Page 32

Shiri

T he servants brought a buffet out to the battlements, and we sat around a long table, discussing the attacks in between bites of food beneath the light of the moon. I was still waking up from my stupor after exorcising the shifters, but, thankfully, Nikkos and Blaze had woken and were fully recovered. We were all famished, so we mostly ate and listened while Adrean told us about his travels across Delfi. They’d avoided Fae, for the most part. A few farmers perished, which was tragic, but not as horrible as losing entire towns.

“Do you think that was the final wave?” Mother asked aloud while refilling Derrick’s goblet with wine.

Helian grimaced. “There’s still Megaera.”

“I doubt she has any army left,” Blaze said.

“Don’t underestimate her,” Arabella answered while casting sly gazes in Helian’s direction. “She’s been collecting magical powers for centuries.”

“Let’s hope she’s still not recovered after you attacked her,” Tari said to Arabella before taking a long sip of juice.

Arabella shook her head. “Don’t count on it.”

“There was a demon firemage on the battlefield with us,” Adrean said while attacking a rack of lamb like a starving wolf. “He disappeared when he saw the white witch coming.”

The crowd went silent, gaping at him. A demon firemage?

“Where did he go?” Malvolia asked, her voice crackling with fear.

Adrean leaned back in his chair with a belch. “He can teleport.”

Sludge slowed the blood flowing through my veins as I gaped at my sister.

“Fuck.” Helian threw up his hands. “He could be anywhere.”

The color drained from Tari’s face as she dropped her napkin on the table. “I haven’t seen any demon spiders.”

“They attacked our village and many others,” Adrean said, “wrapped us all up in webbing, and then the general turned us into demons.”

“And then where did they go?” I asked.

Adrean shrugged. “I don’t know.”

Malvolia steepled her hands in front of her, shadows falling across her features. “She’s saving them for something.”

Tari looked ready to vomit as she placed a hand on her abdomen. “Evil is approaching. I can feel it.”

My sister cried out, and then she was gone, falling beneath the table. Everyone jumped from their seats. What had happened? Had her chair broken?

“Tari!” Helian screamed, throwing her chair across the floor.

Nikkos pointed at Tari’s empty spot with a trembling hand. “This is exactly how Ember and Aurora disappeared.”

* * *

Helian

P ANIC GRIPPING MY SPINE , I raced through the castle halls, Ash, Shiri, and her mates chasing after me. I had to get to Aurora. She was Tari’s only hope.

Shiri dodged my heels. “Helian, you can’t be serious. There has to be another way.”

“We don’t have time!” I called over my shoulder. “Tari could be dead by the time we find her!”

I ran through the halls like I was being chased by dragon fire, nearly slamming into Finn, who came barreling around a corner.

A winged boy trailed after Finn as he carried the girls, panic reflecting in his eyes. “What happened? I heard Tari cry out in my mind!”

“Helian, this is a bad idea!” Shiri called behind me.

“The demon mistress took her,” I blurted. “Aurora is our only hope!”

Finn threw back his head, howling while letting the girls slide down his chest. The little boy grabbed the girls’ hands, acting like a protective older brother.

Shiri stopped behind me, clutching her sides while catching her breath. “We don’t even know where she is, or if it was the demon mistress who took her.”

“Who else would it be?” I snapped. “Aurora can find her,” I said, though I was still unsure if it would work. “It’s the only way.” I locked gazes with Ash, and he solemnly nodded. He knew what I was asking, and as one of the girls’ fathers, his blessing was what I needed.

When I fell to my knees in front of the girls, they clung to their friend’s hands, their eyes wide with fear.

I clasped my hands in a prayer pose. I had to make Aurora understand. “Aurora, I know you can only go to places you’ve been to before, but what if you imagine yourself landing in your mother’s arms?”

“Absolutely not!” Shiri bellowed.

I feared if we didn’t hurry, Shiri would force us to stay with her siren voice. Then Tari would be lost.

Ash stepped between Shiri and me. “Helian and I will go with her.”

Shiri shook her head. “Tari would never forgive you for risking Aurora’s life.”

“We are her parents!” Ash bellowed. “We will decide!”

Blaze widened his stance, his eyes narrowing on Ash. “Shiri was Aurora’s guardian for four years, and she should have a say!”

His brothers flanked him, grumbling their agreement.

No! I couldn’t lose her! My voice broke on a plea. “Tari could be killed if we don’t try.”

Shiri pressed her lips together, vehemently shaking her head. “We will find her another way.”

I threw up my hands, tears of despair welling in my eyes. “It could be too late by then!”

Aurora scrunched up her features, looking like she was about to throw a tantrum, but then I blinked, and she was gone, leaving nothing but a tau stone necklace on the ground.

“Aurora!” Shiri shrieked.

Ash and Finn howled, spinning around like dogs chasing their tails. Ember fell to her bottom with a wail. Her little friend clung to her hand while sitting beside her.

