The Wish Granter (Ravenspire #2)(90)



Her stomach pitched—a slow, sickening roll. Stars, he’d found the book or the bloodflower poison, and he was going to take her soul.

“What’s going on?” Her voice was tight with pain as he pulled mercilessly on her hair to guide her out of her bedroom. She stumbled at the top of the stairs, and he let go of her hair to grab her arm instead.

“I’m keeping my promises, Princess,” he said, pushing her to take the stairs faster. “That’s what I do.”

“I don’t understand,” she said, though she was terrified she did.

Why hadn’t he just said the final word to rip her soul out of her body? Maybe because he didn’t want the hassle of cleaning up her dead body afterward. Maybe because he wanted her to see the evidence of her crimes against him—the fact that she hadn’t stopped looking for a way to kill him even though he’d warned her of the consequences.

Or, stars, maybe he wanted to do it in front of Thad and Cleo. In front of Sebastian. Her entire body shook as they reached the hall and began moving toward the front door.

He wanted to kill her in front of those who would hurt the most over her death. An object lesson to keep them in line. Isn’t that what he’d promised?

“Go outside,” he snapped when she hesitated in the entryway.

She risked a quick glance at his face and then reached for the doorknob as the sharp crack of a whip stung the air. A girl’s voice cried out, and Ari’s breath left her body in a little sob.

She knew that voice.

Her palms, slick with fear sweat, slid off the knob when she tried to turn it. She scrubbed trembling fingers against her nightdress, grabbed the knob, and wrenched the door open.

A man who looked like an older version of Sebastian stood on the steps, a whip in his hand. Cleo lay shuddering on the porch, her dress torn to ribbons, blood streaming from the lashes on her back. Her eyes were closed.

“Cleo!” Ari lunged forward and dropped to her knees beside her friend. “You’re all right. You’re all right.” She wiped hair off Cleo’s face and cursed as her fingers came away bloody from a gash that had sliced through Cleo’s skin from her forehead to her jaw.

Teague laughed. “She’s hardly all right, Princess.” He crouched to look Ari in the face. “Didn’t I promise you that if I caught you interfering with me again, she’d pay the price?”

Bright, hot panic blossomed in her chest and spilled into her veins. “I didn’t interfere. You went to the trade summit. You signed contracts. You have—”

“I have a girl who fetched a copy of Leabhar na Fae for her good friend the princess.” Rage cracked the polished marble of his voice. “And a princess who thought she could hide her treachery from me. Did you really believe you could get your brother and yourself out of what you owe me? I am as close to invincible as any fae who has ever lived, and you are a liar who is going to get what you deserve.”

It was over. He knew about the book. Probably knew about the poison too. That’s why he’d killed Edwin, only he hadn’t been worried enough to track it down because he was too old for iron and bloodflower poison to kill him.

She couldn’t save her brother, her kingdom, or herself.

All that was left was to save Cleo.

“She was only involved because of me,” Ari said. Tears filled her eyes. “Please, you’ve hurt her enough. She doesn’t deserve your anger. I do.”

Teague gave the man a quick nod, and the whip whistled through the air and bit into Cleo’s exposed back. Cleo moaned and whispered, “Help me, Ari.”

Ari whirled to face the man and screamed, “Stop! You’re killing her.”

His lip curled into a sneer. “She deserves it.”

“No.” Ari turned back to Teague, her tone beseeching. “She doesn’t deserve this. Please. You’ve made your point. I’ll give you the book and the poison. You win. You don’t have to kill her.”

His eyes, full of unblinking malice, met hers. “Don’t I?”

She shook her head, her teeth chattering. “You win. I have nothing left to use against you. Please.”

He reached for Cleo, smoothing the bloody hair from her forehead, and then wrapped his hands around her neck and jerked her head sideways.

“No!” Ari wailed as Cleo’s bones splintered and broke with a terrible sound. She threw herself on top of Cleo, punching and kicking at Teague to get him away from her friend.

“Jacob! Take her.” Teague’s voice snapped, but Ari wasn’t listening.

“You’re all right. You’re all right.” She said the words over and over again, pressing her face against Cleo’s ear and willing her friend to hear her. To respond. “Please, Cleo. You’re all right.”

Strong arms grabbed her from behind as Jacob lifted her away from Cleo. Ari arched her back and reached for her friend, a wordless wail of agony ripping its way out of her as Jacob pulled her down the steps and into the yard.

“Throw her in the cage and keep her there.” Teague’s voice was once again cold and unreachable, his rage banked.

Ari elbowed Jacob in the stomach and wrenched to the side so she could slam her bare foot into his knee, but he was ready for her. Before she could even lift her foot, he’d locked his arm around her neck and was dragging her across the grass toward a small outbuilding she’d never looked twice at before.

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