Page 96 of Hell Fae Captive

Interesting.

Is that why they walked through the lava without flinching?

Is it all a mirage?

That would imply that the thick hum in the air was doing more than casting mirages over the supply pedestals and the fallen candidates.

The entire landscape was enchanted.

Which suggested the illuminated path was too obvious; it probably led to death. Hence the girls falling off the cliff. Or I assumed they had, anyway. That was what it had looked like when they’d disappeared.

The supply pedestals had also been a decoy meant to distract us.

Meanwhile, the true escape hid in plain sight.

In the form of the lava pits,I thought, considering the nearest one. Some of them might be real. But others might be portals. It would be fitting, considering we’d fallen through the ground to arrive here, too.

I would have to test them with rocks.

Assuming I could manage to make my way toward one.

Unfortunately, the Centaurs appeared rather displeased by my rock-throwing game. They were all snarling, their hooves stomping against the ground.

Ducking, I skirted backward through the horse legs behind me. He growled in response. Then I did the same to his buddy, attempting to escape their little entrapment without actually attacking them.

One of them shrieked as a dagger landed in its side from a passing girl.

Beatrix.

She was heading toward the path again, a snarl in her features that made the other Centaurs hiss and chase after her, leaving their fallen member behind.

It screeched in pain beside me, crashing to the ground and releasing the most god-awful sound of pain.

My brow came down.But he has a white aura.

The weapons hadn’t been able to hurt the others with white auras.

So why had this one been hurt? Because she’d stabbed him while walking by him?

I wasn’t sure, but I felt an inkling of pity for him as he writhed on the ground and tried to stand again.

The other Centaurs were chasing down the brides at full speed. Some they hooked under their arms and disappeared into the shadows they seemed fond of creating.

I didn’t even want to know where they were taking them.

A scream from the left showed one of the Elites shoving a girl into a lava pit, making my eyes round.Well, that’s one way to test a theory…I wasn’t sure how they’d figured it out. Maybe they’d seen me throw the rock.

Regardless, they were using other candidates rather than inanimate objects to try the portal.

Lovely.

The creature keened beside me, his hand curling around the blade with a hiss. It sizzled in response, making him groan as he released the knife, the metal seeming to burn him.

The wound didn’t appear to be fatal.

However, it clearly hurt.

The dark mist wavered around his face, and his panicked red eyes blinked.