Page 19

Rue

“They’re wasting time,” I growl. “The queen isn’t there!”

Jade and I grew increasingly restless while waiting for word to come. Turns out the seer has a heart after all, or we just wore her down with our relentless questions. She’s been projecting the visions coming to her in the fire so we can see them, too.

The images are tinted orange and a little blurry. Sometimes, they flicker in and out or grow taller depending on the height of the flames. Then, they vanish entirely and a new vision starts. It took some time for my mind to make sense of the distortions, but keeping up with the events unfolding has been even more challenging.

I’m starting to see how difficult the seer’s job is. The visions keep starting over but change based on what Durin and Vaegon do. When Durin went to the queen’s chambers instead of the dungeons, the vision of what happens to the realm was grim, to say the least. But when they found Folas, the vision was of a look of horror on the queen’s face.

What’s worse than the changes is that it’s almost impossible to tell what’s actually happening now and what’s a vision of a possible future. The seer explains which is which as they appear, and I’ve begun feeling guilty for hating her so much. I can’t imagine this kind of thing going through my head at all times.

We watched Durin and Jade’s Alphas search the dungeons with no luck. Right now, they’re running around the rest of the castle, looking for hiding spots Durin might have missed.

But the queen isn’t there. She’s out in the forest behind the castle with all her lost mixed fae in tow.

If Durin can’t get there quickly enough, she might be able to draw more power from the darkness before he and Vaegon can confront her. We’re depending on her weakened state. They may not be strong enough to defeat her without it.

“Someone needs to tell them!” Jade shouts, pacing back and forth beside the fire.

Brody tries to soothe her by rubbing her back, but she’s just as anxious as I am. Nothing could calm me down right now except the queen’s severed head on a pike.

“They need to get out there before she draws more power,” I say to the seer as calmly as I can. “We have to tell them. You have to let us go to them.”

She looks uncomfortable as the scene from the fire switches back to the battle going on outside. The shifters and kelpies are holding strong, but we’ve suffered some losses. The nobles are powerful enough. The queen can’t be allowed to join in that fight.

“I can’t see the end,” the seer says quietly, narrowing her eyes at the fire. “I can’t see anything past the present anymore.”

“That’s because you’re facing a significant choice yourself,” I tell her. “The pressure is on you this time.”

The fire shifts back to the queen. She’s kneeling in the dirt with the mixed fae standing protectively around her. I can see her lips moving, but I can’t tell what she’s saying.

I look back to the seer, my heart pounding as I wait for her to decide. She mumbles something at the fire, likely a spell, but the vision doesn’t change. A line forms on her brow, and she waves her hand over the flames. Still, nothing happens. She blinks twice and shakes her head, clearly unaccustomed to feeling so lost. But we don’t have time for her internal crisis.

“If Durin dies,” I warn her, “you die.”

She looks up at me with stony eyes. “If Durin dies, we all die.”

She mumbles one more spell, pressing her lips into a thin line when nothing happens. Keeping her gaze fixed on the fire, she finally concedes. “Fine. Go.”

My heart leaps back to life. I promised Durin I wouldn’t leave, but this is different. We have no choice.

Jade grabs Brody’s hand and then my own. “We’re ready,” she says, with a fiery determination on her face.

“Be careful!” Paren says, clinging to Frederick like she can’t bear to watch them go.

Jade rushes over and gives them each a kiss on the cheek before returning to my side. The seer waves her hand, and the world blurs and changes around us, leaving us in a place that’s very special to me. One with painful memories and lost memories. But it’s the place where my future began.

“Where are we?” Brody asks.

“I thought she’d send us to the castle,” Jade says. She begins to growl. “She just sent us here to shut us up! When we find our way back, I’m—”

She stops short when a familiar gryphon with reddish-brown feathers and fur steps out of the shadows of her cave. “Woah,” Jade whispers. “What’s that?”

“It’s a gryphon,” I say, approaching the creature and falling to my knees in front of her. “A friend.”

The gryphon leans down and taps my head with her beak. I turn to see Brody’s wide smile and Jade’s youthful excited eyes. But the urgency to find our mates didn’t go far. A panicked look crosses Jade’s face as the worry rushes back to the front of her mind.

They don’t realize why we’re here.

“Don’t worry,” I tell them, rising to my feet. “The seer sent us here for a reason.” I turn to the gryphon and smile. “Hi there. I need your help again if you’re willing.”

She clicks her big beak and looks at me calmly.

“We have to get to the castle. The queen is in the forest, and Durin needs to know that so he can defeat her. The kelpies and shifters are battling together to overthrow the nobility,” I add, hoping she’ll grasp the gravity of what’s happening right now. “She can’t be allowed to hurt anyone else.”

The gryphon tilts her head slightly and lets out a low rumble. She unfurls her wings and flicks her head over to Jade and Brody before looking back at me. I don’t know what any of it means. This is only the second time I’ve ever been close enough to a gryphon to try to communicate.

