Evan

Amberley was cold. No matter how hard I pulled her against my body, no matter how many times I kissed her. She shook and was chilled to the bone.

"Amberley, what did Joshua talk to you about?"

She tensed against me and I tightened my hands around her. We had been laying under the covers for nearly a day, savoring each other's warmth, waiting for news.

"He said that I can defeat the Unfeeling, he said I could make them all feeling something again," she whispers.

"I believe it," I respond.

She sighs and entwines her fingers with mine.

"How long do you think we're going to last down here? If we don't do anything?"

I frowned. "Probably not long. The Iniquitous will search every inch of Adana once they take it, maybe a few months, maybe even weeks if they're lucky."

"That's not long, these people may have powers but they aren't ready for war," she says.

I fully agree with her. Years underground have made the Altrus soft. They needed serious combat training.

"We have a few weeks, we can help them... together," I offer.

"How do you know they will follow me?"

I chuckled and stroke my hand lazily down her side. She shivers under my touch and a blush creeps to her cheeks. I loved the way she reacted it me.

"They'd be stupid not to. We all saw what you did, you are our only hope."

A moment of silence passes and I swear I can hear the gears turning in Amberley's mind.

"I'll go up, and talk to the Iniquitous. Try to strike a deal," she says.

My heart thumps and I am suddenly panicked. That was not an option. My family would kill them in an instant.

I twist Amberley underneath me and I straddle my legs on either sides of hers. She gasped and goes red at our close proximity.

"No way, the Iniquitous don't strike deals. The only thing they strike is the heads of there enemies."

"I could offer myself to them, in exchange for the safety of Clandestine," she says.

"You're going to stay safe and that's all you're going to do! This isn't your war Amberley, your not a Princess anymore."

Her eyes flash and she pulls me underneath her. She straddles me and I immediately feel warmth spread through my body. Her hair tickles my arms. I want her so bad.

"This is my war, Evan. My kingdom is burning. My friends are being slaughtered and raped at this very moment."

I scoff and place my arms above my head nonchalantly, trying to hide the way the position of her body over my lower parts affected me.

"Don't act so sad. Your life was hell up there. Look at the scars, Amberley. Don't you feel a little satisfaction that you're father is dead and everyone else who let him do this to you is going to die? I know I would!"

"My father won't die. He will always be a part of me. But I'm not going to let my petty, personal issues with the court sway me from humanity. They may be cold hearted but they're still innocent."

"Petty, personal issues?" I question. I yank her underneath me and lift her shirt up. She is laying face down and her shrieks are muffled in the pillow.

I stroke each of her scars and lean down to kiss each and every one of them. "Anyone who would let this happen to you, is just as guilty as the the person who did it. They aren't innocent, Amberley."

She yanks down her shirt and twist underneath me so she was facing me. "It's not all about me."

I scoff and lean down to place a kiss against her full lips. "You're so wrong. The world revolves around you."

She smiles as I move to kiss the side of her mouth. "You're exaggerating, Evan."

I grin and kiss the hollow of her throat. Amberley goes rigid. I had never done this before but something had taken over my body.

"Maybe a little. But my world revolves around you, little princess."

She stiffens. I kiss lower and feel my gut turn. I couldn't believe she was here, I couldn't believe she was real.

I kissed right below her collarbone and Amberley closed her eyes and arched underneath me.

I growled as she fisted her hands in my hair. "Don't tease me Amberley, you might get more than you bargained for."

She grins and leans forward to peck me on the lips. As she pulls away, I grab the back of her head and slam my lips against hers. Our lips move in synch and her body writhes underneath mine.

"Evan you need to look for them. Eli, Jackson and Jeffery."

I pull away and look at her. Amberley's eyes are stormy and as blue as ever and her hair is tousled from my touch. She looked genuinely worried.

"Okay."

I get up to move but Amberley reaches and grips my arm once more. Her eyes are worried but now there skeptical.

"I think we need to talk about other things too. Like the things Derrick mentioned."

I internally smashed that douches head in between my fingers repeatedly. "I slept with her once when I was seventeen... that was two years before you."

She nods and releases. As I leave, I can't help but feel like I'm walking away from an end and into another one.

~

The last time I saw so many bodies was when my father had made me watch the Unfeeling take a small peasant village.

Blood seemed to fill the rivers and ponds and their screams were burned into my mind. I had watched limbs fly off men and woman ripped down to nakedness and raped in the mud.

This was so much worse. I knew everyone one of the fallen Altrus. A girl from my botany class, a boy from Alvars. I knew every single on of them.

I realized that I would never do as my father said, ever again. I would rather die sooner with someone I loved than later without anyone at all. That's how King John is going to die soon, all by himself. No family... because he was angry about losing power.

I scanned the faces, looking for my friends. Sobs were drifting through the air as friends identified their lost ones. My chest was tight as I offered comforting to people I recognized.

I tried to only look at the dead faces as little as needed. Fifteen down and I had yet to see one of my friends fallen.

"Evan!" I heard a voice.

I turned to see Jackson and Jeffery crouched next to one of the fallen. My stomach dropped. Jeffery's cheeks were blotchy and Jackson's eyes were rimmed red.

"It's Eli, Evan," Jackson whispered.

I surged forward and dropped to my knees. I sucked in a breath. Eli was laying on his back, his cold hands crossed over his chest. His eyes were open but blank...like he was staring at everything but nothing all at once. No...

"No." I mumbled, gripping Eli's hand. "No! No! No!" I screamed, shaking his hand.

"Evan..." Jeffery tried. I pushed his hand away.

"Did you see who did it?" I demanded. The two seemed shocked at my outburst. They shouldn't be. Eli was... he was dead. Eli's dead. The only person who healed external wounds and internal wounds... who had brought me back from insanity and my worst countless times.

"Who fucking did it?" I hissed.

"The man in front, the leader."

I sneered and turned back to Eli. As gentle as I could, I closed his eyes. I stood and walked away briskly, to the interrogation rooms. My blood pounded in my ears. I no longer felt love... I only felt hate.

I heard my friends calling my name but I couldn't do this, I couldn't face them, face anyone. This had to end.

But the only thing on my mind was revenge.