Page 93 of Once the Skies Fade (Immortal Reveries #2)

Chapter 93

Calla

I n a matter of seconds, the cave devolved into pure chaos.

Matthias sprang from his chair and tackled the man—Alek—with one arm, working to hold his gut together with the other. Alek flung me back to the floor to fend off my feral mate. In an effort to avoid landing on my injured side, I fell onto my hands, which still ached from the intense pain of unlocking Matthias’s iron chains with my shadows. Climbing to my feet, I moved to help Matthias, but Graham—his wild and murderous eyes trained on me—lunged around the chair, sending Ami scurrying backwards until she landed on her backside beside Asher.

“You can’t save him this time, Calla,” Graham hissed, pointing his blade at me.

“Graham, don’t!” Ami yelled at him, but he ignored her.

A blaze of rage ripped through me.

“Maybe not, but I can kill you,” I seethed, uncurling my fingers and yanking my shadows from my palms. They hovered in the air, heeding my command to wait.

“Thought you wanted to use your hands,” he mocked around his sneer.

“I changed my mind,” I said, and without warning, I sent my power soaring toward him.

Graham screamed as tendrils of darkness latched onto his fingertips, burrowing under his fingernails even as he tried to shake them free. So focused on those shadows, he didn’t seem to notice the other dark ribbon aimed at his abdomen. It reared back slightly, still unseen by him until it struck, stabbing him in the gut. His eyes bulged and his mouth fell open as his lungs sucked down a loud gasp of air. Instinctively he tried to retreat, rounding his back to pull his bleeding abdomen away from his attacker, but my shadows held on. Lifting my hands, I grinned when he met my gaze.

“Please,” he begged. “Have mercy.”

A giggle exploded from my chest, and I shook my head. When I snapped my hands closed into tight fists, Graham doubled over, his arms fighting to wrap around his middle, where my shadows wreaked havoc on his organs—twisting, tightening, severing. My shadows released his bloody fingers and slithered up his arms, snapping his bones as they traveled up. His screams filled the cave, echoing off the walls and filling my ears with the sweet sound of overdue revenge.

“Enough,” Alek commanded, and I tore my eyes away from my prey to my mate, still bleeding and now semi-conscious on the floor, the man’s boot resting on his chest.

Meeting the man’s cold gaze, I contemplated sending my shadows after him, remembering only at the last moment that he had my friends held captive somewhere in these mountains.

“End him already,” he said.

“He hasn’t suffered enough,” I hissed through clenched teeth.

“His suffering will not bring healing.”

“Perhaps not, but satisfaction is an acceptable substitute.”

The man said nothing but lifted a brow. Pressing his foot down, he forced a groan from Matthias, and my heart jolted.

A flash of movement to my left pulled my attention as a deafening roar erupted. Ami shrieked only to be silenced almost instantly as Asher’s shifting back to his dragon form sent her flying several meters away, her head hitting the stone wall. Asher’s scaled body filled up a third of the room, blocking the only exit. Huffing out a breath, he glared past me to Alek who merely sighed. A snarl rumbled in Asher’s throat as he pulled his lips back to bare his teeth.

Alek—unfazed by the sudden presence of a dragon—slowly lifted his boot from Matthias’s chest and clasped his hands behind his back, but his calm expression did little to put me at ease. “It’s time,” he said. “Kill him.”

“I don’t answer to you.” I repeated his earlier words back to him.

“If you don’t, I will. We’re running out of time.”

Narrowing my eyes at him, I squeezed my fists tighter, drawing another delightful squeal of pain from Graham.

“Time for what?” I asked.

“To get you out of these mountains and away from here.”

Matthias groaned on the floor beside the man’s feet, perspiration beading his forehead despite the cold air inside this cave. Asher growled, though it was hard to tell whether he was issuing a warning to Alek or guidance to me. Regardless, Matthias needed help. Alek was right. It was time.

Keeping my hand tightly closed, I twisted my wrist around, a silent order to my shadows to crush Graham’s heart. His eyes—unfocused and dull—briefly widened again as he choked on one final breath. He crumpled to the ground, his innards spilling from the gash in his gut as my shadows pulled free, leaving him in a lifeless, bloody heap beside the chair where he’d tortured my mate for days.

Once Graham’s body hit the floor, I rushed to Matthias, kneeling on the hard ground beside him. I didn’t look up at Alek as I asked, “Do you have any way of healing him?”

