Page 79 of Renegade Queen

I knew him.

Didn’t I?

He was all I had left in the world.

The lion inside me had quieted, withdrawing in confusion about what had happened. He didn’t understand why we were fighting Damon, but there was no way he’d ever risk Alyssa. Not for anyone.

“We should head for the river crossing. The others will be waiting for us there,” Alyssa said grimly.

“Yeah. We regroup, we… we make a plan…”

I had no idea what happened next, but this couldn’t be the end. I wouldn’t accept that.

“Let’s just get back to the others,” Dean added, and I couldn’t stop myself from turning on him.

“Why? Gunning for Ryder next?” I snapped. “Maybe you’d like to stab me in the back while you have a chance.”

He didn’t even try to argue with me. But he didn’t have a right to the sadness that came into his eyes when he stared back at me. Not after what he’d just done.

“Now isn’t the time to argue,” Alyssa said calmly, moving between us. “We need to get out of here while we still have a chance to cover our retreat.”

A flutter of wings and the slight pain of claws at my shoulder preceded Fizzle rejoining our group. Hopefully, it meant that the others weren’t far behind.

“You don’t have your human,” Fizzle snapped. “Have you not even attempted your rescue yet? The others are returning, and it won’t take long before The Endless realise we’ve double-backed. This plan isn’t going to work a second time.”

Talk about failing to read the room. Didn’t he realise that we’d just been through hell?

“Fizzle,” Alyssa said sadly. “Now isn’t the time for criticism. We need to get out of here before Arik comes after us with the palace guards. Where are Tank and Ryder?”

Fizzle looked around at the group of us, Dean leaning against the cliff face as he stared off into space. He was hurting, and as much as I wanted to scream at him that he had no right to, I also knew if he hadn’t been there, Alyssa would be dead right now.

The blood coating his side was a stark reminder of what Damon had done. And even if I didn’t want to accept that he could turn against us, he had.

He’d tried to kill her.

I looked down at my hands, expecting some evidence of the fire that had burst free of them only moments ago. And yet there was nothing. I’d felt the heat as it wrapped around my hands, but instead of the burning pain that should have come with it, it had felt more like a comforting embrace. At that point, the pain was already tearing my heart in two, and I would have welcomed anything else as a distraction from what my mind refused to accept.

“The others will be here shortly. We were able to enlist some help from the Wildlings.”

I didn’t know what he meant, and I didn’t know if I had it in me to care right now. Knowing that help was on the way was enough. It had to be.

Fizzle leapt from my shoulder, hopping over to Dean before wrapping himself around his neck and shuffling closer. The grumpy old owl could see that Dean needed someone, and I was ashamed he’d made the move before I had.

“I’m sorry,” I muttered, leaning against the rock beside him. “I shouldn’t have said…”

“Forget about it.”

He was back to his usual gruff self as he straightened up, grabbing the pack we’d left in the tunnel entrance and swung it over his shoulder. His hand moved to his sword, and for a moment, I actually thought Dean was considering using it on me. But then I saw what had caught his attention, the five figures closing in on us quickly from some nearby trees.

When it became apparent that Ryder and Tank were amongst their numbers, Dean’s hand fell away, and he slumped forward, favouring his injured side. I knew him well enough to know he wouldn’t accept help in his current mood. We’d have to wait and address his injury when we had time for him to shout at us first.

We waited silently for the others to arrive, unable to express the things we’d just been through in the small amount of time we had.

Ryder slipped off the strange creature he was riding, confusion marring his face.

“Where’s Damon?” he asked, looking around like he was about to pop up out of nowhere.

“He’s gone. Come on, we need to get out of here,” Dean told him, looking at the creatures curiously.