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“Argh!” My frustration emerged as a roar. “Flarking celestial nonsense!”

I staggered to my feet, glaring in the direction of Slyborn Castle. How dare Idris take what was mine? Rage pounded between my temples. If he harmed one hair on Runa’s head, I’d find a way to make him pay tenfold. Every moment she was in his hands was a moment too long. Everything within me demanded I storm the castle and tear her from his clutches.

“Hathor will not permit me to appear to you again. This is your only chance. It’s a long and difficult journey. We should get started.”

For the first time since I could remember, my conscience battled with my goals. The thought of Runa alone with Idris for even one minute threatened to send me charging straight for the castle.

Once more, I gazed at the destruction that surrounded me. These civilians had been powerless. It was a reminder. A male without power was vulnerable. I struggled to temper my fury. This wasn’t a time to allow my emotions to get the better of me.

I couldn’t very well go up against Idris and his army in my current state. It would be best to face him on equal ground. First, I’d recharge. Then, I’d retrieve Runa. I had faith she could handle herself until I arrived.

Faith.

If only Runa could see me now.

Turned out, I did believe in something other than myself.

I believed inher.

“I’ll need a horse and supplies,” I growled.

“A horse cannot travel where we journey. You must go on foot. Unless you’ve changed your mind?”

Cursed mystical deities. Cursed prophesies.

I stabbed my hands into the pockets of my tunic to keep them from circling the guardian’s scrawny throat. My fingers grazed something, and I extracted the tiny wood carving of a dragon. The trophy Runa had won in the dart game. When she gifted it to me, she claimed it reminded her of my proverbial fall from grace during the trials. If she only knew how far I’d truly fallen that day.

My head swam, and my injured leg throbbed with a pulse, wobbling beneath me.

“Lead on,” I ordered, and the mysterious child took my hand.

Chapter Thirty-Four

RUNA

Unforgiving metal chafed my wrist.My arms ached from being chained to the wall. The damp and cold of my cell permeated my bones. With little but my discomfort to distract me, images of Yaga’s blazing room filled my mind.

I shouldn’t have left her side. What was I thinking, dancing about like a drunken fool with Custodis? People like me didn’t get to pretend they were free. Free of responsibility. Free of my many crimes. Free of guilt.

And I was…

Guilty.

My parents had died trying to protect Raelynn and me. A sacrifice I didn’t deserve. I’d failed them. Failed Carcerem. If only I’d dragged my sister through our mother’s portal and taken her far from Idris’s influence, even if it meant locking her in chains for the journey. Instead, I’d let her slip away.

Much as I had with Yaga.

I never should have let her out of my sight. I knew better. Still, I’d allowed a vulnerable old woman to gallivant around thevillage unprotected. Then, instead of returning to her side at the first opportunity, I was off rolling in the hay like some light-skirted trollop.

Tears welled in my burning eyes, and I willed them back.

Crying would do nothing to get me out of my current situation. I was Idris’s prisoneragain. Only this time, there was no one around to help me. Not my brothers. Not some undercover allies sent by a queen. Not Victor.

I imagined that after my departure from the stable, he’d grabbed the closest horse and fled. After all, he had little to gain from sticking around. Given his skills with manipulation, I had zero doubts he’d find the guardian and convince them to lead him to the temple. Perhaps he’d even find a way to have the mystic open a portal for him.

I envisioned Victor’s perfect body glowing with an ethereal light.Runa who?he’d say before the gateway opened and the vampire vanished from my life with the same suddenness in which he’d stormed into it.

Footsteps echoed in the hallway outside my cell door, and I tensed. Torchlight illuminated my prison cell, and Idris emerged.