THIRTEEN
“Benedict, I can explain.”
Hatred burned in his purple eyes, and I managed to drop the sword to the ground with a clatter, my arms shaking.
“I think I heard enough right before you butchered him.” My jaw dropped as my stomach twisted with fear.
“No! It wasn’t like that at all! You don’t understand—"
I reached for him, but he swiped his claws at me as he stood in his draken form.
“I understand just fine. It wasn’t enough to damn my species to extinction, was it? And to think, I believed you when you said you didn’t know who I was, and that you knew nothing of this arrangement. What else did Bair find out, what secret was so terrible you had to murder my baby brother?"
I didn’t know what to say...what could you say in the face of such accusations? Tears ran down my face, but he turned away from me.
“Save your tears."
The blood drained from my face, and I was unable to move he grabbed me and dove out the mouth of the cave. The wind roared in my face as his wings pumped hard, flying us to the south and west along the mountain range. After a while he threw me down, and I collapsed onto the rock. My leg twisted unnaturally under me and I hissed in pain. He stood over me in silence over the cliff, staring out at nothing. I tried to reason with him.
“Bair was trying to leave the mountain and take me with him!”
Benedict sneered. “That’s a lie; he knew he couldn’t leave the mountain. You just lured him out there to kill him!”
I didn’t have the strength to stand and face him, so I yelled up into his angry, twisted face.
“Why would I kill him and mess everything up? You were the one who pointed out how much better my life is here! Why would I give that up?! Bair said Severn told him the Overlord would break his curse on the mountain. He figured once you were dead, he could fly as far away from this damn mountain as he could!”
Benedicts hands curled into fists.
“He was going to sell out your people as exotic, immortal PETS!”
Benedict spun away from me, his hands gripping his hair. I’d never seen him so angry before. He vibrated with rage, and I half-expected to be thrown off the mountain at any second. His grief was a painful, tangible force that kept me laying on the ground. Had I finally pushed too far? Would he kill me, like he obviously wanted to?
“You’ve been working with Crullfed this whole time, haven’t you? I guess all those stories of him beating you were a cover. I have to give you credit for your great performance."
His voice was cold, almost completely unaffected. Then he leaned in, his voice a deadly purr.
“Give me one reason not to watch your body break on the side of this mountain.”
I wiped my face, smearing blood everywhere. Did nothing that had happened between us matter anymore? I felt as well as saw the hate in his eyes. An ache opened in my chest, robbing me of breath and hurting more than any of my injuries.
“I told you the truth. You just don’t believe me,” I whispered.
He roared away from me and punched the mountain, his hand breaking audibly as it met the stone’s unyielding surface.
“Bair, Sabien, and D’Arcy are the only direct family I have left. And you slaughtered one of them. Feel free to never come back.”
He disappeared and left me there. I was alone on a high peak, unable to get down myself.
I laid there for hours, the hot sun beating down as I slowly bled out. At first, I was thankful he didn’t kill me, thinking it was a mercy, perhaps due in part to some affection he held for me. The more I laid out in the sun, bleeding onto the rocks, the more I realized that this was a far crueler way to die. I thought about letting out a cry for help, but who would come? Benedict wouldn’t, and Kieran and Ronan might not either after word of what I’d done spread throughout the mountain. I gave myself only a day or two before the elements killed me.
I don’t know how long I stayed there on that hot piece of earth, refusing to cry, refusing to move, refusing to do anything to save myself. In a way, Benedict was right to be angry; I did kill his brother, never mind he was a backstabbing little traitor. I drifted in and out of consciousness, unaware of the passing of time. The wound on my neck still bled, though sluggishly from dehydration. My skin felt tight and painful, no doubt burnt from the sun. I thought of Bair, and something he’d said before he died. Something about D’Arcy. I shot up, crying out as my body protested the movement.
D’Arcy said—
Was D’Arcy in on the plan with Bair, or was he already a traitor before Bair found out about it? If so, that meant he was also in contact with Severn and the Overlord, which made perfect sense as to how he had access to a group of lykos. If D'Arcy was a traitor, then Kieran, Ronan, Benedict, and all the other drakens were in danger! I needed to save myself so I could save them, even if
