“Zara.” Oslo’s sweet voice pulled me from my unconscious state and I opened my eyes, blinking rapidly. My vision had returned but a deep headache throbbed at the base of my skull.
My little brother peered down at me in fear. “There’s blood coming out of your head.”
Kailani swam into view then, looking worse for wear. Her hair was messed up, like someone had tried to rip it out, and her lip was split.
She probed the back of my skull with her fingers and I hissed. “It’s stopped bleeding,” she told Oslo. “She’ll be okay. Your kind naturally heal. No need for healers most of the time.”
He nodded, seeming more assured.
Then she looked down at me, grinning like a fool.
I peered around us to take in our surroundings. Maybe there was a reason for her gleefulness. Nope. We were locked up inside a cell. People from the other neighboring cells stared over at us with curiosity.
“What could you possibly be happy about?” I asked her.
She tried to control her smile but when she pulled it back down, it just popped right back up. “You bit her finger off!” she finally blurted and then burst into laughter. “Are you insane? I mean it was amazing. You should have seen her. ‘My finger! My finger! Find it!’” Kailani mimicked and now I was grinning too.
I looked over at Oslo and he too had a slight lift to his lips.
“You got her good,” he said.
I sat up slowly, assessing the damage. Other than the head injury, everything else seemed to be in working order.
“But, Zara, you made her mad. She could have killed you,” Oslo added.
I shook my head. “She showed her hand. She wants my power. She won’t kill me until she has that.”
Kailani nodded. “Your sister is right. She wants both of our powers: she won’t kill us.”
“Zara,” Oslo’s voice cracked. “I have to tell you something.”
I couldn’t do this right now. Not with him. “I know,” I said and reached out to smooth his hair. “And we can’t think about it right now because we have to stay strong, okay? Cyrus would want that.”
Oslo’s eyes filled with tears at the mention of our big brother’s name but he nodded. I would fall to pieces later, both Oslo and I would, and Axil would help put us together, but right now I couldn’t think about anything but getting my brother to safety.
“Psst,” someone from the cell next to ours pulled our attention.
I looked up to see a lithe-looking female fae with long blonde hair, pointed ears and dirt-crusted nails. She seemed like she’d been here for a while.
She motioned that I come closer and so I stood, waiting a second for the dizziness to abate and then approached her.
Kailani stepped over to her as well and when we were only a few inches from her face she pointed to the metal bars between us. “When they first pulled me and my little sister in here, they didn’t have any more of the magic suppression cuffs like you have on.” She indicated to our hands that were bound in front of us.
I nodded but was wondering where she was going with this. She looked around at the center of the room where two guards were chatting happily and not paying attention to us.
“I was able to use my dragon-folk fire magic and winter fae ice magic to snap one of the bars off here.” She pointed between us and I looked down as she pulled the bar away to reveal a decent-sized gap. She then quickly replaced it in case a guard was looking. Now that I peered closer it was simply wedged between the top and bottom supports but not attached.
“And I did another at the window.” She tipped her head to the opening at the upper end of her cell, her cuffed hands hanging in front of her. “My little sister is the same size as your brother. She got free and they haven’t noticed.”
My breath hitched as I realized what she was saying. The gap wasn’t large enough for a full-grown man or woman, but a small child could fit through with some help.
“You’re half dragon, half fae?” Kailani asked her.
The woman nodded and that explained it. Fire and ice. Fire and ice enough times throughout the night and it would snap metal like the blacksmiths did.
“Thank you.” A lump formed in my throat as I was overcome with emotion.
“Your sister was in this cell?” Kailani asked.
The woman bobbed her head. “We did it at night when the guard was asleep but I fear you don’t have that long if the Nightfall queen wants your magic. They will torture him to get you to agree.”
She was right. And very smart.
“What do you suggest?” I asked her. She’d clearly been here longer than me and was quick-thinking.
She eyed the cell behind her. “I’ll ask the people locked up across the room to create a diversion in ten minutes’ time. The guards will rush to that side, and then your brother makes his move.”
I nodded, reaching for her fingers through the bars and grasping them. She had no idea what a gift this was. To not have to worry about Oslo being tortured if I didn’t comply with whatever the queen would want.
