I stopped running and dropped to my knees. Who was I kidding? If Lucien wanted to find me, he would. Running like the dumb human I was wasn’t going to stop anyone.
Malachi had to find me. They had to be close. I could feel it.
And that was my only chance at living to see another day.
My breathing was loud and my heart raced in my ears. I hadn’t run like that in ages. I hadn’t run away from something in ages. I had typically been the stand and fight type of girl.
But that was the reckless version of me. That was the version of me who didn’t care what happened to her.
Footsteps crunched on the dead leaves to my left.
But I was out of fuel. My feet were numb from the pain. My mouth was cotton dry, and the healing wound on my back had split open.
I rubbed the sweat and tears from my face with my dirty hands. If these bastards were going to kill me, I couldn’t do a single damn thing to stop them.
“Come here,” a voice said. But it wasn’t Lucien. It was a woman.
I snapped my head in her direction, and was surprised to see a middle-aged woman, also barefoot, summoning me.
“What?” I breathed. “Who are you?”
She shook her head. “It doesn’t matter. I’ll tell you all that later, darling. I know where Malachi is. You have to follow me if you want to live.”
She smiled as she spoke, as if she were happy to see me for some reason.
Frankly, I didn’t care. I was out of options.
I flinched as I stood, and the woman took my hand in hers. Warmth radiated from her. A long braid fell down the middle of her back.
“Where are we going?” I asked.
“Not much further,” she said. She did not sulk or whisper as if she were hiding. She stood tall and she held her chin high.
She didn’t look fae. Her ears weren’t pointed, and she didn’t have wings. Although it could have been the glamour that Serefin and Malachi had been using before.
My thoughts were interrupted when a pair of footsteps approached us.
My heart raced. If this woman had just led me to my death, I was going to be pissed.
“What is this?” I asked her.
She smiled at me and stopped walking.
Right when Malachi stepped into view.
“Saints,” I whispered. I moved to step toward him, to throw my arms around him, to let him know I was sorry and I didn’t mean to leave.
But Malachi stopped dead in his tracks and drew his sword.
The woman shoved me to my knees and pressed a blade against my throat.
CHAPTER 34
Malachi
“If I so much as smell a drop of blood spilt from her skin, you won’t have time to take a single breath before your life has ended,” I said. “Think wisely.”
“If you were going to kill me, I would be dead,” the woman responded.
She held herself with confidence I recognized only in myself.
Who in the Saints was she?
Power pulsed through my body. Death wanted her.
At a single thought, she could drop to her knees in pain and I could end her life.
But the blade was touching Jade. It was too risky.
Jade was covered in dirt and blood. Saints, she looked awful. Her eyes were wild, and her chest heaved with every breath.
“What do you want with her?” I growled. Serefin and Adeline had their swords drawn behind me, waiting for my command and watching the woman’s every move.
At my command, they would kill for me.
But the woman simply smiled. “I want us all to be friends,” she said.
Jade’s eyes were blaring into me, but I didn’t meet them. I couldn’t. One look at her and I would burn the entire damned forest to the ground.
“And what makes you think we can be friends after you lay your hands on my wife?”
Without moving the blade, the woman took her free hand and placed it atop Jade’s head.
“Because,” she said. “She is my daughter now, too.”
My head spun. The familiar voice. The familiar smile.
I knew this woman.
“Malachi,” she continued. Her features softened as she continued to stare at me. “It’s been so long.”
Power rippled in the air around us. I reminded myself to take a deep breath before daring to say anything. “My mother has been held captive by the King. There’s no way you would be out here. It isn’t possible.”
She wasn’t my mother. She wasn’t.
The woman rolled her eyes. “Of course he’s been telling you that, boy. How else would he control that special power of yours? He used you as a weapon this entire time. He had no idea where I was, Malachi. He only made you believe he did.”