Rhen
By the time the Hunt quenched the fire, Oread was nothing but ash and bones. It was an unfathomable sight. The bustling city I once knew, demolished to ruins by its own prince.
A veil of sorrow filled the air and engulfed me, making me question everything. Where in the hell was the King? How long was he going to stand back and watch his own son destroy his lands? Beyond that, Elm technically had as much right to do something as his destructive brother. I knew he never wanted that responsibility, but it was his duty. Wasn’t it? These were his people being murdered, too.
Children! Fucking innocent children that would never get to experience what it was like to fall in love or live out their dreams. Instead, they’d become nothing but minerals in the soil for us to step on over and over again until they were forgotten.
He was going to pay for what he’d done.
Elm cleared his throat, wincing slightly as he stood next to Phyre. He’d done so much yelling in the past hour, trying to calm the hysteria that his voice cracked. “Gods help us all.”
“Why bother with Oread?” Phyre asked. “Until now, the bitch has been targeting the last known locations of the Articles.”
Elm grimaced, tugging hard on the shredded remains of his shirt. It was scorched in some places and burned through in others, caked with ash that had covered his skin in a procession of unwelcomed shades of grey. “Doesn’t matter. All that does, is getting them to safety. Rhen,” He stared at me intently, his eyes shining brightly with hesitation. I could feel his gaze burning into me, a pressure that was impossible to ignore. “You’ve officially been tasked with your first assignment. Congratulations.”
“What?” Phyre demanded, her voice rising in disbelief. “On who’s authority?”
Elm didn’t take his eyes off of me. He studied me in such a way that I felt utterly naked. As if he could see straight through my clothes, my skin, and into my soul. “Your brother,” he answered Phyre softly, “He wants her to seek aid from the humans. From her hometown.”
I felt like I was spiraling, spinning on my head like those toddler toys. Acid crept up my throat, scorching it. I didn’t want to go back to the place that harbored such terrible memories. I’d once imagined myself like Alice from Wonderland, escaping her drab, colorless world. But even she had to return home, eventually. Nothing was ever permanent, I knew that. Yet it hurt to imagine how easily the others got on after I’d left. They likely hadn’t even realized or cared that I’d gone. They’d never given two shits about me or my mother. To think a single person there would help the fey?
Never.
“They don’t give a fuck about their own people, much less yours,” I spat. “I had to sell myself, for god’s sake, just to survive!”
Elm went utterly still, a quiet rage building inside him. Through clenched teeth, he growled. “I know that, Rhen. But that’s exactly why you have to be the one to go. We need the humans as much as they need us. You know these people. You think I want to have to depend on a human to help my people? No, but as it stands, that’s our only option.”
“Is that all I am to you?” A stupid human that’s only use is to do his dirty work? My eyes went glassy, my vision becoming blurred.
“That’s not what I—”
But I’d heard enough. I shut out the sound of both him and Phyre calling out to me as I kicked the ash beneath my feet, but not before I heard a thwack.
“Ow!” Elm yelped.
I turned to see what the commotion was, only to see Phyre standing with her hands on her hips while Elm stared daggers in her direction and rubbed the back of his head. A soft laugh passed between my lips, and I swiveled, turning back against them again.
Slow, heavy footsteps cracked over the rubble behind me. I knew it was Elm, but I refused to acknowledge him. As I eased my way closer to the stream that flowed through the heart of Oread, several distraught families raised a hand toward me, thanking me for the little I’d done to help today. Though they gave curt nods and melancholic smiles, I recognized the look of absolute defeat on their faces. Not long ago, I was like them.
Actually, I was better off than them. At least I had had a roof over my head and a mother to love me. They had nothing at all to their name, and so many of them lost loved ones. Orphaned children sat in the gray dirt, smut glued to their faces from their tears.
Leaning back on my heels, I paused and waited for the footsteps to glide to a stop beside me.
“Fine,” I grumbled through pursed lips. My eyes had already begun to water, so I kept them glued to my feet. “But I’m not doing this for you.”
Elm’s fingers twitched at his sides. “Rhen—”
I jerked my head sharply toward the homeless people, an indescribable sense of obligation ignited within my soul. “I’m doing it for them.”
“I didn’t mean to upset you—”
I held up a hand, hushing him. I didn’t want to hear his apologies. It meant nothing to me. If he thought of me as nothing but human trash to be wielded like a sword, then so be it. Because it ultimately meant he still needed me.
“So, when do we leave?”
With a tilted head, he parted his lips. The falling sun’s light swam in his eyes as he reached for my hand. He smeared black smut from his hands up my arm, a devilish grin on his face. “We’ll head out first thing in the morning. We all need showers.”
Ripping my arm from his grip, I attempted to wipe the black off without success, to which he laughed. Through narrowed eyes, I recognized that look of false merriment. For years, I’d slapped on a fake smile for others’ benefit, but it never quite reached my eyes. No one ever noticed, or if they did, they never said anything.
Because they didn’t care.
But it had made me very perceptive to others’ pain.
“Hey,” I said, voice cracking from the dry air. “You don’t have to pretend with me. It’s okay to be sad or angry.”
Words I wished someone would have said to me.
Elm’s entire body went rigid beside me, his gaze far off on the horizon. A whipping breeze brushed through his hair, tinted pink from the sunset. Through clenched teeth, he shook his head and muttered, “I can’t.”
Of course, he couldn’t. More than anyone, I understood the need to put on a front. It kept him intact. Kept him from becoming so overwhelmed with emotions that he became reckless.
“I know,” I breathed. He couldn’t express himself in front of his friends. All they’d ever seen was the rational side of him. The cool, seductive prince whose face was always bathed in light. But where there is light, a shadow always follows. “I’m a safe place, Elm. If you need a break from acting. You don’t have to smile for me.”
Hands clasped around my waist, drawing me back. I startled, heart hammering behind my surprise as he spun me around to face him.
A pair of blue sapphires sparkled and liquefied, but his smile did not falter. A hand slid from my side up to my face, where it cupped my chin. “I will never stop smiling for you, Rhen. No matter how bad things get, that will never change.”
“Why?”
He arched his back, hovering over me and drawing my face closer to his. My cheeks flushed, and I tried desperately to look anywhere but into his eyes.
“Because.” His hot breath tickled my lips. “You see me.”
“Oh, gods, you’re not about to kiss him, are you? Gross.” I twisted out of Elm’s grip to see Phyre standing in front of us, her arms crossed at her chest.
“No!” I exclaimed, a little too eagerly. “Absolutely not!”
She let out a soft laugh, her gaze passing from me to Elm. “Good. Cause I don’t think I could live in the same house after that awkward exchange.” Her nose curled in distaste as a weary sigh escaped her lips. “We ready? Phyl released us from duty, and I’m exhausted.”
Elm nodded, extending a hand for each of us. His skin was ice cold as I slid mine into his and entwined my fingers with his. Phyre slapped his hand away, grabbed my other hand, and squeezed it lightly.
“Let’s go home.”
And all three of us slipped into the gray tinted shadow, leaving the collapsed city in our wake.