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No. I was prepared for battle.

Malachi might not have thought so, but I sure did.

A flicker of light caught my attention ahead of me.

There were other entrances to the kingdom. I knew there were.

I crept forward, careful to stay as silent as possible in the throes of screams and screeches of metal clashing.

It was an opening. A small, hidden opening in the massive stone walls.

Saints.

I knelt on all fours, my knees and palms pressing against the cool, damp night ground. When I caught a glimpse of what was waiting for me on the other side of that hole…

My blood froze in my veins.

The first thing I noticed was the pile of deadlings that accumulated near the wall.

And the smell that came with them.

The soldiers had pushed away from the wall, though. There wasn’t a single soldier within fifty feet of the wall now. They were pushing back.

That was good.

Right?

I knelt through the small opening in the wall.

This was it. There was no going back now.

I squinted against the darkness, trying to identify anyone familiar. A mixture of wings and weapons clashed ahead of me, but everything was too dark. Too far.

I couldn’t see a single damn thing.

“I’ve been waiting for you,” a male voice made me jump. I tightened my grip on my weapon and stood from my crouching position.

A large, hooded male stood before me. I couldn’t see his face under the black shadows.

“Jade Weyland,” he spoke. “You’re coming with me.”

“Who are you?” I asked. I tried to slice my weapon toward him, but he easily caught my wrists.

A low, blood-curdling laugh escaped him. Accompanied with the screams of battle. “My name is Silas,” he said. My legs shook beneath me. “And you have something I want.”

I screamed as loudly as I could before Silas lifted me off the ground.

CHAPTER36

Malachi

Serefin and I heard her at the same time.

“Is that Jade?” he asked me in the midst of battle. Our enemies had thinned out in forces, but they were still coming.

Saints. I didn’t even have to think about it. Yes, that was Jade.

I dropped another fae male to his knees before spinning around, looking for her in the darkness.