Page 19 of Ignite
It’s Adrian who interrupted our journey to find Daimon. It wasAdrianwho distracted us from retrieving the lost souls from the trial.
All of the feelings I’ve had to shove away to focus on fighting—on staying alive—come crashing down. The unfairness of Graylen saving me, losing himself in the process. How we failed to get Daimon to help us release the trapped souls…
I grab onto the one emotion I can make sense of, the only thing that keeps me from drowning.Rage.
Adrian walks toward me and stops a few steps away, opening and closing his mouth twice as hesitation swirls in his gaze, before he finally says, “Amira?—”
Leda growls a warning and positions herself closer to him. He clears his throat again, shifting his weight away from her and closer to me.
“Not her name, boy,” Leda hisses.
Adrian coughs, nodding and taking a small step back. That’s when I notice the Lyle boys standing quietly behind him. Goddess, even they made it here somehow. Opal’s brothers eye me with suspicion—even Mica, who’s watching me with a guarded expression.
“Lunaria,” Adrian starts over, his gaze on me again. “Are you okay?”
My nostrils flare. Am Iokay? Physically, I’m fine—more than fine. My magic feels full, much stronger than it probably should be given how much I used the past day, and there’s hardly more than a few nicks on my skin. Even the wound on my shoulder has healed from the guard who attacked me when my father and Adrian were trying to take me back to Crea.
The reminder of Adrian being a part of that—of putting a collar around my neck to suppress my magic—twists the rage inside of me, heating it into molten lava. He may have come tohis senses and helped me escape, but he was half the reason I was there in the first place.
His right does not excuse his wrong.
I take a step toward him, and whatever he sees in my gaze causes him to shrink back, shuffling away from me.
“You don’t get to ask me that,” I whisper, my voice laced with accusation. “Not now, maybe not ever.”
Placating small-minded men who think they know what a woman needs is not something I’m interested in doing.
His eyes widen, somehowsurprisedby my reaction.
Out of the corner of my eye, I see Leda step up beside me, her rage as palpable as my own.
“If it were up to me, we would’ve left you in that clearing,” she growls.
Surprise flickers in my chest at having Leda on my side. It feels…nice. Like this is what having a sister is supposed to be like.
“Or toss you into the seas for it to decide your fate,” I mumble.
Leda looks at me, a smirk on her face that I mirror.
“Is there a problem?” Willow interrupts, and we all turn to look at her, not noticing she and Aster had rejoined us.
Her gaze is warily set on Adrian, her eyes lingering on the rounded ears that show through locks of wild hair.
I shake my head, but the question is far too loaded to answer honestly.Yes, I want to scream. There is a problem. More than ten, at least.
“We’ll take them to a place they cannot leave unless allowed,” Aster says in a deep timbre. As if on cue, the soldier trailing them walks back to Adrian and the Lyle brothers, a band of roots shooting from the ground and locking their arms behind their backs. Protests ensue, but everyone ignores them. “And guarded at all times.”
Willow nods and adds, “Follow us.”
They begin to walk toward the village, our party following them.
But I can’t find it in me to move. My feet remain steady against the ground, my eyes drifting from the village to the empty trees.
Rage still courses through my veins, my pulse tapping like a woodpecker’s beak knocking against bark. Exhaustion clings to my friends, but not to me. Not anymore. My body is now buzzing with an awareness that I can’t settle—can’t seem to quiet.
I can’t leave Graylen, can’t lie down and pretend like he didn’t just throw himself right into the fire for me. He would stand at the edge of the Vale and tear his way through the Shadow Lands for me if I were the one trapped with Vidaris. Even if it killed him, even if it shredded his soul into a pit of darkness, he would do it.
My breath quickens as they start to walk away, but I can’t go. Can’t justleaveknowing Graylen isn’t safe.
