Crown of Cinders (Imdalind #7)(75)

“But I saw her, Wyn. Even if I didn’t wake up, I saw her. I talked with her. I held her …” His voice caught as my chest tightened, a heat spreading over my face as I tried not to let the tears force their way past my badass exterior.

I already knew I wouldn’t be successful.

Just hearing him say it brought back that moment, that same beautiful and horrifying moment of holding her, of loving her, even if it was one last time.

“So did I,” I said, my voice breaking as the tears that began to fall down my face. Chilled rivers of them flowed over my cheeks before splashing against my collarbone, a hiss barely audible as the heat in my skin sent them back into the air in steam and smoke.

Thom’s eyes widened as worry overtook his pain. “Running a bit hot, are we?”

“Yeah, I warned you I would burn you,” I said without thinking. “It’s been an issue ever since Jos and I knocked down that chapel. I should probably try to restrain my magic a bit better, but seeing as Jos isn’t around, it’s not my first priority.”

If I needed to be around her, perhaps I would wear a full body sock.

I laughed at the thought, lost in my head.

Thom, however, was staring at me with changing degrees of confusion and worry.

“Wyn?”

“That blade messed up a lot, Thom. A lot. But I also got to see her when Edmund took control of the blade. I saw her.” Speaking carefully, I lifted the hand he had been so mesmerized with, the hole angry and red, as if it knew I was talking about it. “She saved me. She saved us.”

Hand before me, I uncurled my fingers with my palm facing Thom as I smiled at him through the gap before pressing my palm against my eye and looking through the hole like it was the spy glass Joclyn wanted it to be.

“See? You should—”

“He tried to take control of me, Thom. He pushed the blade into my hand, but Rosy saved me. She fought his control. She got me here so I could save you …”

My stomach fluttered, my words shaking as I retold everything that had happened.

His lips pressed into a tight line as the story unfolded. The fascination faded into horror as he finally understood what the gap in my hand really was.

The look of realization on his face was making me uncomfortable.

Shifting my weight, I started to move away, but before I could get far, Thom grabbed me, pulling my hand toward him. His soft fingers moved over the skin, his touch gentle now, as if the skin of my palm was sacred.

His eyes grew wide with fear before narrowing in the perpetual anger that made him so Thom.

“We have to stop him. We have to stop all of them. We have to make them pay: Edmund for hurting her, Ovailia for helping—”

“What if Edmund is dead?” I interrupted, the same tinge of regret I had been fighting smacking me around. I wanted to kill Edmund. The fact that I might have missed my chance was infuriating.

“It doesn’t matter. We will destroy who ever we need to in order to save her,” he said with his usual grumble, as if the end goal made it all better. “Besides, if Edmund is dead, and Sain is responsible, he may have had more to do with her death than we thought. Sain let Ovailia poison me, he’s been working with her. He’s been working with them both for a long time.”

“I want to say he’s your best friend, and that he wouldn’t … But I don’t think I can swallow that lie anymore.”

“He’s not my best friend, not anymore!” he snapped, his anger erupting like the volcano he was. “My best friend would not have told Edmund of our escape and told him how to kill her in order to make the blade.”

My gut twisted, the memory of the night rushing back to me, unwanted. “He was in the sight of our escape, Thom. We both saw him.”

“He can control it more than he wants anyone to believe.” He sighed, slamming his hand into his forehead in a regret I didn’t think I understood. “I’ve seen him do it before. If he had any part in Rosy’s death, I will end him.”

“You would kill your best friend?” I asked, not believing for a second that it was possible for him to do. “You risked everything for him before …”

I knew he could, but that type of reversal didn’t seem like Thom. Then again, Sain’s betrayal didn’t seem like the man he knew, either.

“I would kill whoever I needed to in order to make this all stop.” Now that sounded like Thom. “No matter how long of a line I have to stand in to get there.”

“That line seems to be getting longer every day,” I said with a sigh, the tension in my shoulders leaving as his thumb moved over the skin of the hand he still held. “I’m gonna have to fight to be first, aren’t I?”

“Not as much as you think. I know that bloodlust in your eyes better than anyone, Wynifred. If you get there first, take the shot. Don’t hesitate. Do it for her. Besides, as long as someone destroys him, I’ll be happy.”

“That, I believe, is a given,” I said, unwilling to let my eyes leave his. The gentle flicker of red daylight glinted past the window, making everything a bit more nefarious than it needed to be. “I don’t think there is any way this can end without Edmund slash Sain face down in his own blood.”

“You say that like you are speaking of the epic ending of a six-year-old’s birthday party.”