“Thank you,” I said again.
She gave me a weak smile. “We need to stick together.”
With that she turned away from me and went across her cell to speak to the fae man neighboring her. She whispered something to him and he nodded, walking across the length of his cell and passing a message to the next person. I could see now that this message would get all the way to the other side of the room and in ten minutes’ time, we would have our distraction.
Now I needed to prepare my soft-hearted little brother to break out of here and find his way to safety. Alone.
Walking over to Oslo, I watched him as he glanced at me with fear-filled eyes. I was always so easy on him, coddling him and snuggling him. I couldn’t do that anymore, I needed him to be strong for this.
Placing my cuffed hands on one side of his shoulder, I met his eyes and I saw so much of our beautiful mother in them.
I kept my voice low. “In ten minutes, there will be a distraction across the room that will take up the guards’ attention. Then we will open a space small enough between the bars for you to wiggle out of our cell and into the next—” He started to protest but I shut him down with a glare. “Then our new friend will hoist you up to her window where another bar will be removed and you will slip out of the window and into the outside. From there you will run to the storm drain at the east wall. It’s a metal cap in the ground near the community garden. Go inside, it goes under the wall and exits the city.”
“You’re coming right?” he asked with so much innocence it tore at my heart.
I shook my head. “I’m too big. But you’re twelve now. You need to start toughening up.”
His bottom lip quivered and I wanted to pull him to my chest and hold him but I kept us an arm’s length apart. “When you get out of the storm drain on the other side of the gates, I want you to shift into wolf form. Avoid the big areas of fighting. Make your way south-west to Thorngate but go farther if you have to in order to avoid the war, you can always circle back. Tell the fae king you are my brother and he will protect you.”
His chest heaved as he held my gaze and it was the first time he’d stared at me for so long. It was the one glimmer of hope I had that he might be strong enough to endure this.
“You’re a small wolf, you can hide in bushes and—” my voice broke as I swallowed a sob. I’d just remembered that Cyrus was dead and this was the only family I had left other than Axil and our unborn child.
I shook him a little. “I love you too damn much, Oz! You have to be strong for me and do this, okay?”
He growled then. A low and firm growl of dominance. “I can do this,” he assured me and then I did pull him to my chest. I crushed that kid against me and breathed him in as if it were the last time I might ever see him. Because it might be.
“You’re gonna get out too though, right? Eventually?” he mumbled against my ear.
I pulled back and gave him a knowing look. “This is me we’re talking about,” I said confidently, though I felt anything but. I noticed he wasn’t wearing cuffs. They probably weren’t worried about a scrawny kid shifting into a wolf and harming anyone. But I was cuffed, and that meant I was about as useless as a human. But I wouldn’t tell him that.
A commotion started at the far end of the room, shouting and fighting, and the guards immediately moved that way.
This was it.
“I love you, Oslo. You’re such a good kid. Mom and dad would be so proud.” I tried to stay strong but tears leaked down my cheeks.
“I love you too, Zar,” he said and wiped at his own cheeks.
Damn. I prayed to the Maker then, which I hardly did, and asked that my little brother be protected.
“Psst,” the woman called to us and I knew we were on limited time. Kailani positioned her body to face the skirmish at the far end of the room but against the bars so that she could block what we were about to do. The fae-dragon hybrid woman removed the bar easily and Oslo looked at me one last time. I gave him an encouraging smile and he turned his body sideways, slipping through the bars. He got halfway when his ear got stuck and he hissed. I gave him a hard shove and he popped out into the other cell. The bar was replaced quickly and then the woman shuffled him across the room and I spun to watch the guards break up the fight, both of their attention fully engaged.
My heart hammered in my chest as I peered back to see the woman had already boosted my brother up to the window and he pulled the middle bar off, shimmying his arms through to the other side. All I could do was pray that there was no one out patrolling on the other side of that wall. We were halfway submerged underground so when he did get out, if he could stay low, he might be able to get away unseen. He’d look human to any passerby in Nightfall City so I just had to hope for the best or the worry would drive me insane.
I steeled myself as one of the guards left the cell in which the fight had been broken up and made his way to the center of the room.
