𝔸 ℂ𝕠𝕦𝕣𝕥 𝕠𝕗 𝕃𝕠𝕧𝕖 𝕒𝕟𝕕 𝕎𝕣𝕒𝕥𝕙 (Book 2)

Eighty

I gripped the box, gingerly flipping open the lid.

Inside the box lined with white velvet, three rubies glimmered, red as blood, and each of them the size of a chicken egg. Each so pure and richly colored.

"Blood rubies," Rhys said.

I looked up at him, his eyes on the ground, staring off at something I couldn't see.

He continued, "In the Summer Court, when a grave insult has been committed, they send a blood ruby to the offender. An official declaration that there is a price on their head—that they are now hunted, and will soon be dead. The box arrived at the Court of Nightmares an hour ago."

I closed my eyes for a moment. "One for each of us, I take it?" My words weren't snarky. They held nothing but sorrow.

The lid of the box snapped shut. "I made a mistake." he stated, his voice like a void. "I should have wiped the minds of the guards and let them continue on. Instead, I knocked them out. It's been a while since I've had to do any sort of physical...defending like that, and I was so focused on my Illyrian training that I forgot the other arsenal at my disposal. They probably awoke and went right to him."

"He would have noticed the Book was missing, either way."

"You've been told you are now public enemy number one of the Summer Court, and you're fine with it?"

"No. But I don't blame you for it." I reasoned, slinking back into the chair behind me. "I have no reason to."

He loosed a breath, telling me enough that I knew he blamed himself for it. That it didn't matter if none of us thought him responsible, he'd do that himself.

It made me sick.

Or sad. Or angry. That he thought so low of himself. That he put so much weight on his shoulders. That he thought himself at fault for all that had gone wrong, today and in the past.

    And it just wasn't true.

    "Make it up to him some way. Clearly, you wanted to be his friend just as much as he did. You wouldn't be so upset otherwise."

    "I'm not upset. I'm pissed off."

    "Semantics." I said, waving him off with a flick of my wrist.

    At least he spared me a half smile at that. "Fueds like the one we just started can last centuries—millennia. If that's the cost of stopping this war, helping Amren...I'll pay it."

    And yet somehow, he was always the one to pay the price. He'd pay it with everything he had. No regard for anything of him. His hopes, his own happiness, it was all lost in his selflessness.

    I wouldn't allow it.

    I'd be selfish for him.

"Do the others know?" I questioned.

    "Azriel was the one who brought the blood rubies to me. I'm debating how I'll tell Amren."

    I raised my brow. Yes, I was sure that would go well.

    "And why is that?" I prompted.

    Darkness filled those remarkable eyes. "Because her answer would be to go to Adriata and wipe the city off the map."

    I hummed. Such a treat, she was.

    I stared out at the expanse of Velaris with him, listening to the faint sounds of the city as people wrapped up their work for the day, waiting for the night unfold just as we were. Adriata felt small in comparison to the light that littered the city.