Tears streaming down her face, Shiri jutted an accusatory finger at me. “Look what you’ve done!”

* * *

Tari

O NE MOMENT, I WAS FALLING through space and time, and the next, I was blinded by a painful flash of white.

Who was I? Where was I?

“How easy it was to trap you, Goddess,” a sibilant voice whispered. “Wear out your magic with my disposable army. Let you think you’ve won. Then use your hairbrush and sacrifice my last demonling army to pull you to me. I knew you’d be too confident, too complacent to guard your mind, and now that I have Thorin’s mind-spinning magic, you have no idea who you are.”

Who was that voice? What was happening? Light faded, replaced by shadows, and I could barely make out the form of a strange creature with a long maw, a distended belly, and hooks for fingers.

“I would reshape your mind, fill it with new memories, but why bother when I plan on killing you and taking your magic for myself? Besides,” she added, her keening cry rattling her words. “This will be my revenge after your sister banished my sister. I know Empusa is gone. I heard her cry out before your sister sent her back to hell!”

Long, spindly fingers reached for me, and my heart pounded so wildly, I feared it would beat out of my chest. Not knowing how else to defend myself, I threw out my arms with a shout for help, a tingling sensation spiraling down my fingers.

The creature cried out, and I fell to the ground, unable to see more than shadows as I crawled through mud and hid behind a cool, stone wall. My vision slowly improved, and shadows became more refined shapes. I was in a cavern of sorts, with only a few torches hanging from the walls and thick mud on the floors. The wall I’d believed I was behind was nothing more than a table, a slab that dripped dark liquid—blood, for I smelled the tang in the air. Holding muddy fingers in front of my face, I tried my hardest to concentrate while the creature cried out for help. Though I suspected it went against my nature to kill, I hoped I’d mortally wounded her. If only I knew who I was and how I could escape this place.

I gasped when a set of shimmery eyes blinked up at me and pulled what I thought was a babe from the mud, but, no, it was only a doll. Staring down at the mud-caked doll with the ripped dress and tangled hair, I was struck by a strange vision of a child holding this doll while sucking her thumb. Bethamy? No, that didn’t sound right. Ember? Yes. Ember. I knew a child named Ember. This was her doll. There was another child almost identical to Ember. Aurora. I envisioned her with a slingshot in her hands.

I tensed when a flash of fire lit up the room, and I heard the flapping of wings.

“Mistress, are you okay?” a deep voice boomed.

“Find her, Gordin,” the creature bellowed. “And bind her with a tau stone.”

I kicked and screamed when a rough hand grabbed my ankle, dragging me through the mud. My vision had returned enough that I could discern a winged man with a melted face bent over me, a necklace in his hands. Whatever this tau stone was, I couldn’t let him put it on me. Energy flew from my hands, knocking him across the cavern. He landed with a crunch before sliding down the wall.

Clutching the doll to my chest, I stumbled to my feet. I had to get out of here. I had to find those children and make sure they were safe. I saw the creature with the spindly fingers bent over what looked like a well with a stream of mist flowing from it. Strange.

The portal , an inner voice whispered. Close it.

And though I felt the urge to obey the voice, I didn’t want those creatures to attack me again. I stumbled back, my chest aching as I struggled to move through thick mud that coated the floor toward a pinprick of light in the opposite direction. I had to get out of there.

A war cry rang out, and the creature with the spindly fingers Gordin had called Mistress moved toward me, floating above the ground as if she was a spirit ascended from the crypt. “You will not escape me, witch!”

I fell onto my bottom as she reached for me with those talon-like fingers. “Help!” I screamed, praying for a higher power to intervene.

A thousand pinpricks of light swarmed the mistress, swirling around her face in a cyclone. What were those things? She swatted at the lights with a snarl. “Get off me!”

The lights tightened like a noose around her face, and she let out a bloodcurdling scream when they wrapped around her eyes. The creature with the melted face pulled himself up, his wings pinned behind him while he watched with a wicked grin as his mistress’s eyes were burned by what appeared to be fireflies.

I stumbled to my feet, only to be knocked down again when the floor shook with great tremors. What was happening?

The fireflies fluttered away in a stream toward that pinprick of light in the distance. Both creatures fell to the ground when what looked like a monstrous snake made of sludge slithered out of the well of mists.

“Indus worm!” Gordin cried out. “The Darkness has found us!”

“I can’t see!” The mistress sat up, frantically rubbing her eyes. “Kill it, Gordin!”

Gordin backed up, flattening his wings against the wall.

The giant worm rose high above the mistress, its massive head scraping the top of the cavern. Eyes glowing as red as hot coals, saliva dripped from its sharp fangs and sizzled when it hit the ground. It reared back with a roar, then slammed its open maw on top of the demon mistress, swallowing her in one gulp.

Too terrified to move, I clutched the doll to my chest, gaping up at the creature as it reared back its head again. Suddenly, a child appeared in my arms.

“I’m here, Mommy,” she said, moments before the monster came crashing down.