Intrinsical - Lani Woodland [52]
Brent nodded. “I believe you.”
The tentacle around me unwound and the emotional weight of the trapped souls that had been crushing me lifted as it slithered back inside Thomas’s body; at the same time, the mist seemed to lunge forward and swallow Neal back into it. Without a sound, it blew away, fading back into the darkness of the groves without disturbing any of the fallen leaves underneath it.
Thomas bowed toward me. “You have twenty-four hours. I’ll be seeing you soon,” he promised.
With that he turned and strolled away like he hadn’t a care in the world. Meanwhile my own world had grown even darker.
****
Brent turned slowly and walked a few steps, keeping his back to me. Then he dropped to the ground, his shoulders slumping in defeat. Awkwardly, I took a few steps back from him, not sure how he felt about me. Or how I felt about him. He had put off his horrible choice for a time, but it would have to be made soon. I was the one thing standing in the way of his brother’s freedom. And his own life.
Brent took a long time to look at me again but when he did, his grim expression hadn’t faded. He gave me a strained smile.
“Are you okay?” I asked.
He nodded.
Could I be brave enough and selfless enough to be willingly handed over to the mist? Tears gathered in the corners of my eyes as I dropped my head and studied my feet as they kicked the dirt. I decided to at least pretend I was. “How do you want to handle the exchange?”
“What exchange?” Brent asked, sounding lost.
My heard jerked up. “Me for Neal and your body.”
Brent’s eyes lightened to cinnamon. “Are you insane? You don’t actually think I’d do that, do you?” I was too stunned to answer and Brent frowned at me. “What kind of person do you think I am?”
“I— I . . .”
“First, I would never be able to live with myself if I did that.”
“But think about what you’re giving up. Do you really understand that? You must . . . you seemed so tempted.”
Brent let out a deep sigh. “Seeing Neal like that really threw me off balance.” Brent rubbed the back of his neck with his hand and frowned. “I was tempted. Really tempted.” He bowed his head and guiltily peeked at me from the corner of his eye. “I hate having to admit to that.” He sighed and held up his hand to stop my obligatory words of comfort. “Don’t. It sucked to really see myself for the first time and understand how weak I was. To know the things I would consider.” He visibly shuddered.
Over the quiet chirping of crickets came the sound of a dog howling from the city below. From where I stood, I could see Corona’s lights twinkling in the evening air. In the homes, people slept, unworried about curses, ghosts and turning over a friend to save a beloved brother.
Brent came beside me, staring toward the town. “I was tempted, but it didn’t take long to know I couldn’t accept his offer. When he manhandled—spirit-handled you,” he corrected with a humorless laugh, “I knew I couldn’t let him hurt you. Neal himself would never forgive me. No matter what Thomas promised, I know I would never forget handing you over to him and I couldn’t live with that. And I don’t trust him. He’ll never keep his word. Not to mention. . . I like you, Yara.”
“Well, I thought . . .” I began, trailing off.
Brent grinned sarcastically. “Well, that might be the first problem.”
I gave him a dirty look. “I thought you were considering his offer.”
He shoved his hands in his pockets. “I said that to buy us time.” I felt Brent’s gaze heavy on me as he asked softly, “You really thought I was going to agree to his trade?”
Not wanting to answer, I changed the subject. “So what are we going to do?”
Brent’s started nibbling on his nails. “I haven’t figured that out yet. But we have to find a way to free Neal.”
I had to ask, “How is any of this even possible?”
“Would you laugh if I said some sort of magic? Even worse— dark magic?” Brent grunted roughly.