“Please,” I whisper, dropping back to my knees.

Leaves crunch behind me, and I turn to see Jade and Brody kneeling, too. The griffin makes that rumbling sound again, then turns and crouches low to the ground in front of me. I watch her for a moment to make sure I’m not misinterpreting what she’s telling me. But I can’t imagine what else it could be.

“I think she’s going to carry us,” I say cautiously. “Is that what you’re trying to tell me?” I ask her.

She makes a trilling sound and crouches even lower. I stand and step up to her slowly, giving her the chance to change her mind. But she doesn’t. She turns her head and watches me carefully drape my leg over her back and climb on.

“Thank you...” I whisper, wishing I had something to give her in exchange.

Her wings take up most of her back, so I have to sit closer to her hips. I grip the soft, downy feathers at the nape of her neck, wondering where Jade and Brody will sit.

Just as I find my balance, the gryphon launches us into the air with her powerful hind legs. The ground spins beneath me, and I have to hold my breath until my stomach settles. I catch a glimpse of Jade’s worried face below before the powerful wings block my view. I think the gryphon is leaving them behind until she swoops back down and grasps them securely in her long talons. Jade lets out a startled squeal as we soar straight up, then burst through the canopy above the tallest dryad’s tree.

I can see the castle in the distance, and it fills me with hope. I imagine what the fire is showing the seer now. Hopefully, it’s a swift death for the queen and a safe return for our mates.

We pass over the forest in minutes. As we leave the trees behind, we get a clear view of the battle outside the castle walls. There are many dead bodies, but most of them belong to nobles. They’re flattened or scattered in pieces as the kelpies and wolves scour the field for their next prey.

The gryphon swerves to avoid a sudden, blinding flash from below. I look down and spot a noble bending the light. She’s blinding anything that approaches her with it, making them vulnerable to attack from other nobles. Two wolves creep in from either side, but she swiftly interlocks her fingers, shooting out rays of light in all directions.

A kelpie, either blinded or closed-eyed, charges through and crashes right into her, shutting off the painfully bright beams of light.

My gaze shifts to a noble with his hands outstretched. A wolf is suspended in the air before him, its front paws clawing desperately at the invisible grip around its throat. It gasps for breath, clearly fighting for its life. My heart already mourns for the Alpha, but another wolf flashes up and rips the noble’s throat clean out. The wolf falls back on all fours and shakes it off, and I have to rejoice a little for my own kind.

I turn back to look for the part of the forest we saw in the visions, but I’m distracted by a wolf snatching a flying fae from the sky just beneath us. Another noble slips on the blood-soaked ground while trying to retreat through a gate in the thick stone wall encircling the castle. The nobles are falling fast, but the queen is safe in her hiding place.

I try to spot her among her trees, but they’re too dense. I do see a black stain that runs from the back of the castle to a bigger circle in the forest. It looks like some sort of a decayed pathway, likely leading straight to where she is.

The gryphon ignores the forest and flies straight through the grand doors of the castle. She lowers Jade and Brody to the ground and then lands beside them, allowing me to climb off. I’m relieved when she stays close. Every small sound we make bounces around the large, empty space, making me feel like an easy target.

“They’re almost here,” Jade says, smoothing her clothing and taking Brody’s hand.

I feel a stab of jealousy as I realize she’s been communicating with them through their mate bond. It’s not a connection of words, so she couldn’t give them our message. But they can share emotions and sense each other’s presence. Perhaps that’s Jade’s role in all of this. Without that bond, it could take us forever to find them. But in seconds, they blast through a doorway, looking frantic as to why we’re in the last place they want us to be.

“Don’t be mad!” I tell Durin, who’s pulling a terrified green-haired fae behind him. “The queen is hiding in the forest. You have to get out there.”

He releases the fae and grips my face, making sure I’m unharmed, then hugs me to his chest. “Fuck! Of course she is,” he grunts. “Okay. We have to move fast. You and Vaegon’s mates need to find somewhere safe to hide.”

The gryphon lets out a sudden roar, echoing throughout the towering foyer. Jade stares at her in awe, but my attention is drawn upward. Some of the echoes aren’t actually echoes. They’re answers. A group of four even larger gryphons emerges from a hidden ledge at the top of the room.

The cave gryphon squawks at them as they descend. Three of them grab an Alpha in their talons and head straight out through the tall open doors. The last gryphon snatches Durin in one set of claws and the fae in the other, wrapping its talons securely around them like cages.

They disappear behind the others, and I scramble toward the doors to follow them. The cave gryphon swoops overhead and lands in front of me, blocking my way. I snap out of it and sigh, knowing I can’t go with him.

Being torn apart like this over and over again is leaving scars on my soul. This is the last time. If he survives, I’m never leaving his side again. If he falls, I’ll be joining him still.