Reese wasn’t sure how it happened. One moment she was being held by several of Portia’s guards, the order for her to be killed ringing in her ears, and the next minute, she witnessed something she believed impossible.
Keen lunged forward and stabbed Portia through the chest.
Portia looked down in confusion, the men around her nearly ripping Keen’s arms out of his sockets as they detained him, and then Portia laughed. She bent over, holding the gaping wound pouring blood down her amethyst gown, and laughed manically.
She came up for air seconds later and wiped tears from her eyes. “You broke your oath to protect me, you fool.” The rush of blood from her wound had already slowed. “And your attack was sloppy—my heart is intact—though I suppose that’s because you’re forbidden to harm me. I’m surprised you managed to get this close.” She tsked. “Didn’t you know your oath would protect me, even if you didn’t? You would never have hit my heart, no matter how precise your attack. And now you will die for it.”
Keen groaned and wrenched his arms from the guards. He clamped his hands on either side of his head and sank to the ground.
“Keen!” Reese fought to break free from the guards holding her. “What’s happening?”
The nasty white-blond Fae who’d tried to kill her earlier tightened his grip. “Death, you filthy Halven. Death comes to those who break an oath.”
“But he did it for me! He can’t die.”
The guard grabbed her chin and twisted her face toward him. “And what a waste it was.”
She jerked away and stared after Keen. He was writhing, his pale skin ashen.
Reese began yanking and pulling with all her strength, her mind suddenly taking in everyone’s emotions, unable to control her own, let alone block the others. Anger, pain, frustration, exuberance—they came from all directions and she couldn’t block any of it. Not while her emotions swung out of control.
The guard held her tightly and lowered his mouth toward her ear. “He dies, and then you will. Slowly. Painfully—”
Before he’d finished his sentence, Reese swung her head back and cracked her skull into his nose.
Keen wouldn’t die. He wouldn’t. She wouldn’t allow it.
The Fae behind her grunted, and she didn’t wait for him to react. She slammed the heel of her booted foot into his shin. His grip finally faltered, but when he didn’t let go of her completely, she slammed her arm back and hit him where it hurt. Again, not the most sporting move, but effective.
The blond Fae coughed and dropped his arms from around her immediately. The others nearby were too busy watching Keen die a slow and painful death—that no one ever died from because they never broke their oaths—to care that she’d fought her way free.
Reese rushed through the crowd and knelt beside Keen. “How do I make it stop?”
“Can’t,” he said.
One word? That was all she got from the guy who loved to tell her what to do whether she wanted to hear it or not?
“Why did you do it?” she screamed as tears streamed down her face.
Sweat beaded on his brow, blood dripping from his ears and nose. Reese lay over him, pressing her ear to his still beating heart. She didn’t care that he was married to another.
He was her love.
He’d given his life for her.
In that moment, her emotions overwhelmed her—hers, no one else’s. Sadness, fear, and love…so much love.
Her flesh tingled, her heartbeat hammering. An energy filled her until all that emotion burst in an invisible wave and flooded the room, the effects of the null gun having worn off.
While the Fae around her stood in a stupor born of Reese’s emotions, she went straight for Portia, taking out a knife and aiming it at the older woman’s heart.
Reese had never killed before. But she wanted to right now.
Portia’s eyes narrowed. She was the only Fae not affected by Reese’s ability. She allowed Reese to get closer, her emotions eerily calm. But Reese wasn’t worried about that.
She should have been.
Reese thrust her arm forward, aiming for Portia’s heart—and hit a wall.
Portia smiled from two feet to the right, no longer standing in front anymore. “A glamour. You really should educate yourself on the powers of your betters.” Portia knocked the knife from Reese’s hand, and pulled out her own, dragging Reese to her chest and placing the knife at Reese’s throat.
“Let him go,” Reese said. “Don’t let him die because of me. He’s the best warrior you have.”
Portia laughed. “A fool in love with a fool. I have no use for him. And I have no control over the angel’s oath. None of us do. It’s why we are so careful not to lie. And now he’s sacrificed himself for nothing. Pity.”
The knife cut into Reese’s throat and her eyes searched for Keen. His head was drawn back, anguish contorting his handsome features. But he saw her in Portia’s arms, and that seemed to have him writhing on the ground even more.
Keen was dying. And Reese would too.
This wasn’t how it was supposed to end.
And then all sound ceased.
A light flashed, blinding. The air in the room rushed out in what felt like a vacuum, and Reese choked, unable to breathe. When she was able to catch her breath again, the room looked normal, except for the large shadow of a tall Fae leaning over Keen.
The shadow was just that, all dark translucence, with a bright yellow glow that silhouetted its masculine figure.
He leaned down and touched Keen’s head with one finger.
Keen coughed and rolled to his side, panting and shaking. He looked up at the figure, then back at Reese, his focus clearer.
Reese didn’t know what was going on, but Portia tightened her grip.
“No,” Portia gasped. “He broke his oath.” Her voice quivered as rivulets of fear rolled off her.
Reese reached for the knife, but Portia was digging it into the base of her throat. Blood dripped onto Reese’s hand.
Keen climbed to his feet, his eyes on Reese as he followed the shadow toward Portia.
Let the Halven go, child, the shadow said. Only the voice wasn’t out loud. It was inside Reese’s head.
It seemed Portia had heard it too. She shook. “He broke his oath.”
But the Halven did not.
“She is nothing. She is weak, an abomination. I do our forefathers a service by eliminating her.”
You would kill her out of pride, not justice. The Halven you hold is of my blood, and you will release her. Now.
Reese actually heard Portia swallow, but she didn’t let Reese go.
And then Portia had no choice, because one minute Reese was locked against Portia’s chest, barely able to breathe, with a deep gash in her neck, and the next minute she was alone.
The dark figure held Portia suspended without touching her. The only one who has disobeyed the rules is you, my child. Your punishment is to leave this land forever.
And then Portia and the glowing shadow were gone.
And Keen was pulling Reese into his arms.
Everybody in the room, every face, appeared stunned.
“What just happened?” she mumbled into his strong chest, her arms locking around his waist. She breathed in his scent—the familiar cedar with a touch of metal from the knives and sword he hid in his clothes. He was alive.
Keen swept a large hand over her head, burrowing his face into her hair.
“The angels returned.”
