Sewn & Scarred (The Fated Creations Trilogy #3)

Chapter FifteenMaddox

Chapter Fifteen

Maddox

“ N ot yet,” I said as Wyott stood in front of my Rominium chair, his arms crossed.

“Maddox, it’s been two full days. He’s gone. You said so yourself,” Wyott urged, and I looked to Otto and Cora who flanked out behind him, as if they’d assist in my rebuttal.

They were here to take off the Rominium bars, to free me from my physical prison after I’d freed myself from my mental one.

We’d spent the days since I woke up from my blackout talking. Wyott filled me in on everything that had happened since I left for Merwinan. Everything about Evaline and her magic, Lauden and the way he’d embarrassed her in front of the training center, and all the grief my father had given them about helping me. And about how my father tried to stop Evaline from going to Correnti. He’d mentioned that when he came to see me, but only said that they fought. He had not mentioned that he’d told Evaline he wouldn’t send help after her, if she was taken.

And while that worried me, and I hoped he was bluffing, right now, all I could think about was whether it was safe for me to leave the confinement of these shackles.

I shook my head. “What if he isn’t really gone? What if it’s a trick?” I asked, fear leaking into my voice.

I saw Cora’s brows furrow in pity and swallowed my panic back.

After I’d shoved the Vasi back into the cell and the veil was completely mended and shut, I’d thought that was the end of it, but I’d immediately passed out and feared that somehow, he did that. That he caused me to blackout, and something had happened in the meantime.

Cora shook her head. “Maddox we checked, over and over, all those hours you were out. We checked your eyes, they stayed gray the entire time. He’s gone. Really, truly, gone.”

I took a deep breath. “But if he’s not, if he could come out once, surely he could—”

“He only came out because you killed Gabriehl. You won’t do that again, so he won’t come out again. You’ve done the unthinkable, Mads. What every Kova on this island deemed impossible.” Wyott loosed his arms and waved a hand toward Otto. “Let him take those bars off.”

I swallowed and felt for the wall that separated the Vasi and me, again. In the time since I’d shoved him away, I’d constructed mental barriers between the two of us. The veil was there, but in front of it was a brick wall. And another, then sandbags and a sturdy wall of Rominium to lock all of that back with him, too.

I closed my eyes and listened for him. Felt for him, deep within. I tried to remember what it felt like before I ever turned, when I could sometimes hear him in the depths of my mind.

And deep in there, I felt something. Not a stirring, but a presence.

My eyes shot open, and I shook my head.

“It’s too early,” I argued. “And I’m fully fed. I can’t tell if I’m strong enough to fight him off. Before I turned, he started to rustle within when I was malnourished.”

Wyott threw back his head with a groan.

“Oh, for fuck’s sake,” he said, before grabbing a throwing knife from his bandolier and striding toward me. Before any of us could say anything, he shoved the dagger against the artery at my neck.

“What the fuck?” I gasped, shoving myself away from him. He didn’t remove the dagger, instead keeping it lodged in my muscle as my blood drained down the side of my neck.

“Wyott, what are you doing?” Cora shrieked, coming to my side. She placed her hands near the wound that Wyott wedged open.

“He wants to know if he can withstand the Vasi while he’s malnourished. He just fed, so now we have to drain him.”

I swallowed my anger at his move and nodded. I understood why he’d done it.

We waited for several long minutes. The blood poured from my wound, and couldn’t heal because Wyott kept the Rominium knife lodged in it. Otto shifted uncomfortably on his feet, and Cora went to go get more of Evaline’s blood to give me after this experiment.

After what felt like forever, my eyes started to sag, and I could feel my energy diminish. Wyott pulled the blade back and pressed his hand against the wound that hadn’t healed yet. Not from the blade, but because now I was too malnourished to heal quickly.

“There,” he said. “You’re weak. You’re hungry. How does it feel, now?” He looked down at me with serious eyes, and I could tell that he was only being this pushy because he wanted me back more than anything.

“I don’t know,” I gasped out. Even breathing was a task in this sorry state.

