The Four Horsemen(23)

She swings at him but he catches her arm and punches her. I wince, jumping up. “Don’t hit her.”

She hits me from behind when I get between them. He lashes at her again.

Somehow between the chaos of it all, I end up behind him with his arms around me. “She is MINE!”

Stella steps back at the noise he makes. She looks past him, “He has loved you, only you, for hundreds of years. I told him you weren’t ever worth that kind of devotion, but he never believed me.” She nods, almost bowing, “Thank you for proving me right.”

She turns and she’s gone.

I feel like I’ve been hit by a truck. My exhaustion is at a new level.

Wyatt turns to face me, “You okay?”

I shake my head, “I’m messing this all up. All of it. I’m the biggest mistake God ever made.”

He laughs, “Let’s go get you someone to eat.”

I pull back, almost dizzy with hunger, “I have to go to the garden and free them. I can’t eat first, it makes you sick. I can’t risk the garden not letting me in if I do something bad.”

He steps back from me, “Take me with you, I’ll keep you safe.”

I can see he isn’t over the conversation in the room; he’s going to be pissed for a while. I nod, “If the garden will let you in.”

I hold him and fly. It isn’t easy and I’m starving. When we get to the small stream, I stop mid-flight. “Look!” The gate is open and completely visible. I land us both on the bank of the stream. He walks towards it, “Is this it?”

I nod, scared.

He looks back at me, “What’s the deal with finding it, if it’s right here? Doesn’t seem so secret.”

I shake my head but the dead whisper. It changes everything that they are the voices of my past. Not just the thoughts of the girls I once was, but the whispers of the actual people I was.

None of us like what we see. “Maybe we shouldn’t go in there.”

Wyatt laughs, “You really are the biggest chicken shit some times.” My eyes narrow, “You really are the biggest jerk, all the time.”

He nods, “I know.”

He holds his hand out for me to take. I do it, even if he’s annoying me. He’s still the strongest thing I know. And his hand makes me feel safe and warm. We enter the gate, no issue. That’s not right.

The field inside of the gates whispers, maybe announcing our arrival. I don’t feel the sense of sanctuary I did the first time. I don’t feel anything again. Great…

We enter the forest, and I pull him to the right, off of the path. He shakes his head, “Wait here. I’ll be right back.”

I grab him, “No. We stay together.”

“No. I think I saw something. Wait here. I’ll just be a second.”

I try to argue but he just walks off. He disappears into the forest.

I sit on a log and wait for him. I don’t understand why he wanted to leave. I don’t understand why I feel such a terrible feeling here. It’s different than last time.

The ground in front of me crunches. I brace myself but it’s Wyatt. He puts a finger to his lips, “Something is wrong here.” He offers me his hand again. I take it, jolting almost. I haven’t felt that since we handfasted. He lets me lead, but he never takes his hand from mine.

Something is off, way off. I can feel it in the silence. The small village is motionless. Not a single person moves along the streets or buildings. We enter the palace from the back, like before. You could hear a pin drop and my skin is crawling.

We get up the stairs to the middle floor, and I see something in the corner of my eye. I turn to see a daisy float by. My stomach drops. I look back at Wyatt, but he doesn’t seem to notice the flower, or care. When we get around the corner to the next set of stairs, I gag. Daisies are everywhere. They float by, filling the air with a sweet scent.

“Oh God.”

Wyatt looks distant, “There is no way this place is this empty.”

I swallow hard, “It’s not.”

He frowns, “Can you see people?” He looks like he doesn’t trust me. I look past him to the archway where the man with the white eyes is standing. He shakes his head, “Don’t come this way, child. Take the back stairs and run from here. Save yourself.”

I cast a slight glimpse at Wyatt. He doesn’t see the man. Only I can. I walk to him. He shakes his head, “You bring much trouble to my people.”

I nod, looking down, “I’m sorry,” I whisper.

He looks at Wyatt, “I see you have chosen your side, sin eater.”

I look back at Wyatt. It’s true. I have chosen his side. I pulled the dagger from Constantine, choosing. Even if I didn’t know it at the time, I get it now.

“You betrayed us.”

