Page 115 of Night Fae

Zev shook his head. "Mates are a wondrous thing."

Malik blinked at him in confusion. Zev ruffled his hair.

As they prepared to resume their journey, though, Leon suddenly doubled over in his saddle, clutching his head while Lyrian looked at him in concern.

"Leon!" Daniel cried, dismounting to rush to his side.

Leon's face had gone ashen, his eyes unfocused. "The temple," he gasped. "Yuri—he's in pain. Something's happening there."

Lyrian steadied Leon as he swayed. "What do you see?"

"Conflict." Leon's voice sounded distant, as though part of him was elsewhere. "There's fighting. And something else—something powerful stirring beneath the temple floor."

"We need to hurry," Caelen decided.

Leon nodded weakly. "Yes. There's not much time."

They pushed their horses harder after that, across increasingly unstable landscape.

Reality grew more distorted the closer they came to the temple. The sky shifted colors rapidly, from normal blue to vivid purple to sickly green and back again.

"We're getting close," Leon announced as they approached a dense forest. "The temple lies at the center."

They had to dismount to continue through the thick undergrowth. The trees here looked old and the moss that grew on them glowed faintly, even in the daylight.

The path ended abruptly at a circular clearing, at the center of which stood the Barrier Temple—a structure that defied simple description. It appeared to be made of white stone, but the surface rippled like water when viewed from certain angles. Its architecture combined elements of countless different styles, as though the builders had drawn inspiration from every culture across multiple worlds. Columns stretched impossibly tall, supporting a roof that seemed fashioned from myriad different materials.

Steps led up to a massive entrance, beyond which lay darkness. And scattered across those steps were bodies. The remains of warriors caught in a battle that had clearly ended not long before their arrival.

Knox approached the nearest fallen figure, studying the distinctive armor. "Night Court scouts," he confirmed.

Looking at the bodies scattered across the temple steps, Zev noticed distinctive marks on their throats and chests—burns in the shape of handprints that glowed with a faint silver light.

Zev knelt beside one of the bodies. "Looks like Barrier Keeper magic to me."

Knox examined another fallen scout. "Yuri did this?"

"They must have been trying to stop him," Caelen suggested, surveying the scene. "But they were too weak to do it."

The bodies showed signs of a fierce but brief battle. Some had weapons still clutched in their hands, others appeared to have been struck down while fleeing.

As they surveyed the carnage, Leon suddenly clutched his head and cried out in pain, dropping to his knees. Lyrian rushed to his side, but Leon's eyes had gone distant, unfocused.

"Yuri!" Leon gasped. "He's…"

Without waiting for the others, Leon staggered to his feet and ran toward the temple entrance, disappearing into the darkness beyond.

"Leon, wait!" Daniel called after him, but it was too late.

Caelen drew his sword. "After him. Now."

They hurried up the steps, stepping carefully around the fallen bodies. Knox and Adrian followed close behind, with Zev and Malik taking up the rear. Zev kept one hand on his dagger, the other positioned protectively in front of Malik.

The interior of the temple opened into a vast chamber that defied the dimensions of the structure they'd seen from outside. The ceiling soared hundreds of feet overhead, lost in shadow. Ancient symbols covered the walls and floor, pulsing with bright blue light.

At the center of the chamber stood Prince Ashelon, his figure striking even from a distance. The Prince of the Night Court remained as beautiful and terrible as Zev remembered—midnight-black eyes with silver pupils, features sculpted to inhuman perfection. At his feet lay a crumpled form that could only be Yuri.

Behind Ashelon stood Lord Darius and Lady Morvena, surrounded by a contingent of Night Court warriors.