Cora came back with the blood, and as soon as I smelled it, I closed my eyes. I waited for the pounding that usually began in the back of my skull. I could feel him there, could feel that he existed , but that was it.

There was no stir, there was no rustle, there was no fight.

“There’s nothing,” I said, looking up at Wyott. He started to smile, but I shook my head, adamant. “But he knows that this is a test. He’d intentionally remain quiet right now.”

Wyott rolled his eyes. “Every minute we spend with you locked in this room is another minute Evaline is out there, in danger. With Sage and Lauden. How do you suggest we get her if you’re still here in this fucking prison?”

Rage started to seethe low in my gut, and again, I listened for the Vasi. When I was weakened, and enraged, he’d usually come forward. But there was nothing, save for the soft hum of my bond with Evaline.

“For all we know, she’s already in Mortithev. Vasier already has her. So what would you rather? Sit here and test your limits, or go look for a way to help her?”

I pursed my lips and thought through my options, but when put that way, I really only had one.

My voice was quiet as I spoke. “What if he breaks through and runs off?”

Wyott didn’t hesitate. “I will chase him down.”

“What if he hurts someone?” I croaked.

“I will stop him.”

“What if—” I started, but Wyott cut me off, his voice low as he leaned down to look at me, eyes ablaze.

“You can ‘what if’ your way through every scenario possible. But in each of them, I promise you, I will mitigate them all. I’ll stop him, I’ll catch him, I’ll bring you back. I’ll do what I didn’t do before, I’ll be there with you for this journey. Every step of the way. Because that is what family does. That is what brothers do.” He growled the last part, tears in his eyes.

I swallowed back my own and nodded.

I was so Gods-damned scared. But just like I’d been scared for Evaline, and my preemptive actions to save her put me in this situation, I had to give up control over this aspect of my life. I had to give control to the Gods and know that if something did happen, my family would be with me.

“Okay,” I whispered.

Cora ran forward with the blood and I guzzled it down as Otto handed out pieces of cloth and strapped a mask onto himself. It was meant to cover the nose and mouth, and when we’d all put them on—Cora tying mine to my face—he handed us protective eye shields.

I’d seen Otto wear these items before, when we saw him at his shop in the middle of a project, but had never needed to wear them myself.

He pulled the eyewear on and looked to us.

“When you work with Rominium, or any metal, small pieces of it can flake off into the air around you, or the fumes can. The Rominium has gotten into my system before through my mouth or my eyes, and it knocks you on your ass.” He adjusted the eyewear on his face and reached for his tools. “Trust me, you’d rather the uncomfortable protection than to spend the next several hours barely able to move.”

I’d never thought about what Rominium might do to our system before, because we only ever used them as weapons. But I stilled the shiver that started to wrack my frame at the thought of ingesting the metal that had some sort of innate ability to stop a Kova and Vasi, and watched as Otto got to work on the bars. It didn’t take him long, all his tools had been waiting to be used, heating in the fire while I’d wavered on my decision. And when he’d created hinges around all the bars that covered me—my hands, my wrists, my chest, my neck, my ankles—he opened them, and I sat in the chair, free to stand.

Otto straightened and moved to the side, a smile on his face.

Cora clasped her hands together in front of her chest, tears in her eyes.

Wyott lowered his hand for me to take, and I noted the small tremor that ran through it.

“Come on, brother. It’s time.”

I nodded and looked up at him. I took a deep breath, clapped my hand in his, and he hauled me up at the same time as I pushed to stand. I couldn’t tell if my legs were shaky and caused me to lose my balance, or if it was just Wyott hauling me into a hug, but I tripped forward until he had his thick arms locked around me.

“Welcome home, Mads,” he said in my ear, tears in his voice.

I bit back a thankful sob and cleared my own tears from my eyes.

“Thank you for fighting for me,” I said, hugging him back, then dropped my eyes to where Cora stood behind him, tears streaming down her cheeks. I opened one arm and she slid into the embrace, too.

After we thanked Otto, it was time to find my parents.