When I heard Ola’s name pierce through the silence in the cave, I recognized Venan’s voice at once and felt an immediate rush of relief. Everything would be okay now. He would make sure nothing happened to me.

“Close your eyes,” Ola snapped. “And do not move, or I will pierce this blade straight through your gullet.”

I did as she bid me, closing my eyes and becoming as still as I possibly could. It crossed my mind that she wanted me to appear dead for some reason, but that didn’t make sense if she wanted to use me as leverage to get Venan’s forgiveness. Then again, nothing about this situation made sense if her whole goal was forgiveness, but I supposed that was what separated the crazy people from the normal ones.

Listening to the sound of Venan growing nearer sent my stomach spiraling, although it was with relief rather than the lust I normally felt when he came near. But then, without warning, I was ripped upward like a ragdoll, and the cold blade was in my throat again. I deigned to open my eyes against my better judgment, desperate to see that Venan was still standing there and trying to rescue me.

He was.

“Come closer, brother,” Ola hissed. I could hear the awful, malicious smile in her voice. “Let us see who will triumph over the other.”

“Why have you done this?” Venan screamed the words with an irate rasp, but beneath them, I detected an ounce of pain I had not imagined he could feel any more toward his sister. “Why have you taken the path of destruction and forsaken the path to retribution?”

“There is no retribution for me!” Ola shrieked back. She sounded wild now, manic, and inherently unpredictable. In her fervor, she pressed the blade a little too deeply into my skin, and I felt a drop of hot liquid spill down my flesh to the divot of my collarbone.

Realizing she had drawn blood, I decided to take a chance. If I remained silent and immobile as she had ordered, I would more than likely end up decapitated as the conversation between them continued. My only option was to disobey her, and I spoke.

“Venan,” I said meekly. “Listen to what she has to say.”

The pressure of the blade on my throat lessened, and Ola crowed triumphantly, “Yes, Venan, do what your plaything tells you!”

“I already know what you have to say, Ola,” he retorted icily. “And I have already given you my answer.”

“Please,” I pled, raising my voice slightly. “Please, Venan, just hear her out.”

“No!” Her hold on me stiffened, and I was suddenly dragged backward as she scampered in a crouch away from him. “No, no, no. If he is quite certain I am never to be reunited with those I love, so be it. I am happy to return the favor in kind.”

She raised the knife and brought it up over my head. I inhaled sharply, ready for the last few seconds of my life to come to an end, and she swooshed it down.

“Stop!” His shout echoed through the cavern in waves. I felt the rush of air from her swing, but no sharp pain took me. “Do not harm her! I will listen!”

I couldn’t see her, but I knew Ola was smiling. I could feel it in her aura, the pleased and smug smile she, Venan, and definitely Zuran were all capable of—though, hers was significantly more malevolent than those of her brothers. “Wonderful,” she said brightly. She may as well have been praising a crayon drawing from a kindergartener. “It is quite simple, really, and we have discussed it twice now. I want you to talk to Mother and Father, and Zuran as well if you so choose, to bring me back into the family.”

“I told you at the party I do not have the authority to order others to do anything for personal reasons,” came his stiff response. I begged him with my eyes to be more compliant to her. As unbalanced as she was, I wouldn’t have put it past her to get angry over a certain word he said and get revenge by plunging that knife into my heart without a moment of hesitation.

“You and I both know that is not true,” she said.

He spread his hands, separating his fingers in a show of helplessness. Even just as silhouettes against the dimly-lit cave entrance, they looked strong and capable, and I wanted nothing more than to feel those fingers around my wrists as they pulled me into his safe embrace. “Ola, if your request was to have charges dropped against you for an outstanding crime or something of that nature, I could do that for you. Instantly. I cannot force Mother, Father, or Zuran to trust you again.”

“What angers me most about that response is not the lies within it but the lack of promise to even try,” she told him snappishly.

“Venan.” Compared to theirs, my voice sounded pathetic and whiny and small, but I had to speak. “You need to at least consider what she’s asking from you. She’s asking you just to talk to them, that’s all.”

“And I am trying to impress upon her how little influence I have over their emotional decisions!” Venan fired back. His response was to me, and it was angry, but I didn’t take it personally. I knew he wasn’t mad at me no matter how he was speaking to me at the moment. If the situations were reversed and it was he who was being held at knifepoint, I probably would’ve been more than a little riled myself.

As calmly as I could manage under the constraints of my fear, I said, “Think about what it would have meant to you just to have someone on your side when you became an Elder. You’ve dealt with being considered untrustworthy. Worse, you’ve dealt with being considered a murderer, and not by only four people but by an entire kingdom. Realistically, you’re still dealing with it. Because of an accidental mistake, you have been branded a demon despite all else you’ve done to prove otherwise. If someone had come forward and spoken up on your behalf, wouldn’t you have appreciated it? Even if nothing came of it?”

His breathing was slow and shaky, but it was so loud I could hear it more clearly than I heard Ola’s. She wasn’t moving a centimeter. In fact, she’d become as rigid as a stone statue behind me. I wished I could see Venan’s face and gauge what he was thinking so I could figure out if I needed to continue convincing him or not. However, the darkness was unrelenting, and I was blind to everything except the part of Venan’s outline visible from the backlight.

“Think carefully, brother,” Ola whispered. It was hardly audible, but all else was still enough to hear her.

Finally, Venan expelled a rush of breath. “Fine,” he agreed. It was clear he begrudged the word and its meaning, but it was enough to bring back the balloon of hope to my heart. “I will speak to them. I can make no promises, though, Ola. All I can do is try.”

“Thank you,” she said, and it was the calmest she’d been since she had first shown up at the salon. She actually sounded somewhat normal, and she definitely could’ve passed for sane.

She released me, and I fell flat on my back with the sudden lack of support. I heard a smattering of boot scrapes, and then felt fingers curling around my wrists just as I’d imagined. Venan’s scent burst into my senses, overtaking me, and I collapsed against his chest. He walked backward without letting me go, separating me from Ola and holding me to him so tightly I lost the ability to breathe properly, but I didn’t care. I was in his arms. I was safe.