Glancing over my shoulder, I noticed that the woman was still halfway through shoving my brother out the window. It was an extremely tight fit and he was having to crawl on his elbows to pull himself through.
I scrambled for ideas on how to get the guard to look away but my mind was drawing a blank. Anything I did would just draw his attention in this direction.
“Hey!” a male in one of the cells to the left side of the room shouted. The guard turned in his direction and then the man pulled his trousers down and flashed his backside, pressing it against the bars. “Kiss my arse, you bloodsucker sell-outs!” he cried.
The guard pulled out a baton and ran forward, rapping it hard against the bars and the man fell forward laughing.
“That’s enough!” the guard yelled. “Or you’ll all be put down!”
I looked back at the window just in time to see the woman replace the bar with shaking cuffed hands and then face forward as if nothing happened. I could just see Oslo’s feet as they grew smaller in the distance and he ran away.
Tears built up in my eyes but I forced them down.
He was safe. Now it was time to fight.
I walked closer to the bars and pressed my face against them, looking at the man who had helped distract the guard.
I gave him a nod which I hoped conveyed my gratitude. He nodded back in solidarity.
Kailani stood next to me then, laying her head on my shoulder. It was the equivalent of a hug. Or the best you could do for a hug when you were both handcuffed.
“Do you have family?” I asked her.
“Just my aunt. No siblings. Parents are dead,” she replied matter-of-factly.
“Mine too. He … was, is all I have,” I told her.
She nudged me and forced me to face her. There was a calmness in her gaze that brought me peace.
“We’re going to get out of this and then you, Madelynn, Arwen and I are going to go on a yearly women’s retreat. Like the men did when they were younger,” she declared.
I grinned. “Oh yeah?”
She nodded. “There is an elvin spa I know of that gives great massages and they have mud baths and all the confections you could hope to eat.”
“What will the men do without us?” I inquired, playing into her fantasy because it was taking my mind off things.
“Watch the children and tend to the kitchen of course,” she replied which caused me to bark out into laughter.
My face fell pretty quickly though. “How did we get here? War. It seems so … wrong.”
She looked at the guards. “Hatred. Division. If people focused on what they had in common, or how they could help one another, rather than how they were different, it would solve a lot of problems.”
Well said.
“Kailani?”
She looked at me seriously.
“Zaphira killed my big brother. She kidnapped my little brother. I can’t let her live. I may have to lose my life in order to kill her, so please tell Axil I’m sorry.”
Her face fell at that and she looked at my stomach where a child grew inside of me. I didn’t want to think about that right now. I just wanted revenge. It was a steady banging war drum in my chest, a thirst that could not be quenched until Zaphira’s head was severed from her body.
Kailani nodded. “You will have a small window of time if they put you in the machine that steals your magic. They take off your cuffs. Only then can you use your power to try and overtake them.”
I dipped my chin in understanding. “Thank you.”
We fell silent then, sitting against the bars and waiting for the next move. Eventually someone would come take one or both of us. And after several hours, they did. My head had fully healed by the time the guard came for Kailani and me.
“Where are you taking us?” Kailani asked as we were hauled out of the cell.
“Shut up,” the guard told her and then peered into the cell, blinking rapidly. “Where is the kid?”
“Do you want me to answer or should I shut up?” Kailani said.
He reached up and smacked her hard across the face and her lip split back open.
“They already took him!” I screamed at him.
He glared at me. “Where? Who?”
Kailani was holding her cheek. “How should we know? We don’t work here. A guard took him to the lab.”
He growled and pointed the sharp tip of a knife at my throat. “Walk and don’t get any ideas or I start stabbing.”
I did as he asked, feeling like it was a good sign that my brother hadn’t been brought back down to the dungeon since he’d left.
Was he free? Already outside the gates? Was Axil okay? I felt for our bond, hidden among all of my anxiety for my brother, and could sense that he was still alive. I would know if my mate was dead, right?
We were marched up the stairs and down a hallway to a large dining room. Outside the room, two more guards were stationed. One of them broke away and stepped up beside Kailani. “They’re ready,” he said to the guard that held us.
They?
