In the back of my mind I now wondered about the countless people who would benefit from my transformation. The one burning question was…what would I become?
Even though it was my destiny, I did have a choice. I could either run from it, or embrace it. As much as I wanted to be free from it all, I now had a responsibility. There were lives who were entrusted to me. Lives I had never met, and might not ever meet. And those who were already a part of my life.
Kade stepped forward and reached for my hand. “You have a worried look on your face. Want to talk?”
Those were the words I was hoping to avoid.
“Actually, I’m starving. I was just heading down to see what Miss Lily has for lunch. Would you care to join me?” I asked, trying to change the subject.
A wide smile graced his beautiful mouth. “Of course. I’m hungry too.” He twisted his head into the room. “Hey Malachi, care to join us for lunch?”
“I thought you’d never ask,” he uttered gruffly.
Kade ducked back in for a second and came back out, pulling a tight fitted black t-shirt over his head, then offered me his arm. I happily threaded mine through his and off we went. Malachi followed behind us.
“So did you guys run into any problems on your way to Midway?” he asked.
“Nope. It was all clear from the time we left you and Alex.”
“Did Dom behave?”
“Does Dom ever behave?”
“Good point.”
“Ephraim wasn’t too thrilled to see him,” I said, giggling as I remembered his face as soon as Dom entered the room.
“Yeah, Dom definitely knows how to make friends,” Malachi noted sarcastically. “The worst part is, he enjoys it.”
“I noticed,” I agreed. Dom was carefree and snarky, but those were also some of his best qualities.
“Emma, are you going to answer the burning question everyone wants to know? You know, about why you went?” Malachi asked bluntly.
I didn’t turn back, but instead shrugged. I knew he didn’t care about idle chat. He wanted straight forward answers. I exhaled. “I just needed to ask a few questions, and wanted to hear the answers for myself. It’s something personal.” I hoped that answer was good enough, though it was still vague.
“What question?” He pressed.
Dammit. He wasn’t going to relent.
“There was a reason I left alone and didn’t tell anyone where I was going. If I wanted you to know, I would have already said something,” I answered.
“I didn’t mean to interfere. We’re all responsible for your protection, and it seems you always try and put yourself in harm’s way. It’s like you have a death wish or something.”
“I have to agree with him on that one,” Kade added. “We need to know when you decide to leave the barrier. We can’t protect you if we don’t know where you are.” He grabbed my hand and squeezed. “I wouldn’t be able to live knowing something happened to you and I wasn’t there to help.”
“I know. I’m sorry. But, I wasn’t really alone. I did have some help.”
“Who?” Malachi jumped back in.
“I don’t know. When I prayed for help, I received an answer. The dagger, the suit, and the bloodstone amulet came to me for protection and guidance.”
“While that’s all well and good, those things can’t block a sword to your neck,” Malachi said, huffing loudly behind us.
“They did help me kill two Fallen,” I mentioned with a little bit of pride.
“That’s true, Malachi. I saw it with my own two eyes. She kicked some ass. I’ve never seen anyone move the way she does. It was like she had eyes in the back of her head, and predicted strikes before they even happened.” He squeezed my hand again.
“I missed one,” I sighed, “But the suit did keep me from being impaled.”
Kade’s eyes immediately found mine and he stopped me at the bottom of the stairs. “That’s right. You were in a lot of pain. Do you need Malachi to fix you?”
“No, I’m fine,” I said.
“Emma, it’s no problem. I can take a look.”
“You should let him. It sounded like you broke something,” Kade insisted.
“I did break a few ribs, but they’ve already been mended,” I said, dancing around the reason why.
“How? Even immortals need assistance putting broken bones back before they can heal properly.” Malachi wasn’t going to let this go.
I swallowed hard, not wanting to give an answer, but Malachi was pressing. I closed my eyes and debated, then decided to answer. At least it was one thing I could tell the truth about, even though I knew Kade wouldn’t want to hear it.