“Unfortunately, no. We create poison to kill fae, not save them. If he were human—even one able to shift like your friend here—then we could.”

“Matthias?” I asked quietly, sweeping sweat-logged strands of hair off his forehead. “Can you hear me? You’re going to be okay. I’ll fix this. I just need you to hold on a little longer while I figure out how.”

A weak hum was his only response, but it would have to do.

“You will need to shift back if you’re going to get out of here,” Alek said to Asher, who snarled back at him. “If you don’t, I’ll have to force you to again.”

Asher’s growl seemed to vibrate the stone floor, but a moment later, he had transformed back to his human form.

“How did you force it anyway?” Asher asked, stepping forward to stand beside me.

“Lucky guess, actually. When we hit the other dragon?—”

“You mean my brother,” Asher corrected harshly.

“We learned you weren’t fae shifters, because the poison should have killed him. It wasn’t until we saw him shift a few moments later that we discovered you’re actually human.”

Asher scoffed. “You could have simply asked.”

“Yes,” Alek said. “I’m sure that would have gone well. Regardless, I took a chance and tried it on you while you stood guard outside. A poisoned barb shot into the soft underside of your massive head was enough to force you back to human form, and a bit of sleeping tonic laced in with it had you out rather quickly.”

“But then why didn’t the blade to my eye not?—”

“Not a deep enough cut. Not enough poison on the blade. Any number of reasons,” Alek explained.

“Well, thanks for not killing me, I suppose,” Asher said. “Though don’t expect any favors in return.”

“Of course not.”

I cleared my throat impatiently, pulling their gazes down to where I still knelt beside my unconscious mate. “If you’re done bonding up there, I could use your help. Where are the others?”

Alek lowered into a crouch across from me on the other side of Matthias. “I had them taken to another detaining area further down the canyon.”

“Are they okay?” Asher asked, his arms crossed tightly in front of him.

Alek nodded. “I will help get you?—”

“Why? Why help us?” I asked, not sure whether to tell him about our meeting with Niko and Sasha. I couldn’t risk divulging the presence of a spy among the humans if Alek turned out to not be their contact.

He angled his head at me and flashed me an incredulous look like I had just asked a ridiculous question. “You didn’t attack me. A bit too obviously, if I’m being honest. Should have at least given me a scratch or a broken bone if you wanted to avoid raising suspicions.”

“You wanted me to hurt you?”

“Not my preferred source of pleasure, so no. Your shadows bypassing me made it clear you knew who I was and knew not to harm me, which means you were sent by Niko. I can’t risk my cover being blown, though. They cannot know who I am or why I am here.”

Despite all the questions this conjured in my head, I had no time to ask any of them. Matthias needed to get help, and he wouldn’t get that here.

“How do we get out of here without endangering you and your mission?”

Alek opened his mouth to answer, but Asher chimed in first. “And without getting ourselves killed.”

“You have trust issues, don’t you?” Alek asked, turning a bored eye to my friend. He didn’t wait for a response, though. “First thing you learn about living in the mountains: you never want to be trapped. We ensure every cave has a secondary exit at least.”

I looked around but saw nothing but solid walls peppered with anchor points and dangling chains.

Alek chuckled quietly. “Second thing you learn is to not make them obvious.”

At this he straightened up and strolled over to a pair of empty anchors in the corner. Gripping them with both hands, he turned them—one clockwise, the other counter. The wall let out an airy hissing noise as hidden seams in the rock opened. With far less effort than expected, Alek pulled the section of the wall toward him and slid it to the side.

He turned and motioned toward the gaping hole, which was big enough for us to walk through. “This tunnel will lead you to a narrow mountain pass that we no longer use. Your friends will meet you there.”

“But how will you explain our escape?” I asked, more to save my own skin when I faced the nightwalker rulers again.

“Not your problem. I’ll take care of that on my end. You just need to get out and soon. Wait too long and you’ll lose the cover of nightfall.”

Nodding, I gestured for Asher to help me lift Matthias, but a voice stopped us short.

“You shouldn’t move him like that,” Ami said, pressing her fingertips to her temple as she slowly pushed to her feet, using the wall for support. “It’s too risky with his injuries.”

“Can you heal him?” I asked.

“Not without supplies or something to close up the wounds.”

“I might be able to help,” Asher said.