“Yeah. Yeah, I think so.” He remembered the last time he’d seen Scout stretching. In the gym, in school, a lifetime ago. She’d hated him then, more than she did now. She'd enjoyed watching him make a fool out of himself in front of the entire football team and the drill team.
Now both those teams were probably all trapped inside the castle with her. Kasen and Cole, Trey’s two best friends. Coach Cavenaugh. Kamille, Scout’s drill coach.
“She’s dancing. Let’s go.” Ashra’s wings snapped out, and she leaped into the sky, soaring silently through the mist, clinging to the shadows. Trey ducked low against Torz’s back as they followed her. She went high, fighting her way up, far above the reaching turrets of the castle, and then over the top and down the other side, inch by inch, her wings rocking her back and forth against the current. It took too long. Trey knew Scout had to be hurting. She couldn’t dance forever. They had to hurry.
“Hurry, Ashra. Hurry.” Hurry, hurry, hurry.
They landed in the darkness as Scout fell to her knees in front of the cage in a low bow. It was completely silent — there was no wailing and no shrieking. The back of Ariston’s throne sat in front of them; Trey could see the throne but not Ariston. Which was lucky, or he might leap through the windows and kill him.
He watched as Scout limped closer, rubbing her neck. He could see her bloody knees and feet. His eyes drank in every detail — he felt like he was starving for the sight of her. It took every ounce of will he had not to go barreling inside and carry her out.
She smiled, a sweet, gentle smile, and Trey’s heart stopped. Was she smiling at Ariston? Had he cast some sick spell over Scout that she could possibly look at him that way? Next to him, Torz and Ashra had both seen it, too.
Ashra’s head came up so sharply she nearly broke her own neck. “Do you see?” Her voice, in its excitement, nearly pierced his skull.
Torz was breathing too fast, his wings snapping and unsnapping. “Aella. She lives!”
Trey had no idea what they were talking about. He squinted in the darkness, dragging his eyes from Scout. And there, right where Scout’s sweet smile was aimed, stood the transparent form of a girl, locked in a cage of bones. Scout hadn’t been smiling at Ariston. It had been at the girl. Aella. Iros’s betrothed. The one everyone said had to be dead.
She was not.
“We’re so close. We could just break the window. Grab Scout. Grab the girl. We could be out of here before the soul stealers even knew what hit them.”
“And what good would it do us, Trey? We would still have to save her sister, or she’d never let us leave.” Ashra gave him a pointed look.
“Yeah, but we could at least keep her safe with us—”
“We need a plan. Or we will end up dead, and no one will be safe,” Ashra snapped.
Trey was forming an argument to that when Scout spoke, her voice carrying easily through the thin glass. Any coherent thought he’d had fled.
“Are you planning on feeding me tonight, Ariston? Or are you hoping I’ll starve to death so you don’t have to deal with my soul screaming at you for eternity?”
Trey’s heart nearly stopped at the sound of her voice. He’d imagined it a thousand times in the days since she’d been captured. But his daydreams had not done her justice.
“Your soul would do me absolutely no good. It would stay at the top, unreachable. Like your sister’s.”
Ariston’s voice, on the other hand, made his blood run cold.
“If it won’t do you any good, let her go.”
Scout’s voice carried too much pain, too much desperation. Trey knew he would never be able to carry her out of there. She wouldn’t leave Lil Bit behind.
“If I let her go, how on earth would I convince you to stay?” Ariston sounded amused.
Trey wanted to break his face. Ariston knew Scout would gladly swap her life for Lil Bit’s. And she played right into it.
“Let her go and I’ll stay forever. I’ll give you my word.”
Ariston chuckled. “Sort of like Beauty and the Beast, then?”
Scout tipped her head, scowling. “Except the Beast had redeeming qualities. You don’t.”
Trey grinned. That’s my girl.
Chapter Fourteen
Scout crossed her arms over her chest so Ariston couldn’t see them shaking. She wasn’t sure if it was hunger or exhaustion or fear, but her entire body trembled. She’d made Ariston angry. Which was stupid. After yesterday, she should have learned — if she made him angry, she starved.
