Let The Wind Rise (Sky Fall, #3)(14)

My mind flashes to our escape from Death Valley, when Audra, Gus, and I were hiding under our Westerly shield and Raiden practically dared me to attack him.

I’d been very tempted. But . . . it felt like a trap.

“So you’re saying Raiden can’t die?” I ask.

“I’m saying you can’t kill him. At least not by any conventional means.”

Well . . . that definitely falls into the category of Crappy News I Didn’t Need to Hear. But killing Raiden isn’t my goal right now.

My plan is much more simple.

“Look,” I tell Aston. “I’m the first to admit I have no idea what I’m doing. That’s why I’m here. You think I wanted to waste all this time finding you? I need help—and I thought maybe you had a little decency left. If not, I thought you’d at least jump at the chance to piss off Raiden. I mean, what better way is there to drive him insane than stealing two of his prisoners while working with the one Westerly he’s never been able to capture?”

Aston circles me, and the wind whips back his hood, revealing his pale, scarred face and blue-tinged lips.

He’s honestly not as scary as I’d imagined. Just a few scars—nothing like his arm.

Then again, we haven’t seen the rest of what’s under that cloak. . . .

“Please,” I beg. “I have to get her back. It’s my fault she was captured.”

“Is it? I thought it was mostly hers.” He points to Arella and she looks away, mumbling her same excuse about having no choice.

Aston doesn’t buy it either.

He widens his circle to make a slow path around all three of us. “What would you give me if I agreed to help?”

I open my mouth to tell him “anything”—but “I won’t teach you Westerly, if that’s what you’re asking,” comes out instead.

“Not even to save your precious love?” he asks.

“My instincts won’t let me.”

“The infamous Westerly instincts strike again. Surely they’ll be the death of us all. And yet . . . your winds can be very comforting. They used to visit me during my years in Brezengarde. Somehow they’d slip through the cracks in the fortress walls. I couldn’t understand them of course. But their songs were so beautiful.” His eyes look glassy as he stares at the stars. “Your girl sang one for me when she stayed here. I’ll never forget it.”

“She has her father’s talent for song,” Arella whispers.

“Careful,” Aston tells her. “You almost sound like a loving mother.”

“I am a loving mother,” Arella snaps.

“Well then, here’s your chance to prove it—and this will be a one time only offer, so think it through. I’ll give you my help. I’ll even figure out a way to sneak into Brezengarde. But only if you agree to give me your pain.”

I have absolutely zero idea what that means, and judging by Arella’s expression, she’s just as clueless—until Aston raises his arms and tangles a draft around her.

Arella screams and drops to her knees.

I try to help, but the wind knocks me back. Same thing happens to Solana.

Several terrible seconds pass. Then the wind calms and Arella falls still.

Aston, meanwhile, is smiling so wide, his whole face looks stretched. “I’d heard stories of the ache her gift caused her, but I never realized it was so deliciously intense.”

“What did you do to her?” Solana asks.

“I absorbed her agony. Usually I’m forced to draw on the wind’s pain to hold myself together. But hers is so much stronger—so much more liberating.” He stands over Arella, the moonlight casting his strange speckled shadow over her. “That’s my offer. My help, in exchange for your pain three times a day.”

“So . . . basically, you want to torture her,” I clarify.

“Only for a few minutes. Don’t tell me she doesn’t deserve it.”

She does—but something doesn’t add up. “Why would you offer that when you could just capture her right now?”

“Because he would never be able to keep me here,” Arella whispers.

“Your gift does give you a very specific skill set,” he agrees. “Os was right to contain you in the Maelstrom. Separating you from the sky is the only way to truly contain you—unless you cooperate. But don’t think that means I don’t have ways to control you. I know what you crave.” He squats to make sure Arella’s looking at him. “I want your word that when this is over, you’ll return here with me to keep our arrangement going. Break it, and I’ll destroy everything you care about.”

“Keep Audra out of this,” I warn.

“I meant what she really cares about. Oh yes—” he adds when Arella sucks in a breath. “I know how to find him. But I won’t if you’re a good girl. And as a bonus, I’ll help you save your daughter.”

I can’t imagine Arella agreeing to any of this—but maybe I don’t know her as well as I think I do.

Or maybe she thinks she can outsmart Aston.

Or maybe she’s afraid.

Either way, she whispers, “You have my word.”





CHAPTER 8


AUDRA