Let the Storm Break (Sky Fall #2)(91)

The cut on his face has opened wider from the strain, and I can’t decide if it makes him look cruel or strong.

I never thought those two things could be interchangeable, but as I stare at the broken spike, I wonder if maybe they are.

Maybe sometimes the only right choice is the wrong one, and what it really comes down to is being brave enough to make it.

Traitor, the Westerlies hiss, and this time it feels like they’re saying it to me. But what else was Os supposed to do? There weren’t any other . . .

The thought trails off when I realize that there is another option—the one Gus and Audra are already working on.

Releasing Arella wasn’t an easy decision either—but it’s better than ruining the wind.

But they should be here by now, shouldn’t they?

They left before me . . . .

I clutch my heart, trying to feel the pull of our bond. But I feel colder and emptier than I have in a long time.

It could be that Audra’s deep in the Maelstrom—but why would she still be there?

What if something’s wrong?

I drop the damaged wind spike and reach for a Westerly to carry me—but they all ignore my call, whispering, Traitor, and flitting away. I’m searching the air for any other winds that might be willing to help me when a Storm’s fist slams into our cave.

Everything crumbles.

I flail to protect my wounded arm as I skid down a rocky slope, not stopping until I’m halfway down the mountain. I’m grateful my Westerly shield didn’t abandon me, because I’m pretty sure I’d have no skin left on my chest otherwise.

I’m choking on the dust and sand when I hear Solana scream and turn my head just in time to see one of the remaining Storms snatch her away.

I shout for Os’s help, but his legs are pinned under a giant boulder. Which leaves only me.

Taking on two Living Storms all by myself probably isn’t the smartest idea—especially with the winds mad at me and with a superwounded left arm.

But I can still hear Solana screaming.

I’ve ruined her life a million different ways.

This time I’m going to save it.





CHAPTER 42


AUDRA





I

shouldn’t be surprised.

My mother’s sold me out to Raiden twice before.

But this time I won’t be getting away.

Before I could react, Raiden tangled me in a web of sharp red winds, and even with my shield, the cruel drafts shock like lightning every time he steps away from me.

“I’m so sorry,” my mother keeps telling me. “I didn’t have a choice.”

“There’s always a choice,” I tell her, earning myself a laugh from Raiden.

“When I have control, the only choice is mine,” he tells me, stepping away and letting the lightning bonds strike so hard, I feel like my skin is melting off my bones.

I crawl to his feet, unable to believe I’m choosing to be close to him. But I have to stop the pain.

He crouches in front of me as I gasp for breath. “If it eases the sting of Mommy’s betrayal, you should know that you didn’t have a choice either. I’m impressed that Os figured out how to build a Maelstrom—but he missed its true brilliance. It’s the perfect trap. No way to sense anyone’s presence. No winds to call to your aid. All I needed was something to draw you here, and something to keep your army distracted so I could catch my prize unguarded.”

“Are you telling me that all the Gales you ruined to make your Living Storms—all the innocent people who died or lost their homes today—were all just a distraction to catch me?”

Raiden grins. “Makes you feel rather special, doesn’t it?”

Actually, it makes me physically ill.

“Why me? I’m not—”

“A Westerly?” Raiden finishes for me. “No, you’re even better. You were the one who stirred up that haboob in my valley—a brilliant play, by the way. And that, right there, is what makes you so special. You talk like a Westerly. But you think like me.”

“I’m nothing like you!”

My outburst only makes Raiden smile wider. “Breaking you is going to be fun. Though I had been hoping to catch your little boyfriend as leverage. I guess I can settle for the boy who thought he could kill me.”

He stands, and I brace for another jolt, but he only turns to where Gus lies unconscious, tied in the same horrible winds.

Blood streams from a dark gash above Gus’s temple, and it’s hard to tell how deep the damage goes. His face looks disturbingly pale.

Raiden kicks him in the chest, filling the cave with the sound of breaking bone. “Every time you don’t cooperate, I’ll punish him. Understood?”

When I don’t answer, he grabs my fallen wind spike and presses the sharp end over Gus’s heart.

I take particular pleasure in whispering the command to unravel it.

The Maelstrom devours the drafts as soon as they uncoil. Except the Westerly, which I wrap around Gus like a shield, relieved when it obeys.

“You think you’re clever, don’t you?” Raiden asks, grabbing my neck and lifting me off the ground.

His grip crushes through my weary shield, cutting off my air. My vision blurs and my lungs scream for air, but I don’t try to fight.