Page 124 of A Sanctuary from Shadow
“He killed your father, Shorty!” Pete exclaimed in a spurt of passion, his cool flying the coop. “And whatever he wants you for now, in the end, he’ll damn well kill you too!”
“I know that! That’s why I don’t want to go there, Pete!”
He set hands on his hips, shaking his head at the sky. “Even if I were to set you free right now, and you ran off to whatever home awaits you, Gentianwillfind you, and the second harbinger will come with a death ordination.”
I plopped down in the grass, a tempest raging in my head. As frantic as I was, it took me a moment to realize a tiny tornado of pollen and petals was spiraling about me. It took me one more to realize I was causing it.
Pete knelt, determined, and met my eyes through my storm. “Even if you somehow evade that harbinger, get away with your life, he’ll never stop hunting you. The curse won’t allow it. Do you really want to spend the rest of your life running, always looking over your shoulder? The threat of death always at your back?”
“Pete—”
“Or would you rather take a chance on a bold move that would not only freeyoufrom this curse, but alsothousandsof slaves from Gentian’s cruelty, oppression, and abuse?”
Chills raced along my limbs.
The Aurora is what the prophet named her, Olea’s voice echoed through my head.She’s meant to be a savior, to break the shackles of those enslaved, to ease the toiling of those living in squalor and poverty, and to bring justice to those suffering from oppression.
But it couldn’t be me!
“Maybe you don’t think your own soul is worth the risk of fighting back, but aren’t all those others?”
I glared. How dare he put that weight on me! “Says the man who wanted to sacrifice my soul to save his own. Only days ago.”
Pete gulped, glanced away. Was that shame on his face? “Aye,” he agreed, his voice harsh. “That was before I’d had time to think like the man I once was.”
You won’t feel sympathy for him right now!
“I concluded that aiding you is not only moral—but necessary. Unlikely though it may seem,youare the only one in all the world who stands a fighting chance of killing the Shadow Prince.” He clasped his hands together, pleading. “You’re my only hope, Amy.”
My breath stilled at the sound of my true name on his lips.
“You’re your only hope too.”
Silence stretched between us, my emotional cyclone dwindling as we sat there, facing each other in charged suspense.
Sionna finally broke our stare, wagging over and butting my hand with her nose. I lifted my hand to her silky neck, expelling a shaky breath.
“You won’t face him alone,” Pete brogued. “I’ll be right there with you, fighting. And if we go down, we go down together.”
There they were—the most romantic words ever uttered to me. Even though he didn’t mean them to be.
“At least we’ll have tried,” he concluded.
But what if we did fail? Then I’d be dead. And there’d be nothing standing in the way of the blood curse and Vi.
I physically shook myself. “I need time to think. Please.”
Pete snatched my arm, wrenching me back to my feet, gruff as a grizzly. I stumbled when he released me. He barely noticed, swaggering back to Bob. “Mull it over. We’ll train in the meantime. You need control, regardless. I don’t relish the thought of dodging fireballs every time I pique your temper.”
I snorted, joining him by the wagon. “You could just stop saying shit that makes me mad.”
The devil was in Pete’s grin. “Now who’s asking the impossible?”
Flungtothegroundlike a frisbee, I rolled away in time to evade Pete, who seemed intent on flattening me. Panting, I pushed up to a crouch, anticipating another attack.
Barely winded, Pete rose back to his full, rather intimidating height. “Well done, Shorty.” His eyes gleamed, always assessing, strategizing. Part of his predatory prowess, I guessed. “You found your feet that time.”
I gripped my knees, seeing stars.