And she was already starving.
He leaned back, steepling his fingers while he watched her with cold, black eyes. “Which seems to be your type, doesn’t it? Boys with no redeeming qualities.”
Scout’s heart slowed and her shaking worsened. She knew where this was going. “Leave him out of this,” she said through clenched teeth.
Ariston shrugged. “Well, he left you in the hospital after he put you there. That certainly isn’t very redeeming. And then he followed you here only to leave you at the first opportunity.” He pursed his lips as if considering. “Also not redeeming.”
Scout walked away to her blankets, wishing she could see through the windows behind her. Why did it have to be so dark all the time? “He explained why he couldn’t visit the hospital, and I’ve forgiven him. And—” She leaned around the throne so he could see her glare. “He didn’t leave me. I left them because you tricked me.” In a superb move of self-control, she refrained from sticking out her tongue.
Ariston looked far too self-satisfied. She’d expected him to at least frown, but his smile just widened.
“That’s not what I’m talking about.” He stood up, turning in a slow circle.
The soul stealers started shrieking again, feeding off his anger.
He spread his arms wide. “I don’t see him here, do you?”
“He’s not stupid, Ariston.” Not like me.
“In fact.” Ariston tapped his chin. “I don’t see him in Aptavaras at all. And I see everything in Aptavaras.”
Scout swallowed hard. “You’re lying. There’s no way out of Aptavaras. Iros closed the gate.” She watched as he flinched at the mention of his brother’s name, and it made her glad. Two can cause pain, Ariston.
“Well, I don’t know how.” He shrugged again, feigning indifference. “But they’re not here. They left you.”
“No they didn’t,” she said firmly. “They wouldn’t. Ever.”
Ariston moved lightning-fast to kneel in front of her. “Think about it, Scout. They can’t save you. There’s no way. And look at their track record. Ashra would just as soon throw you from a cliff than fight for you. She cares for nothing but herself. Torz might stay, but not if Ashra left. And your perfect Trey? He left you for three months because of guilt. Guilt, Scout. Fear, as you may know, is a much more powerful motivator than guilt.”
He watched Scout’s face, breathing hard. When Scout only glared back at him, he leaned away, rising to his feet with liquid smoothness. If not for the soul stealers’ frenzy above, Scout would have no idea how angry he actually was.
His voice, when he spoke, was completely unaffected. “But I’m sure they just went back for help. You must be right.”
Scout, too, stood up, despite her trembling legs and the way her heart pounded so hard it made her head spin. “They didn’t leave. They’re still out there somewhere, and nothing you say can convince me they’re not.” Despite her own anger pulsing through her, her voice was strong and steady.
Ariston turned.
Ah, there was the frown she’d been waiting for.
“If you refuse to see reason, Scout, there’s nothing I can do to persuade you.”
Scout’s vision was clouded by a haze of red. “Trey would not leave me. He loves me. He didn’t leave me in that hospital. He tormented himself just outside the doors. It broke his heart, and those three months I went through are nothing compared to what he’s gone through. So you can chase him with your demons
and threaten him and torment him, and he will not leave me. So give it up, Ariston. Your little mind games won’t work.”
The red haze faded, and Scout nearly fell to her knees with the realization that she believed her own words. Trey will not leave me. He will not leave. Trey was out there somewhere, waiting. Like he promised. And now she just had to get out of here so she could tell him she knew this.
“And another thing.” She advanced on him. “You know nothing about my unicorn.” She kicked the blankets away from her feet, storming across the black floor.
Ariston didn’t back away from her fury, but he crossed his arms like they could protect him.
“Nothing. Ashra cares more about everything than herself. I watched as she made a whole bunch of your stupid demons mad, just so they’d follow her away from exhausted Irwarros who couldn’t fight anymore. I watched as she gave up her life and her home to bring me here. Because I wouldn’t have a chance on my own. I watched as she gave up sleep so we could rest, and she hid her pain behind sarcasm, not because it made her look weak, but because she didn't want anyone else to have to endure it. She’s the most stubbornly unselfish creature I have ever met. And because you don’t believe that, you have no idea what she can do to you.” Scout finally stopped, inches from Ariston’s face.
