Elemental Heir | ✔️

Chapter 56

*********************

They are going to kill them... They are going to kill them....

Ferrin's words echoed in my mind.

In the silent trees around us.

I thought I might be sick as my stomach turned. A wave of clashing emotions washed over me, drowning me in confusion. First, a deep sorrow burned in my chest. Sorrow at Ferrin's betrayal. I thought he was my friend, my ally... But he'd turned on me. On Dristan... On the crown that he knew belonged atop my head.

Second, I was filled with boiling rage, directed both at Ferrin and at the human soldiers. Ferrin's actions had put my friends and my mate in immediate danger. The soldiers had not only tortured Dristan, but they were holding Ferrin's family hostage. They were manipulating him in the most abhorrent way I could imagine. How could anyone, human or otherwise, be so cruel?

Third, I felt an overwhelming sense of empathy. What Ferrin had done was unacceptable... But how could I not empathize with his motivation? His family was going to be killed if he did not betray us. Would I have chosen any differently had I been in his position?

Andi, Torryn, Marrok, Ronan, Warrick and... and Dristan.... If their lives hung in the balance, would I choose to save them rather than upholding my loyalty to the crown? In theory, of course I would like to think that I would put my crown and my people before anything else. But if it was not a theory... If it were real, the choice literal, what would I choose?

My throat bobbed as I swallowed. The answer was obvious as it loomed over me. And I knew...

I knew I would choose to save them, without a doubt, without a moment of hesitation in my mind. If I could look Ferrin in the eye and declare him a traitor, then I was a traitor, too.

But, despite the empathy I felt for him, the fact of the present matter overruled it. Ferrin was aiming a silver filled arrow at my back, one that if released, would end my life.

And that fact scared me...

But mostly, it angered me.

"Drop the knife and back away from him." Ferrin said, motioning with the arrow.

I glared at him over my shoulder.

He drew the bow tighter. "Do it, now."

A low, dangerous growl sounded from the cage behind him. Despite the cloth lodged in his mouth, Torryn's message came through, loud and clear. Ferrin ignored him.

It didn't matter how intimidating Torryn sounded. He, nor the others, could help me from inside the cage, especially with all of their magic drained by the night-bane and iron.

My eyes flicked to Ronan, who was lying on the ground behind Ferrin, the heavy iron net caging him to the ground. He stared at me with wide eyes, the cloth in his mouth keeping him silent. I furrowed my brows at him, silently begging him for help. He shook his head subtly, his serious eyes burning into mine.