Retribution (46 page)

Quin furrowed his eyebrows, and Catigern flipped his gaze down the row to Caitrin. “Your ancestors and mine have lived together for centuries, and while we've faced tragedy and heartache in the past, never has our existence been threatened like it is now. When this is over, we're either going to be separated and lost forever, or we're going to be stronger than we've ever been.” Looking back at Quin, Catigern ran a hand through his hair and quietly continued. “I vote we strive for unity, Quinlan, and make separation our final option. To do that, we have to stick together, or we'll end up losing our chance. I know the two of you are harboring painful amounts of guilt, and I'm sorry we have to add more, but our decisions have been made, and they're final.”

Layla raised her head, looking at Catigern in confusion, and Quin fought nausea as he responded. “What are you talking about?”

“I'm saying if one of our members wants to fight, they're going to fight. No one will stop them.”

Morrigan jolted as Caitrin shot to his feet. “Where was I when this was decided?”

“Everyone decided on their own,” Catigern answered. “Are you going to deny them free will?”

“That depends on who we're talking about.”

“This is their fight, too.”

“Our coven will be lost.”

Catigern's chest expanded as he stood. “This coven consists of two families, Caitrin, and yours is dwindling. If we're not successful in this endeavor, your legacy is gone, and the few who survive will struggle to recover.”

Layla leaned close to Quin and whispered. “I don't understand. What is he implying?”

“I don't know yet,” Quin answered, but he had his suspicions, and his nerves were hopping. “Just get on with it.”

Catigern flipped his gaze to Quin. Then he sighed and searched out Cadman. “Would you like to speak for your family, son?”

Cadman nodded as he met Quin's stare. “For Alana and Brayden's sake, Selena, Drystan, Edana and Devlin will stay behind, but Flanna and I will join you.”

Layla sighed, undoubtedly relieved Alana and Brayden would still have their parents and grandparents, but the news didn’t comfort Quin. He knew Selena and Drystan wouldn't enter the battle, and he wasn't surprised Cadman and Flanna were joining the fight. The hard part had yet to come.

Lann was on guard duty and unable to speak for himself, and Rhiannon was barely holding in a mess of emotions as she leaned on Karena for support, so Catigern spoke for them. “I'm sure you're aware your grandpa Lann and grandma Rhiannon will join you.”

Quin gave a stiff nod. Why would his grandma and grandpa stay out of it when their only son and grandson were in the middle of it?
 

Catigern spoke again. “And you know I’ll be there.”

“Yes,” Quin returned, finding Belinos. “What about you?”

Belinos waved Blue and LaLa away from Skyla's shoulders. Then he wrapped one arm around her while taking Karena's hand. “We're staying behind.”

“Good,” Quin approved, and another whoosh of air rushed from Layla's lips.

They’d reached the final family, and Quin knew the bad news was coming, but there was no way to defend against such a blow.

Catigern met Quin's stare, portraying a silent apology. Then he turned to Cinnia and Arlen. “Would you like to speak for your family, Arlen?”

Arlen leaned back in his chair and roughly pulled a hand down his face. Then he looked at his wife and daughter, who kept her eyes on her own children. Releasing a huge sigh, Arlen got to his feet, and he was quickly followed by Cinnia, Enid, Kearny, Brietta
and
Banning.

“We're all in,” Arlen rasped, looking at the sky.

Yep. There it was – the fist to the gut.
 

The protests rang out. “No!” Then Caitrin pointed at his sister. “Put a stop to this, Cinnia. Now.”

Cinnia had already been on the verge of tears, and at Caitrin's forceful tone, the moisture broke free, running down her flushed cheeks to her quivering lips. “No, Caitrin. They have the same rights and motivation as the rest of us. I won't force them to stay behind and live a life without their family when it's the last thing they want to do.”

“Then all of you are out,” Caitrin demanded.