The doors opened and I steeled myself as I took in the space before us. The Nightfall queen sat at the head of a large table with a regal-looking bloodsucker next to her. I didn’t know anything about necromerian royalty but this man reeked of power and influence. His black high-collared jacket framed his pale face and he stared at me with a gaze I didn’t like. One that was hungry, like a half-starved animal.
They both watched us as we entered and the queen gave me a snarl. I glanced at her bandaged hand and grinned.
“You can have her wolf power, Regis, but I want the elf queen,” she told him.
Regis looked at me and squinted. “She’s the wife of Axil Moon?” he asked and my stomach tightened. They knew his name.
“I believe they call them mates, but yes,” Zaphira replied.
We were led to the table where two places had been set across from the queen and her companion. Kailani and I shared a look.
What was the game plan here? Feed us dinner and then steal our magic? Why? To play with us?
Just when I was beginning to wonder if we were meant to take a seat or not, the guard pushed me down into one of the chairs. I was seated across from the man Zaphira had called Regis, who I was going to assume was the necros’ king.
“What will you be having for dinner? Blood with a side of blood?” I asked him sarcastically.
He shared a look with the queen and she nodded. “See. She has a temper: those make for the best magic elixirs.”
I swallowed hard at that. If Kailani was right, I’d have only seconds from when they took off my cuffs to when they placed me in the machine. And if I couldn’t fight back, I remembered my promise to Raife and I would not falter. There was no way I was giving her this power. I’d carve my own heart out before that happened.
A waiter brought out three plates of food, setting them before the queen, Kailani and me. Then he set a glass of dark red fluid in front of the king.
Regis looked at the waiter in disgust. “I prefer it straight from the source.” Then he turned to the queen. “May I?” he asked, his eyes on me.
Zaphira nodded and I stiffened. “Oh, please do.”
Kailani squirmed in her seat beside me. “Won’t that affect the power transfer?” she asked nervously and I could tell she was stalling for time.
“No,” the queen said and then before I could even track his movements, the king was beside me, my face in his hands. I moved to fight back and then his mouth was on my neck. A small pinch bit at my skin and then a wave of nausea rolled over me as he sucked.
“Stop this!” Kailani shouted, jerking beside me, but the guard held her firmly in place. The slurping sounds at my neck were making me want to vomit but not as much as the slight buzz of pleasure that hummed just under my skin. He had some kind of magic spell over me that was making me think I liked it. With one jerk of my head I cracked my skull into his and he pulled away from me laughing.
The moment his mouth released my neck, the pleasure faded and was replaced by a dull throb.
Zaphira took a bite of her meat, grinning. “Does she taste good?”
Regis stood. “Oh, you have no idea. And not just that, she is linked to her mate. I could feel him, far away but there.”
I froze, swallowing hard. He felt the pack bonds? I calmed myself and searched for Axil. I could feel him alive and anxious but there. Had the necro king felt that too? That wasn’t right, but then I had no idea what kind of power necros held.
Regis walked over to the queen’s plate of food and grasped her meat knife. “I wonder … Do you think her mate can feel it if I hurt her?”
Kailani and I both bucked in our seats at that but the guards kept us firmly in place. My heart crashed wildly in my chest but I was helpless to stop him.
The queen nodded and then held out her bandaged hand, showcasing her missing finger which was now a bloody stump hidden under white gauze. “I require revenge, my love.”
My love?
One second he stood beside her and then next my hand was being pulled out onto the dinner table, fingers splayed out.
“No!” Kailani screamed, thrashing her back against her chair.
The necromerian king held the blade to my pinky finger and I went eerily still, resigning myself to my fate. Cyrus taught me that wounds hurt more when you resisted them.
Control where they hurt you.
I curled my other fingers into a ball and willingly gave him my pinky, looking at Kailani to let her know it was okay. Tears streamed down her face and then … the dining hall doors burst open and a young man stumbled in, grasping his throat. His face was purple, and white foam bubbled at his lips. Regis and Zaphira both froze.
“Who is that?” Regis asked, perplexed.
Zaphira’s fork clattered onto the plate and her hand shook. “My food taster.”
She smacked her lips together and then reached up to grab her throat in anticipation. Staring at Kailani, she leapt into a standing position. “You can save me! Regis, she can save me!”
