Page 85 of A Curse So Cruel

“You have weeks, my darlings,” the queens says, waving her hand in the air. “And then we’ll be back for the graduation games. By the time this is over, I expect more warriors who won’t die the moment they look death in the face. For without us…There will be no times at all.” She quotes the last lines of the prophecy, and a cloud of shadows appears in front of her.

“Oh, and make sure you don’t get too attached to your…distraction,” she says, pinning me with her gaze. “She won’t be staying here for long.”

I try not to let her words get to me, but my heart sinks.

With a cackling laugh, she steps into the shadow pathway, and the two originals barely acknowledge my guys before following after her. In a matter of seconds, they’re gone, and once again it’s just me, my guys, and their creatures.

Knox stares into the trees behind him with a frown, and I wonder if my creature is still out there, but Knox turns his attention away quickly.

“Fuckin’ hell,” Raith says, rubbing my shoulder like he thinks it’ll calm him. “This is goin’ to be interestin’.”

“It’s going to be a bloodbath,” Thane growls, looking like he wants to destroy something.

“She’s not wrong about needing more warriors, though,” Knox concedes. “The barrier around the academy walls wasn’t weak. The dark entities know how important this academy is. Whatever is happening out there, I suspect the queen hasn’t told us all of it. She’s afraid.”

Raith curses again.

“Yes well, I suppose we’d better mend the barrier, and start preparing the troops as she says,” Galen adds. “Looks like the graduation games are going to come early this year. For everyone.”

All four pairs of eyes go to me, and I squirm at the attention.

“We can’t let Shade compete,” Raith says protectively.

“She has the queen’s attention now,” Knox replies, his expression hard. “There’s nowhere in all the realms she could hide that Queen Krosia wouldn’t find her eventually. If you want to keep her safe, she’ll have to earn her immortality.”

I swallow the lump in my throat. “Or you know, I could die,” I point out miserably.

“We won’t let that happen,” Galen says soothingly.

I think of my backup plan to hide with Blake in the demon realm, and I play with the portal ring on my finger.Looks like that backup plan is out the window.

“So I guess we have weeks then, huh?” I mumble.

“That’s right, sweetheart,” Thane says with a fierce expression, and I can just imagine all the ways he’s going to torture, ahem, I meantrainme. “It’s time to turn you into a shadow warrior.”