time. We’re at war and I am going to do the things that keep us safe. This is why you chose me, right?”
Cass takes in a shuddering breath. “Yes—I love you.”
“I love you, too,” I say, wanting to feel her hands on me. “Please rest until I can get there with your meal.”
“That is disturbing,” she lets out a hiccupping laugh, which almost certainly means she’s crying. Again. “Be safe and come back to me.”
Azazel the Red Mage is nervous, and Bloody fucking Mary is crying—the end times really have come.
“I would figure out how to beat death for you,” I say it like a prayer and hang up before I lose my nerve.
“What—” Azazel begins, but I pull them close by the shoulder.
“The God Queen needs to drain life force for her power. Damien Roberts is in league with Darkrend. He used a weapon on her and it nearly killed her. I need you to put the werewolf in a box they can’t get out of while I burn these motherfuckers to the ground. Then we’re going to kick those assholes out of our fucking town.”