He stared at her without speaking, his jaw clenched so tight she could see the muscle in his cheek working.
And then he stormed past her, jerked his scepter out of its holder by his throne, and grabbed her arm. “Surround us. Don’t let them through.” He snarled, and immediately they were besieged by a wall of Taraxippus circling the orb of light, above them and on all sides.
Scout couldn’t even see through them, but Ariston advanced confidentially, leading them out of the throne room and then out the entry way. His grip was like iron on her wrist, as if he thought somehow she could fight her way through the demons with no scepter and no unicorn—
Don’t let them through.
Them. Scout closed her eyes, her heart breaking in shock. Don’t let them through. Ashra, Trey, Torz. They were here. Somewhere. Ariston had been baiting her. Hoping she’d crack and he could use her words against them.
He’d failed.
She only wished they had heard her. She wished they knew she believed in them
“We know, Scout. We already knew. But thanks for the words, anyway.”
Scout nearly sobbed at Ashra’s beautiful, sarcastic, very real voice in her head. Ashra was close enough to hear her. To speak to her. “Ashra. I’m sorry. I’m so sorry I didn’t listen to you. And tell Trey I’m so sorry I hurt him and I know he won’t hurt me, and I—”
“Quiet, Princess. You can tell him yourself. Right now, we need a plan.”
In front of her, Ariston stopped, shooing the demons out of the way. They moved, forming themselves around a tree and its fruit. He reached up, plucked one, two, three of them, and held them to his orb. They brightened then darkened, and he thrust them at Scout. “Eat.”
She wished she were stubborn enough, strong enough, to refuse him. But she wasn’t. Her hunger overruled her pride, and she grabbed them, eating as fast as she could. “Why? Why are you feeding me?”
“Because you can’t dance if you die.” He didn’t look at her as he said it. Instead, he dragged her away from the tree, toward the sound of a river. His hand shook on her wrist, and Scout, somewhat belatedly, realized for the first time just how much he needed her to drive the pain away.
It was like her back. She’d broken it in that accident, and she was never supposed to walk again. But with Lil Bit’s help and the help of a little white unicorn even Iros hadn’t known existed, Scout healed enough that she could leave the hospital, and she could walk and even dance. But it hurt. Holy snowballs, did it hurt. There were pain meds, shots, different treatments that would take the pain away temporarily, but when it returned, it was so much more painful than had she just kept the pain all along.
She’d be willing to bet Ariston’s pain was the same. Scout could alleviate it, but when she stopped dancing and it came back, it felt ten times worse than before.
He gave her water while Scout searched for Ashra in her head. “What’s the plan? How do we get out of this?”
“Have you figured out how to get Lil Bit out of the cage yet?”
Scout hung her head in shame. She hadn’t even been able to get close to the cage yet. It was beyond the light of the orb protecting her. If soul stealers couldn’t get in, and the thousands of souls trapped within couldn’t break it, then what could?
“No. Not yet.”
Ashra’s voice was fading. “You need us… We have to go. He’s found us. Be ready, Scout. When we come, we’ll come fast.”
Scout felt them. She felt them as they raced past, and she knew what she felt was real because half her Taraxippus guard took off after them. She just caught a glimpse of the moon hanging low in the sky, and then the sleek black form of a unicorn obliterating its light as she raced past it.
Followed by a terrifying amount of demons.
“Be safe, Ashra. Be safe.”
Ariston watched them fly with slitted eyes. “They’re braver than I gave them credit for. Or more stupid.”
“They’re more loyal,” Scout snapped. “And you knew they were there all along. You were trying to make me hurt them.”
Ariston shook his head, a rueful smile on his face as he tugged her back inside. “Yes. That little plan backfired quite a bit, didn’t it?” He turned to the demons following them. “Go, find them. Don’t come back until they’re dead.”
Hundreds of creatures flew past Scout’s head, the wind from their movement blowing her hair around her face as horror closed her throat and made her legs weak. “No. Ariston, no. Please don’t do this.”
