THE USUAL BLUE CALM THAT settled over the Realm was discolored and I tasted the uneasiness in the air. The temperature here was nonexistent, as it adjusted to what each person’s body was most comfortable with.
It was the Wraiths’ imaginary home, because what you saw was not always what it was. The four Elemental Wraiths had a particular favorite pastime: playing with the location of rooms. They also had rooms with no doors or windows, marble boxes as prisons. I’d once been incarcerated in one and I didn’t plan on it again.
I walked through the gardens to the council room. It was the one place I detested more than any other. A reminder of when Delara was with the Wraith of Fire, Edan. How I’d begged her to let me try.
Try.
Fuck. What was try? Trying had been a lie. There was no try with us. I’d been attempting to keep her away from Edan and she’d seen right through me.
With Delara, the only way to have her was to give myself completely. She wanted me to stop the pills, the numbness.
But I wasn’t numb at all. I was imprisoned within myself. That was my numbness, locked in a cage with my Ink.
She’d never be safe with me. I’d wanted her to see that. To see the steel room. The chains on the wall. The stained blood on the wall.
Would she stop cutting if she knew why? Could she understand why we’d never have a relationship? Would she give up other men? Would she be willing to have me—emotionless some of the time, raging the other? A man she could never have completely. A man who had become split in two, sharing a body with an Ink that was trying to take me over.
But my fear was Delara’s reaction when she saw me chained to the wall and raging, my Ink attempting to take over my body.
I stopped on the threshold of the Deaconry room. Only Genevieve, the Wraith of Water, and Urtzi, Wraith of Air, were present.
Good. I didn’t feel like dealing with Edan.
Genevieve and Urtzi looked at me and stood from their seated positions on the lip of the fountain pool. Genevieve held a lily pad in the palm of her hand and Urtzi had what looked like a handful of pebbles.
Genevieve let the lily pad go on the surface of the water and Urtzi slowly released the pebbles.
“Waleron. What happened to you?” Urtzi asked.
They walked toward me.
“Tarek should’ve been sent to Rest for eternity. I knew this would happen. I told you.” I glared at them. “Do you know what he did to her? For years? Years he subjected her to fear. How did you not see this? Explain to me, Urtzi. You are the Wraith of Air. You should have sensed something in that house. Her fuckin’ Ink was killed. He did that to her. Do you realize what he had to have done to her to kill it?”
Genevieve clasped her hands, her eyes wide. “Waleron. No. You have to stay calm. Please. You shouldn’t be here and you require healing. There’s blood all over you.”
I ignored her. “We protect one another, yet one of our own was being tortured right under your noses.” Waleron stared at Urtzi. “How?”
“Waleron,” Tor said as he entered the room. The Wraith of Earth smelled like cinnamon today. He changed scents often, but cinnamon was his favorite. “Calm, Genevieve. The water.”
Beside Tor was Zurina, who looked frazzled, her hair tangled and her clothes wrinkled.
I nodded to her in acknowledgment. She returned the gesture.
The fountain water boiled over and trickled down the marble sides.
Genevieve trembled, her face ashen. She was the keeper of the fountain and when she was distressed, so was the water.
Tor nodded to the other Wraiths and turned his attention to me. “She never mentioned Tarek killing her Ink at the trial.”
I stiffened. “She was beaten half to death and had to recount what he did to her. That was enough to condemn him.” I peered at Tor. “Who is helping him?”
Tor frowned. “Helping him?”
“Someone shielded him. He had a golden rope he controlled. Someone powerful is helping him and they want Delara.”
Zurina walked around the marble table and reached for my hands. “Waleron. Your hands are burned and your shoulder is bleeding. Let me heal you.”
I clamped my jaw, about to deny Zurina, when Urtzi tilted his head slightly, watching my reaction. My every move was being scrutinized.
I reluctantly placed my hands in hers and instantly the soothing comfort of her healing blanketed me. She jerked back once when her body felt the impact of the bullet, and her hands trembled in mine as the pain became hers.
When I pulled my hands away, I nodded my thanks and she bit her lower lip and lowered her eyes from mine. Was she upset by the images of Tarek? She wasn’t normally affected by images like other Healers.
I glanced at the pool again; the water was still bubbling, but not overflowing. “I warned you Tarek would do this when he rose. He won’t ever let her go. I have led the Scars for centuries. I know them. I know what they will do before they even know themselves. Damn it, he should be executed.”
Tor sighed. “Some have changed after experiencing Rest. Tarek was once a well-respected Scar.”
“He was an obsessive, controlling bastard who loved torturing our enemies,” I said.
Tor nodded. “Yes. But he never broke our laws.”
“Until he beat the hell out of my woman.”
“She isn’t your woman, Waleron. You never maited her,” Tor answered, his eyes unwavering. “Where is she now?”
“The Talde house. I will Trace her to Spain and then I will hunt Tarek. And this time he will not be shown mercy.”
“Waleron, defending her is not the only reason you walk this Earth,” Zurina said.
I flinched. “What are you saying, Zurina?”
“I’m saying remember why you’re here. Delara has made you act irrationally for years.”
“This wouldn’t be an issue if you hadn’t voted against me when I wanted Tarek executed. Now look where it has led us.”
“I am a Healer, Waleron. And everyone has the right to a second chance,” Zurina replied. “And she is not the only Scar.”
“I protect all the fuckin’ Scars.”
She frowned. “You swearing is enough to show me how unreasonable you are.”
I blanked my mind from her before I told her to fuck off. “I want to know who is helping Tarek,” I continued, ignoring Zurina’s pleading look. “He had a shield around him. Around his car. The men with him were human, but they know about Scars. How did he rise from Rest and immediately have help? Who else is capable of shields?”
“I don’t know the answers, Waleron,” Tor said, shaking his head. “We will assist in searching for him.” Tor’s voice grew deeper and the floor trembled. “Tarek will be executed. But Waleron, the issue still remains, you have sworn to protect all Scars and humans. Your focus has strayed and Delara must leave your Talde, or you will lose your Taldeburu.”
“She is leaving,” I ground out.
“We could bring her here?” Zurina suggested. “Until you find Tarek.”
The Realm would be safe, but with the Wraiths wanting her separated from me, and worse, Edan here, I didn’t want Delara anywhere near the Realm.
There was one Scar who’d protect her better than anyone. He was also the one who could take her away from me—Xamien.
“No. Delara goes to Spain.”