“No,” Cinnia argued, half shouting, half sobbing. “We've lost people to Agro, too, Caitrin. Rhosewen and Aedan were our family, too. Kearny was Aedan's best friend from a year old until the day he met Rhosewen, who was my niece and Enid's cousin. And if this doesn't work out the way we want it to, we're going to lose even more to him, so much more. We can't just sit here and let it happen without helping, and it's unfair of you to expect that. You can't force us to stay here and do nothing while we watch the rest of our family leave for a deadly battle. Our hearts would be irreparably broken if we did that.”

Caitrin stubbornly shook his head. “Banning's only seventeen. The kid needs to live before he dies.”

“He's less than two weeks shy of eighteen,” Catigern cut in, “and he won't be on the front line. If we succeed, he'll live.”

“And if we don't succeed?” Quin asked, narrowing his eyes on Banning. “Have you thought about what that means?”

“I have,” Banning replied, looking and sounding more sober than usual.

“Then why?” Layla whispered.

Banning's posture sagged at her sad voice, but he quickly corrected it. “Because my life will never be the same if we lose this battle. I'm not saying it would be impossible to move on, I'm saying I don't want to. This is the life I want, just like it's the life you want. Isn't that why you're taking the risk? You don't want to live without us, so you're going to fight to keep us, and I'm going to fight to keep you. The last thing I want to do is sit here and surrender what I love to Agro. And I know you understand how I feel, because you feel the same.”

“Hear, hear,” Brietta agreed, taking her brother's hand.

Layla struggled to breathe as she looked at her sunshine. “Bri,” she choked. “Please don't.”

Brietta's eyes grew shiny, but she somehow managed to crack a smile. “Almost everyone I love will be there, Layla. Where else would I be?”

“Anywhere but there,” Layla pleaded. “Cabo, France, Australia, wherever you want to go, I'll send you there. Just don’t do this. Please.” Tears broke over her lashes with a vengeance, dampening her cheeks. “I don't want you to do this.”

Brietta's smile wavered, and she quickly waved a hand to vanish the moisture escaping her eyes. “I don't want to spend a long and healthy life looking back on this moment and regretting the way I handled it. I know I'm only one person, and I know my being there probably won't make a difference. But if I don't do this and you fail, I'll always harbor guilt for not helping when I had the chance, and I'll spend the rest of my life with a huge hole in my heart...” She clutched her chest, her voice cracking as her face flexed. “Because I’d miss all of you so much. It would hurt me every day for the rest of my life if I lost you, so my guilt would have despair and pain as constant companions.” She paused, raising Banning's hand to her cheek as she took a deep breath. “Like my baby brother, I don't want to live that way.”

Layla's aura rolled out like a mushroom cloud, eclipsing the flames and astounding the people. It was full of love, haunted by guilt, and drowning in sadness, but her expression didn't portray any of those emotions. She was pissed, jaw rigid, cheeks flushed, eyes narrow and unfocused. Her anger broke through the surface and seeped from her body, swimming through her colorful aura like rivers of blood – veins flooding love with hate. Then her eyes flashed. And not just the shiny emeralds, but the whites around them. Both resembled the black hole of her pupil, empty chasms where her big and beautiful eyes used to be.

Brietta shrank away, Banning’s mouth fell open, and Quin tensed as an electrifying jolt shot through his bloodstream and hit his heart. In that moment, he was sure the organ had exploded, that his angel’s anger had just killed him, but after skipping a few beats, his heart recovered and the shock dissipated.

“Layla,” he whispered, and her eyes returned to normal, but she didn’t respond.

Because she couldn’t.

Layla had heard him, as clearly as she heard her cousins say they were going to fight… as clearly as she felt the hate poisoning her blood. She despised the feeling with every beat of her heart. It turned her stomach into a raging sea of unease, overshadowing everything good in her life while panicking Quin and making her family cringe. Yet she didn't want to send the hate away. She thirsted for it, but it scalded her tongue, breaking her heart while supplying it with a reason to beat. It scared her family, but it strengthened her. If she sent it away, she'd shatter, but if she kept it, she’d turn into the very thing she hated.

Chapter 32

Quin touched his lips to Layla’s cheek and whispered her name, somehow making it through the muck to gain her attention.

