Lily almost did it. She almost opened up her mind to Rowan and let him see everything. But the sound of the boy screaming when River dragged him by his hair to the chopping block filled her ears, and she knew she wouldn’t be capable of keeping that from Rowan. No matter how hard she tried to hide it from him, he’d keep digging, searching for why his father had to die, because that’s what he really needed to understand. It wasn’t about the bombs for him. Lily could easily show Rowan the cinder world and that would explain her opposition to Alaric and his weapon, but it still wouldn’t explain why Lillian had killed his father. A half-truth wouldn’t work. It was all or nothing.
“I have to shut you out because I love you, Rowan,” she said. “But I’m begging you—have faith in me. Trust that I’m doing this for a good reason. For the best reason.”
His eyes unfocused and he looked through her, like he was remembering something. “And then she started hanging people,” he whispered.
There was no warning. His face didn’t change. He didn’t even really look at her while he did it. Rowan reached out and ripped Lily’s willstones off her neck.
*
Lily couldn’t move.
But it didn’t hurt. There was no feeling of invasion or violation as there had been when Gideon and Carrick had taken her stones. Rowan was too much a part of her for her willstones to revolt against his touch. She simply couldn’t move a muscle, not even to close her eyes. Her will had been separated from her physical body, leaving her as limp as a darted grizzly. She was aware that it was something Rowan was doing to her stones that made her like that. His will was suppressing hers somehow, and he was so powerful she couldn’t even blink.
It was difficult to focus on what was happening around her. People started yelling. Juliet was frantic. The Tristans went for Rowan, calling him a traitor and worse. Rowan pulled out his knife and stood over Lily. Caleb put himself in the middle. He was trying to make sense of it all. Alaric defended Rowan, saying that if Rowan had done this to Lillian to begin with, no one would have died. Alaric’s painted warriors appeared out of nowhere and the Tristans were dragged away. Juliet cried. Lily hated seeing her sister cry.
Lily felt herself being lifted and carried. Rowan had her, but she couldn’t see him because her head had fallen to the side. All she could see was the ground and people’s legs as they went past. He put her in a cage and locked it.
He didn’t look back.
The farther Rowan took her willstones away from her body, the hazier everything became. It was night and then it was day again. Someone tried to pour water between her lips, but Lily’s jaw was clamped shut. Night came, and Lily could have sworn she saw two Breakfasts standing in the group that came to stare at her and argue. One Breakfast had the same short hair she’d always seen him with, and the other had long hair that was braided with beads and feathers like an Outlander’s. The longhaired Breakfast was pleading with the group. He kept saying that the technology for the bombs had been stolen from another world and that they would create a cinder world like the ones he had seen in his spirit walks. Lily wondered when Breakfast had learned to spirit walk. More arguing followed.
Everyone went away.
The stars were so bright they dazzled Lily’s eyes. A shadow suddenly blocked them out. Its hunched shoulders and cocked head reminded her of Carrick. He stood outside her bars, staring at her. He told her not to worry, that he would take care of the bombs. Remove just one part and they couldn’t explode, he said. The shadow crouched down close to her, holding up a little metal piece. He said a man had died over it. There was blood on his hands. He reached through the bars and touched her cheek, telling her that they were on the same side now. He said that everything had turned. He was her true champion and Rowan had become her torturer. He stroked her cheek. He said that she would learn to love him, that he wasn’t so different from his brother after all.