Page 90

Chapter fifty-two

ATALIIA

There was not a single sign of Pri or Wren inside this house.

It was like they had evaporated, like they had never been here. Not even the scent of them lingered in the air. I turned my gaze to Andrues, his face hardening as he gazed into the room.

I was too late.

I was too fucking late .

A sob clawed at the back of my throat, and I swallowed it back.

“What exactly did you see?” Andrues’s question cut through the air as he turned toward me, fear flooding his eyes as they locked on mine.

“I’m sorry,” I choked out, the words scraping my throat as I stared up at him.

His hand found my face with a gentle but urgent touch, his palm cupping my cheek as my heart thundered violently against my chest.

“I just need to know what you saw, Ataliia. Anything that can help me find her.”

“I couldn’t make out the room. It was Cin again, burning on Landers’s throne and it seemed like Pri was in the middle of the room, but I couldn’t tell.

It didn’t look like Locdragoon. Pri was wrapped in chains.

I think she could see me, actually see me .

She tried to scream, tried to say something, but a voice cut me off.

” The words spilled from my lips frantically as I tried to pull every detail to the forefront of my memory.

Andrues pulled my chin toward him. “There is someone communicating with you through these visions now?”

I nodded. “This was the first time, but I couldn’t see her.”

Something flashed in Andrues’s features, his hand falling to my shoulder as his eyes flickered around the room one more time before returning to mine.

“Do you think you could do it again, communicate with her?” he asked, his voice softening as he looked down at me.

“I don’t know. I don’t know how I did it, it felt like she was inside the—” I paused, my eyes darting to the door.

I could feel her.

See her, just like I had with Dukovich only hours before.

Relief shocked my system as I turned back to Andrues. “She’s here.”

He bolted to the door, pulling it open just as Pri reached for the handle.

She stilled, her eyes wide and bloodshot.

Wren’s blood still stained her clothing, the rain pooling red at her feet as she stared back at us, but that did not stop Andrues.

He pulled her against his body, his hands gripping the back of her head as a sob ripped from her throat.

A tear finally freed itself as I watched him hold her, watched as the muscles on his back uncoiled under his tunic.

I had never been so fucking happy to be wrong.

He stood there with her body wrapped in his arms for a long moment before pulling her in from the rain and shutting the door at their back.

Pri sniffed back the tears, wiping them from her chin as her eyes darted between us. “Why are you here?” she croaked, grief saturating her voice.

“I had a vision and I-I saw you . . .” My words trailed off as I drifted back to the memory. I had seen her.

I was positive it was her.

“Pri,” Andrues started, his voice low, soft. “Where is Wren?”

“I took him to the Elders,” she snapped, the lines on her face deepening. “I want them to bury him in the tomb of life.”

My brows furrowed as I looked back at her. “Why? Wren wanted to be burned on a Pyre.”

“He changed his mind months ago, we wanted to be buried here together.” She sniffed again, but no tears were flowing.

Unease pricked at the back of my arms as some internal warning flared between my ears.

“Where are all your things?” I asked, the words biting into the air as Andrues glanced at me, disapproval sliding into his eyes.

Pri took a step away from us, her arms folding over her chest. “Mara just helped me move all of it out. She is letting me stay with her so I am not haunted by this house. Why are you interrogating me?” She hissed the question, her eyes narrowing on me as Andrues stepped between us.

I opened my mouth to speak, but Nithra’s deafening roar shattered the sky, drowning out my words.

Our eyes snapped to the window as the entire ground convulsed beneath her thunderous landing.

Adrenaline surged through me as I shoved past Pri, my hand latching onto Andrues’s with a desperate grip, yanking him from the house with me.

A sickening dread began to devour my organs.

I would not leave him alone with her .

We stepped out onto the grass as Cin, Landers, Asrai, and Yenne slipped out of the tether beside Nithra. Dukovich and The Fallen Ones materialized by their side next and I broke into a sprint toward them.

My boots skidded to a stop, slipping on the wet grass as my eyes locked with Cin’s. They were wild, frantic, as she ripped her gaze away from me and turned to the Fallen Ones.

“Royion is gone,” Nantia blurted before any of us could speak. “And Azeyr never came back after we left to rest our dragons.”

A growl slipped from Nithra’s throat, hot smoke coiling from her nostrils as her snout pushed against Cin’s back, a silent conversation passing between them.

