Fall by Steel Dylan

Author:Steel, Dylan
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: anonymous
Published: 2024-07-13T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 19

My pulse drummed loudly in my ears. I wasn’t sure exactly how they dealt with threats, but between what Rowen and Jeremy had said, I couldn’t help but think one of the options was cutting out our tongues and throwing us over the edge of the cliff.

“And how, specifically, would you propose that we deal with them, Tomas?” Sylvia asked patiently. “You seem to have quite strong feelings on the matter. Should you be in charge of taking care of this threat against our group?”

My jaw dropped. “You can’t be serious.”

Sylvia turned to me. “You have yet to deny it. Is it true?”

“He’s out for blood. You can’t possibly—”

“Do you deny it?” Sylvia repeated, more firmly this time.

I hesitated. “I could tell she was hiding something, and I didn’t know if I could tr—”

“See?” Tomas gestured at me like I’d proved his point, and Sylvia’s lips pinched.

“I never planned to hurt her,” I growled. “But I hadn’t saved her life just to get stabbed in the back. I could tell she was hiding something.”

Sylvia’s head tilted, a smug smile edging her lips. “Ah. Self-preservation, then? It seems you do understand the concept,” she murmured.

I glared back at her. It wasn’t the same thing, and she knew it. She would have denied Luke life-saving treatment that cost her nothing in the moment whereas I’d made a split-second decision to risk my life and fight to free Esme.

“As an elder, it’s your job to sentence these strangers for threatening one of our own,” Tomas growled.

“And it’s Esme’s job to do the accusing,” Sylvia said. “If she feels she was wronged.”

Everyone’s eyes shifted to the timid girl still halfway hidden by Tomas’s large frame.

“No, I—” Esme cleared her throat. “—I don’t want to punish Charlie. She saved me, and I was just telling Tomas what I remembered.” Her eyes lifted from the floor and met mine. “If he had let me finish, I would have told him that I understood why she’d done it.”

“I see.” Sylvia’s left brow was halfway to her hairline as she looked between Esme and Tomas. “Tomas, perhaps we can discuss your role in these accusations later.”

He stood rigid, jaw working back and forth. “I just—”

“You’re dismissed, Tomas.”

If the tension in the cavern hadn’t been so high, it would have been comical to see such a large man cowed by the spindly woman in front of me. As it was, I felt my shoulders loosen marginally the moment he turned to leave.

“You too, Esme, unless you have something to add for or against their favor?”

She shook her head. “I owe Charlie my life. She pulled me out of…” she swallowed thickly. “I won’t speak against her. She would be a strong addition to our group, and I will speak for her to the rest of the elders if you consider offering her a place here. And Luke. He helped me too.”

“I will keep it under consideration,” Sylvia said.

With a final nod, Esme backed out of the cavern, swallowed in the tunnel’s darkness.

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