The queen was coughing now, clearing her throat uncontrollably. She stumbled forward, falling onto the table as she gasped for breath and rolled onto her back, looking up at the ceiling.
The necromerian king went from being about to cut my finger off to zooming over to Kailani and pressing the blade to her throat. He was so fast it was unnerving. A worthy adversary had this been a fair fight.
“Save her,” he commanded and then looked at the guards. “Uncuff her!”
The queen’s lips were purple now, white spittle forming on them as she rasped for breath.
Kailani stood, looked down at Zaphira and smiled. “I would rather die than save her. So kill me now and be done with it.”
Pure pride flooded through me at that. Kailani was an alpha: she had no fear of death.
Regis snarled, moving to do just that when I burst from where I sat, cracking the guard behind me over the head. As I did so, the whistle of arrows tore through the room and then the sickening thunks of the tips embedding into flesh.
I blinked and then backed up as the necromerian king fell backwards, three arrows in his chest and one in the side of his head.
Two more thuds and then each guard went down, an arrow right in each of their hearts.
The curtains moved at the far wall and then Raife stood before us, bow drawn.
“You okay, ladies?” he asked us, but kept his eyes on the gasping queen. She was barely breathing, her body twitching and seizing before us as she clawed at her purple face.
We both nodded and I reached down and grabbed a tiny ornate key the guard had hanging from his waist belt. I used it to free Kailani and then she was able to unlock mine.
Leaning forward, Raife held the tip of his arrow to the queen’s throat. She had acquired all these powers and yet was too weak to use even one against him.
“This is for my family,” he said and watched as she twitched and gasped for breath, suffering greatly.
Her eyes bulged wider.
“And my brother,” I added.
Kailani got close to her, leaning into her ear. “And every other person harmed by your existence.”
One last twitch and then she went still, lips crusted white, face purple and eyes bulging. It was a horrific sight and yet I didn’t feel satisfied. Grasping the steak knife, I rammed it into her chest, right where her heart was. “Just in case,” I told the room.
Raife dropped his arrow tip to the ground and fell back against the wall. He sighed, looking relieved. For years he’d chased that revenge. I had no idea what it had done to him but it would have eaten me alive. Knowing I would go home to Cyrus’ dead body killed me but this brought me at least some measure of comfort.
“Not to ruin the moment but in times of war, if we take her head to her lead general, he has to call a cease fire. People are probably dying on the front lines so …” Kailani glanced at her husband.
Raife nodded, pulling the sword from his hip and Kailani looked away as he took the queen’s head clean off. Knotting his fingers into her hair, he exited the dining hall with me and his wife beside him. Now that I was no longer cuffed, I pulled the power I had borrowed from Axil to the surface.
If anyone tried anything, I would make them kneel.
Raising her head into the air, Raife gave a battle cry and walked out the front doors of the Nightfall castle.
The warriors perched on the front steps looked up at him startled and when they saw the head of their leader they gasped in shock.
They pulled out their weapons, but I used my power to blanket them with a command to freeze.
“The war is over!” Kailani bellowed. “Your queen is dead and as such you must surrender and open the gates!”
I relaxed my power over the two dozen men and one of them stepped forward and turned to another and nodded. “Get General Ibsen.”
The guard took off and then we waited as another guard ran to the front gates. Everyone seemed confused as to what they should do. Their leader was dead, I had the power to control them, and the war between our peoples was over.
A moment later the front gates of Nightfall City opened and dozens of wolves ran inside. I grinned when I noticed the Royal Wolven Guard with Lucien leading them. It looked like they had been able to win on the front lines then make their approach all the way to the castle. People backed up in fear and guards dropped their weapons. I scanned the people flooding into the city. Among them was Madelynn, and—
The moment I saw Axil in human form, with my little brother holding his hand and walking next to him, I started running.
“Axil! Oslo!” I called to them, my feet pounding the ground as I closed the distance between us. My little brother broke away from Axil first and ran to greet me, crashing into me with a big hug. He was covered in dirt and twigs but otherwise seemed unharmed. Axil was next. Pulling me into his arms with Oslo squashed between us, he captured my mouth in a kiss and then placed his hand on my belly. “You’re okay?” he asked.
I nodded.
I was now. The queen was dead and my little surviving family was safe and secure.
