Suddenly Fated (Wolves of Riverton #1)

22. Esyn

22. Esyn

It felt like an out of body experience. In my mind I floated on the ceiling, watching the chaos below. Elise lay dead at my feet, her blood spattered all over the front of my body. Avelin wailed until she didn’t have any tears left and now just stood shackled next to me, hanging her head dejectedly. Blackwell hurt Jamie and now his gaze ping-ponged its way between the four of us as if he couldn’t decide which one to kill next. Ari continued to strain against his bindings.

Ari, if this is it, please remember that I love you more than this earth.

Esyn, don’t you dare talk like that. I love you, and we will get out of this.

I couldn’t see how. Blackwell had all the power, and he reveled in it.

I became aware of Avelin screaming again and I came back to full consciousness in my body with a violent snap. Her father had the dagger, covered in Elise’s blood, pressed to her heart. “I should have gotten rid of you years ago,” he said in a low menacing voice. “What the hell good is a girl child? I wanted a son. A son that would grow into a man and help me to rule it all. Instead your slut of a mother had you and then up and fucking died. For all I know, you aren’t even mine. Haven’t had any more kids in all these years, after all. You turned out as useless as she was.” He drew the dagger down her chest, leaving an angry, bleeding cut.

Jamie screamed along with Avelin. “Blackwell, let her go! Take me instead! Just let her go!”

“Oh shut it,” Blackwell muttered. “Stop your hollering. I’m going to kill you both anyway, so begging like a little weakling won’t do you any good.”

Blackwell raised the dagger again, this time putting the blade against the smooth skin of Avelin’s left cheek. “So pretty, huh? That’s all you ever had going for you. What if you don’t have that anymore, either?” He grinned again. Suddenly, something shattered over his head, and he dropped the dagger, gripping his head and roaring out a yell as he spun around. Behind him stood a small woman in a servant’s uniform, the remains of a stone wolf statue at her feet.

“Rose?” I asked, incredulous. She nodded at me.

“Let’s go before he wakes up,” Rose said as she unhooked Avelin and me from the wall. I rushed to grab the dagger from the floor where Blackwell dropped it, using it to cut through Ari’s bindings and then Jamie’s. They stood, rubbing their wrists. Jamie supported his weight on his one good leg.

“We have to get out of here,” I said against Ari’s chest. He’d wrapped his arms around me and held me tight.

“You’re right, but first we should tie him up-”

We all looked toward Blackwell, but Ari’s words were interrupted as Avelin took hold of the long knife that Elise wielded earlier and plunged it right into her father’s chest. Blood pooled out and dripped onto the floor. She sat in the dirt beside him with it all around her, her head low, not making eye contact with us.

One beat, two, three, ten as we all stood frozen. Avelin killed her father. The man that terrorized the continent for decades was dead, and it happened so quietly. Calm and calculated, just like Avelin. Almost proper. “Go.” Avelin whispered the word. “Just go. Get away from here before the guards realize what happened.”

Jamie stepped forward, reaching for her. “Av, I’m not leaving you here.”

“Don’t touch me!” she screamed out, her voice raw, then quieted again. “Don’t touch me. I betrayed you all. I’m as evil as he is. I don’t deserve to leave this place.”

I stepped toward her and knelt down, keeping clear of the blood on the floor, and addressed her, making my voice as gentle as possible. “Avelin, no matter what happened before, you can’t stay here. It isn’t safe for you. Please come back with us. I want you to.”

“How can you say that after what I did?”

“Let’s just go home, ok? We’ll work it out later.”

“Please, Av. I can’t leave you here. I won’t.” Jamie held his hand out to her once more. She stared at it for a long while, but finally took it.

“This way,” Rose said, and we went up the basement stairs. She looked both ways in the hall before leading us to an attached garage at the back of the house. We could hear the chatter and laughter of men somewhere in the house and I raised my finger to my lips, gesturing for everyone to be quiet. Ari grabbed my hand and squeezed it reassuringly. Rose opened the door, whispering. “Take the Humvee. He leaves the keys in it. The windows are tinted, so they won’t realize who is inside.”

We all clambered up and into the gigantic vehicle. Ari helped Jamie maneuver around his injured thigh. I turned and put my hand on Rose’s arm. “Don’t you want to come with us?” She shook her head solemnly.

“No, Luna. I’m going to go and get my sister. We’ve been planning to leave this looney-bin anyway. We’ve got money saved up to go to the city, start a new life. That’s the reason we stole that money in the first place, so that we could get away from Riverton. We hate small town life, and we aren’t proud of our actions here. I want to go someplace with a clean slate.”

“Thank you, Rose,” I said to her. You know where we are if you need anything. You’d be welcomed back.”

Rose nodded and pushed a button on the wall, opening the garage bay as Ari turned the key in the ignition. We all held our breath as he backed out and we left the property, passing several guarded checkpoints along the way. They all just saluted and we drove along undetected.

Finally, the edge of the River packlands came into view.

Home.