Page 143 of The Starlight Savior

Saige ran towards Conor and his shield of lightning, knowing he would let it fall once her body came into contact.

“Saige—”

“What are you doing here?” she hissed, stumbling into his body.

“I followed you—”

“No shit. Why?”

He shook his head, reaching out to grasp Saige’s hand. Pulling back, she didn’t want him to get a glimmer of her emotions. Or what she had experienced the last few days.

She couldn’t lose this anger either. It was the only thing moving her forward.

“You know why,” Conor said. “I couldn’t allow you to leave the kingdom believing your fears to be true.”

“And yet with you owning that wolf helm, what else am I supposed to believe? You knew exactly who I was, what I was capable of. Trying to warn me to not become a weapon? To not be used? Then what the fuck were you doing with me?”

Conor didn’t let his face break as he took in a breath. “This is all a misunderstanding. I’ve never viewed you as a weapon. You know that. If you just let me speak—”

“You keep saying I know this, but I don’t! Every single piece of my life has been a lie.” Saige threw her fist against his chest, frustrated by the way he didn’t stumble back. “You all will know more about me than I ever will.”

“Don’t say that,” Conor pleaded.

“It’s true. Every moment I walk into, I wonder what lies will be revealed next. Clearly all Etrane sees me as is an asset. I just don’t understand why you’d warn me about that if you saw me as that too.”

“Because I don’t.”

“You did!” Saige shouted, her mouth moving faster than her mind could keep up. Everything that plagued her mind flowed through her. Everything she feared could be true. “That’s why you hunted me! Held me down in front of my own home and then acted like some savior, a person that I could actually trust—”

“That wasn’t me!” His voice echoed all around her, air smothering against her cheek. Lightning flashed in his hands as he stepped forward, towering over her. “It was my brother,” Conor hissed. “The wolf is our family’s symbol. We each have one. My father, myself, my brother. I came to Denholm with one task. To find Oscar Nerestel’s daughter. I did that and then I left. I had no part in your capture, nor did I hold you down.”

“Your brother,” Saige said slowly, her cheeks reddening. “Sebastien?”

Conor sighed. “Yes. It hasn’t left my mind, knowing he could have harmed you. That you believed it was me. I’m sorry if I broke your trust in following you, but I needed to find you. Watching you tumble through the portal alone, I felt like I lost a piece of myself.”

Emotion lodged in her throat as she looked up at Conor. All the fears that built her carefully crafted walls began to falter. The one thing keeping Saige from staying with Conor was the proof she mustered that he had lied too. That it was safer to keep others at arms-length.

But time after time, she was proven wrong.

His palm reached out slowly to grip her exposed wrist. “I understand that you’re hurt. It’s unacceptable what Eva hid from you. But I couldn’t allow you to believe I had any part in it. Which, there is one more thing. It’s important for you to know—”

Before Conor could finish, Baron groaned behind Saige. She turned to find him in Althea’s lap, stirring awake. Her friend’s eyes were wide, drifting back and forth between them.

“Friends of yours?” he asked drily.

“Clearly.” Saige walked back down the stairs, kneeling next to Baron. There were no visible injuries, but he was clearly shaken up from the shock to his body.

“And they’re coming with us?”

“Of course they are,” Saige sighed. The fleeting moments she’d imagined of Conor being here once seemed unfathomable. Having a warlock in Brevil would get any of them killed. But now she realized how beneficial it was. Not just because it felt better being by his side, but because of his power. Althea may be a healer, Baron a soldier, but nothing could beat the magic of Opela.

“I thought you didn’t trust anyone in the mortal lands,” Conor said slowly, brows raised. He leaned to the side, inspecting the twins.

“Turns out they were more accepting of my magic than I expected.”

Saige turned to her friends, Baron’s eyes wide as he took in Conor’s large frame and the lightning dancing off his fingertips.

“Althea, Baron,” Saige said, pointing to the twins, “this is Conor. Son of General Zathos of the Etrane army.”