“I need a break,” she blurted, grabbing his hand as she stood. Then she yanked him along while stomping away from everyone.

Quin caught up then kept her pace. “Talk to me, love. What's going on?”

“Hate,” she answered. “I hate this.”

She threw out her free hand, and a huge fireball shot toward the cloudy sky, releasing a loud scream before bursting into sparks.

“Me, too, Layla.”

“No, Quin, I don't think you understand. I’ve never felt like this in my life. Not even with Finley. I was scared of him, tired of him, and mad at him, and I thought I hated him, but no. This is hate, and it's got a hold on me. It's suffocating, but at the same time, it's like the piece of me that's been missing, and if it goes away, I'll crumble. Then there's nothing I can do to save these people from death, which is so unfair, because it’s me death’s aiming for.”

She threw another fireball into the air, watching it transform into a burning depiction of Agro. Then her eyes narrowed as the flaming portrait exploded, piercing the night with a bloodcurdling scream. “You see that? That's satisfying. And you know why? Because I
hate
that man. At this moment, I want nothing more than to bury my hand in his chest, rip out his heart, and squeeze it dry while I watch his eyes empty of life.” She looked down at her hand, squeezing as if she actually held Agro's heart, and her throat swelled as tears sprung from her eyes.

She looked at Quin, and though her aura remained enraged, her gaze was pleading, spilling her grief and revealing her sweet soul. “What do I do, Quin? How can I make it better?”

He swallowed and pulled her stiff body to his, holding it there as he stroke her hair, but she didn't relax, so he wrapped his hands around her waist with the intention of picking her up.

She stiffened, and his heart squeezed as he looked down. “Layla Love.”

“I'm not in the mood to cuddle, Quin.”

He sighed and worked his fingers into her hair, holding her moist cheeks in his palms. “Look at me, love.”

She looked up, and for a tiny moment her lips softened and quivered, but she immediately set her jaw. “What?”

“You may not be in the mood to be held, but I'm in the mood to hold you. Are you going to tell me no?”

Her tears stopped as her eyes narrowed. “Don't do that.” She lifted a hand, and a huge chunk of ice grew from the ground then shattered into thousands of razor sharp shards.
 

“I'm being honest, Layla.”

“You're trying to manipulate me, Quin.”

“Damn it, Layla, stop looking through me and look at me.”
 

She jolted, her eyes widening at the reprimand, but then she focused on him for the first time since learning her cousins’ intentions. She scanned his aura first, then looked at his face, and her shoulders sagged as her eyes filled with tears. “I'm sorry.”

He ran his thumbs over her quaking pout and brushed his fingertips across her moist cheeks. “Don't be. Just let me hold you.”

She nodded, so he quickly swept her off her feet, not giving her a chance to change her mind. Tucking her face into his neck, he sat on the grass. Then he burrowed his lips and nose into her curls, letting her scent soothe his aching heart. “This is much better, love. It numbs the pain to hold an angel.”

“I'm not an angel, Quin. I'm angry and destructive and hateful.”

“It's okay to feel that way, Layla. You have every right to be angry, and you have more than enough reasons to hate Agro. I also understand why you're reluctant to let that anger go, because it gives you strength, and you feel like you need it to get through this.” He pulled his face from her hair and gently forced her to look at him. “It's okay to feel those things, and you’re right – that anger will motivate you when we face Agro, but right now it’s going to waste. You don’t need to hold on to it while you’re with us, so tell it to come back for the battle. Then it will get a chance to wreak havoc on the bastard doing this to us.” His eyes flicked to her aura, watching the crimson veins slowly recede, and he sighed as he found her eyes. “For now, I want my sweet angel.”

“What if I don't get it back, Quin? What if I force the hate away, then I can't find it again when I need it?”

“You will. When you see Agro, everything he’s done, all the ways he’s hurt you, will come rushing back, and they’ll finally have a target to take aim at.”

“But if I let it go, I'll fall apart. It's holding me together, suffocating the pain of heartache.”