I look at the man, “I didn’t.”

Wyatt looks at me, “You say something?”

I open my mouth, but the man shakes his head, “Do not tell him I am here. His evil has done enough to this place. Get your friends and go. They are in the throne room.”

I look back at Wyatt, “Wait here. I have to run up the stairs and grab them.”

“No. I’m coming with you.”

“You can’t. You have to stay here; they’re angry I brought you here.”

His eyes flash, “What did they say?”

“Nothing, just that they didn’t want you here.”

He lashes at me, grabbing my hand harshly and shaking me, “WHAT DID THEY SAY?”

I shove him back, “STOP IT! I HATE THAT! YOU KNOW I DO!”

His jaw is set. I’m going to kick the shit out of him if he touches me, if I can. I will die stopping him. He’s never going to get past his anger issues or the way he treats things like me.

My heart hurts. I’ve made the wrong choice, and the dead fill the air with their version of ‘I told you so’.

Constantine never would have treated me that way. How did I repay him for that loyalty and love? I broke his heart, and he has killed all of the fae for it. I turn and walk through a tumbleweed of daisies.

The stairs are littered with them.

Millions of daisies.

They all died here, in the throne room. When I get up to the top of the stairs, I make a noise. I don’t shed the tears filling my eyes. I don’t deserve to cry. I broke him and left him here.

He sits in the corner, looking out the window or staring at the corner, punishing himself.

Mona is alone in the room, kneeling over a pile of daisies. Her hands are filled with the flowers I assume were the beautiful man. She looks magnificent, dressed in a long white gown. She lifts her face when she hears my footsteps. The look she gives me confirms my fears.

I have killed them all and she will hate me forever. Her voice is soft, “You ever have that feeling when you meet someone, where you just know?”

I can’t stop the tears.

She shakes her head slowly, “I know it’s ridiculous, I’m not better than a Mary Sue in every YA romance novel this side of the Pecos River. But I knew it. I knew, the minute I saw him.”

I look down, sniffling and wishing it had been me. Why isn’t it ever me? Why does everyone else suffer?

She looks down at the flowers again, “I don’t want an apology from you. I don’t want anything from you.”

Pressing my lips together, I walk past her to him. He doesn’t move.

I drop to my knees behind him, heaving. I reach out for his shoulder but when I touch him, the shape of him is lost. He crumbles, slowly into a pile of ash. I sob silently.

“DON’T YOU TOUCH HIM!” Mona screams. I’m flung to the side.

She stands over me, “DON’T YOU EVER TOUCH ANY OF THEM!” She starts swooshing the flowers to a pile separate of the ash. She uses her fingers and puts the ash into a small pile. She pulls her sleeve of her dress off and collects it in there. She looks distraught and obsessed.

Her hands shake, and as her tears mix with the ash, they make black stains on her. She tries to wipe it off but can’t. She cries harder, putting her hands to her face. “How could you? How could you do it?”

I look down, “I’m so sorry.”

“DON’T YOU APOLOGIZE TO ME! EVER! YOU NEVER SPEAK TO ME AGAIN!”

“What happened?” Wyatt’s voice is like salt on the wound in the room, where choosing him unleashed death on everyone. I didn’t even realize what I had done.

Mona looks up, screaming at Wyatt. She screams and cowers. He gives me a look, “She’s gone mad.”

Mona cradles the flowers and the sleeve of ash. She gives me a pleading look. I don’t understand what’s happening.

The palace starts to shake. Wyatt walks to Mona, “Give me the ash.”

She screams again, shaking. I jump up, standing between them. “What are you doing? Did you do this? Is this where you went when you left me in the woods?”

He gives me a look. It’s smug, but it’s not his normal one. He starts to laugh.

I feel sick, “You murdered them all? You murdered him?”

He laughs harder.

Mona cries. I start to shake, I can’t stop it. My hands shoot up, making a hellfire circle around Mona and me.

I can see his flickering eyes in the firelight. He stops laughing, “You really are a weak little chicken shit.”

I drop to my knees, “Kill him for me please.”

The dead scream for me but they don’t move against him. Black wings rip from his back, and he turns and runs for the window.