Ariston looked at her, and there was pity on his face — real pity. Like he felt bad for what he was doing. “If they don’t die, they’ll take you away from me. And I can’t have that Scout. I can’t live another six hundred years in this kind of pain.”
“I’m mortal, Ariston. I won’t live forever. Please, let them go. Let the souls go. I’ll dance for you for the rest of my life. I won’t try to escape. I promise, Ariston.” She grabbed his wrist with both her hands, begging. She’d be on her knees if he’d let her, but he held her up on her feet. “I’ll do anything. Please, call off your demons. Leave them alone. If — if Ashra comes back, I’ll tell her to leave. Please, Ariston,” she sobbed. “Please don’t do this.”
“I’m sorry, Scout. I really am. I don’t want to kill your friends.” He disentangled himself from her hands and strode toward the throne room.
Scout stumbled after him and his protective orb.
“The thing is,” he said over his shoulder, “I saw the look on your face when you talked about your Trey. If he feels half of what you do, he will never give up. He will never let you go. So I have no choice, you see. Please try to understand.”
“Understand?” Scout shrieked, giving the frenzied soul stealers a run for their money. “Understand? You want me to understand that you’re going to kill my unicorn and the boy I have loved since I was five years old?”
Ariston paused before his throne, his head tipped to the side, considering. “Yes. Perhaps understand was too strong a word.”
“I won’t dance for you, Ariston. I can’t soothe with a broken heart. I can’t dance if my soul is crushed.” Scout hid her hands behind her back to hide the shaking and tried to sound fierce. She failed.
In the cage, the souls fed off her terror. They wailed more fiercely, and Scout could physically feel their pain. It felt like ice in her veins.
“You’ve never danced for me, Scout. We both know that.” Ariston sounded infinitely sad. “You do not care for my peace at all. You dance for them. For your sister. For Aella.” His voice rose as he leaped to his feet. “You dance for everyone in this blasted room except the one man who protects you, who loves—” He froze, his face draining of the very little color it h
ad.
In her cage, Aella gasped.
Scout could not form a cohesive thought.
Without a word, Ariston brushed past her, storming from the room. “Dance for your souls, Scout. They’re giving me a headache.”
Scout needed this dance as much as they did. Her heart hurt. Everything hurt. She prayed the soul stealers would come back, and she prayed that they wouldn’t. If they returned, they couldn’t hurt her friends. But if they returned, it meant her friends were already dead.
“Aella. What do I do?” she murmured, leaning her head against Aella’s bone cage.
Aella reached a hand through the bars, her fingers like an icy breeze against Scout’s cheek. “Dance, Scout. And have faith. I’ve never known Ashra to lose.”
So Scout danced. It was a dark, harsh dance, playing to the dark, harsh music in her head. She threw herself on the floor, crawled, then slid on her knees as if begging Ariston again to save them. She spun through the air like the thoughts in her mind, bent in half, and threw herself backward. She leaped and sobbed and whirled and stayed on her toes. She danced until her legs gave out, and she collapsed in a heap on the floor. And then she cried. This was all her fault.
“Have faith, big sister. Ashra will not fail you. She has your heart. Your will. She will not fail.”
“I fail at everything, Lil Bit. I failed you. I didn’t protect you like I said I would. I didn’t save you. Instead, everyone I love will die.”
“Have faith in them, Scout. Have faith in them like I have faith in you.”
Scout was so tired. So tired. Everything ached. “You shouldn’t have faith in me, Lil Bit.”
“Scout!”
Scout’s head jerked up at the very real voice echoing through the throne room. Her mother’s voice. “Scout, don’t give up! Keep fighting, baby girl!”
Her mom believed in her. Fresh tears cascaded down Scout’s cheeks, but she nodded, forcing herself to her feet. “Okay, Mom. Okay.”
She stumbled to her blankets, her muscles protesting, her heart wondering why she forced it to keep beating. She didn’t see Ariston’s shadow until it was nearly gone from the doorway. He’d been watching the whole time.
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