What Lies Beyond the Veil (Of Flesh & Bone, #1)(111)

We cut through the alleys, navigating down the city streets when we dared. Jensen found the stone slab that covered the tunnel out, beside the stables, heaving it to the side and motioning all of us in while Melian and Beck hurried to catch up. I paused, waiting for Melian and Beck to take the lead inside the narrow passageway. It would have been too small for us to pass one another inside, and the darkness curved around a corner to make me believe it was far longer than the one we’d taken into the city.

I never saw the iron coming; never felt the stir in the air until it was too late.

Fire tore through my arm, cutting through the fleshy part of my bicep, searing my flesh as I jolted to the side and into Caelum’s frame. The throwing knife bounced off the stone wall in front of me, landing at my feet with a clatter, and my stomach turned over with nausea. He caught me, wrapping his body around my back and tucking me into the cradle of his arms as he grunted through whatever must have struck him next.

More iron that had been meant for me.

“Get in the fucking tunnel!” he ordered, shoving me forward and away from him as he jolted again. “Go!”

I hurried into the entrance, cradling my arm in my grip and trying to stem the flow of blood as Melian stepped up in front of me and pulled me deeper. I looked over my shoulder, waiting for Caelum to follow. He and Jensen locked eyes for a brief moment, understanding passing between them. As a dozen of the Mist Guard started to round the corner toward the tunnel, Jensen heaved the cover closed, concealing us from the soldiers.

“No!” I screamed, lunging out of Melian’s grip and banging on the stone that was too heavy for me to move on my own. “Help me get it open!’ I snapped, tearing at the stone with my fingers. My nails broke on the uneven surface, the tips of my fingers tearing open as I tried frantically.

“Estrella, stop,” Melian said, coming up behind me. Her hands came down on the tops of my shoulders, tugging me away from the stone blocking me from getting to Caelum. “We have to go.”

“I won’t leave him!” I protested, tearing away from her as my breath huffed out of me. “You go if you’re so willing to leave him behind. I won’t.”

“Stubborn fool,” she said, shaking her head in disappointment. Beck pulled at her arm, taking her further down the tunnels and leaving me behind while I waited. If, somehow, Caelum made it through, I had to believe we could catch up with them, because I didn’t know another way to get back to the Resistance in the end, and we’d have nowhere else to go.

I couldn’t think of what I would do if he didn’t make it.

The sound of fighting came from the other side of the stone barrier, and the odds that were stacked against the two men seemed insurmountable while I waited. Still, the pained grunts and shouts of terror were all-consuming as I waited, thinking at any moment that stone would be shoved aside and the Mist Guard would come for me.

My arm throbbed in response to the threat, the wound caused by the iron knife that had caught me seeming to burn through flesh like acid. I wasn’t Fae. Just an echo of a Fae soul trapped in a human body through the mate bond that linked our souls. If iron hurt me this badly, I couldn’t imagine what it did to a Fae himself.

Malice flowed through the air, raising the hair on my arms. My hands trembled as one last shout rang through the night. “Estre—”

The start of my name echoed in the air, making my heart leap into my throat. It hadn’t been Caelum’s voice that called out to me.

But Jensen’s.

I swallowed, taking a step backward as someone hit the stone on the other side. It slid to the side suddenly, the shadow of a man stepping into the entrance of the tunnel as he pulled it closed behind him.

“Caelum?” I asked, the shadows hanging about his face concealing him from me. He stepped toward me, the shadows release him as he emerged into the light. Blood splattered his clothes and face, his eyes seeming lighter than normal as he raised his sword and dragged it through a scrap of fabric he clutched in his hand, cleaning the blood from the blade which he shoved back into his scabbard. “Where’s Jensen?” I asked, my bottom lip trembling as fear consumed me.

This wasn’t the man I’d fallen in love with. This was the man tainted by Faerie magic, who had destroyed a cave beast.

“Dead,” he said, tilting his head to the side. “Do you care, my star?”

I paused, trying to decide if I did in fact care. Not for Jensen as a person, but for another Marked life gone to waste. “Did you kill him?” I asked, regretting the words as soon as they left my mouth.

Caelum grinned, something malignant flashing over his face.

“No, but I didn’t save him either.”





35





We caught up to Melian and Beck at the end of the tunnel, finding them waiting in the tree line just beyond the secret entrance to the city. “Jensen?” she asked, but from the dejected look on her face, she already knew what had happened to the other man.

Though I suspected Caelum would be dead if she knew he’d allowed it willingly. My head swam with the implications that he might have allowed another man to die, simply because he’d crossed a boundary with me. Still, I couldn’t begin to confront my relief at having Caelum at my side, even if he was stained by the blood of those he’d killed. But the comprehension of what he’d done lingered just out of reach, as if I was in shock, waiting for reality to sink in and swallow me whole.