“We need to get to the war camps, right now. Nithra’s sisters are already there, but we don’t have much time. Cain is gone, Sashi and Rilius are missing. Mara and the Elders are dead we—”

“What?” I snarled, cutting Cin off as Andrues and I slowly turned to where Pri stood next to Landers. “You said you were just with Mara.”

Pri feigned innocence, tucking herself behind Landers as her brows furrowed.

She was fucking playing us.

“What is going on?” Cin hissed, her eyes darting between the three of us.

“I don’t know, why don’t you tell us, Pri?” I spat, taking a step toward her.

Pri stumbled away from me, her face paling. “I-I was just with her. She was alive when I left her.”

“You’re lying,” the accusation fell from my lips with an edge sharp enough to cut flesh.

“Pri,” Landers started, slowly turning toward her. “You need to tell us exactly what is going on.” His jaw tightened as he said the words and Andrues’s eyes flashed to him.

“You cannot possibly believe she would do this,” Andrues snapped at Landers, horror seeping into his features.

Landers ignored his statement, taking a predatory step toward Pri. “Wren said some things before he died, told us he was compromised.”

My heart seized at his words, a fire bursting to light in my veins as rage coiled around my spine.

Landers’s voice was lethal as he spoke the next words. “If you have something to tell us, you tell us now.”

Pri’s eyes flickered to the edge of the field so fast I almost missed it.

It only took a second.

One single second for her to facade to crumble.

Pri’s hand lunged forward, brandishing two iron blades as she slipped them into Landers chest and side.

A scream sounded from Cin’s throat that could have shook the realm as she sprinted toward her, magic exploding from her skin. A realm-shattering roar bellowed from Nithra’s lungs.

“Come any closer and I’ll kill him,” Pri hissed, her daggers plunging deeper into Lander’s flesh, but he did not flinch at the pain.

Cin stopped dead in her tracks as a snarl erupted from her throat. Blood trickled from where Pri’s knives met skin. If she pushed any deeper, it would kill him.

Her lips curled into a sneer as her eyes connected with mine.

“You were always the clever one, I figured it would be you that finally put it together.” Her voice was so shrill I didn’t recognize it as she pulled Landers against her chest.

“Pri,” Andrues’s voice sounded from behind me, cracking at the edges. “Why are you doing this?”

Pri let out a cold, humorless laugh. “You all preach about family, how you would die for each other, but can’t even see as one of your own slips away right in front of your eyes.”

“Pri, please ,” Andrues’s words were pleading, his voice barely above a whisper. “This is not you. We can talk about this, find a way to fix whatever is wrong.”

My hands slipped behind my back, reaching for my blades as her focus flashed to me.

“Don’t even think about it,” she growled, her eyes boring into mine.

“After all these centuries, this is what it comes down to? Betrayal?” Landers spat through the pain as his eyes flashed to Cin.

“You still can’t see it, can you?” Pri asked, amusement dancing in her tone as she pulled her gaze to the edge of the clearing. “Wren saw it,” she said with a small sigh as two figures walked across the clearing toward us.

From the corner of my eye, I could see Dukovich move to Cin’s side, readying for whatever, whomever, was about to come.

“He was the only one that caught on. He tried to tell you, but I needed a little bit more time, so naturally I had to kill him. It was sad really, he was such a sweet boy,” Pri crooned, her voice dripping with venom.

Red flashed behind my eyes, my skin heating as her words crashed into my bones. The fire in my blood could have turned the rain to steam as it collided with my skin.

Rilius and Sashi stepped into view as an animalistic growl detonated from Cin’s lungs. “Traitors,” she snarled, lunging for them but something held her back.

Froze her in place.

“I thought you loved traitors, seeing as you’ve already aligned yourself with one,” Rilius retorted, as a chuckle slipped from his lips.

“It was you,” Asrai breathed. “You killed the Elders, killed Mara.”

“Yes,” Sashi answered. “See, we thought it was time Ithia came into power— real power. We were promised our realm’s freedom, its safety, without bowing to anyone, without the bloodshed of our people. We were willing to sacrifice the few, for the masses.”

I could see from my peripheral as Essara and Nantia slowly began to back away while Siggy stood firmly by us. Sashi’s eyes snapped to them and they froze, just like Cin.

“And where do the two of you think you are going?” Sashi asked as Essara shot Nantia a frantic glance.

“This is not our war, we want nothing to do with this,” Essara spat.