Page 80

Rowan

T he flames of the first fire leapt into the air as Nash, Black, and I moved through the shadows darkening the land around us. The sun was rising in the other direction, near where Maeve, Elias, and the Primal were headed looking for those gross zombie things.

I might not have grown up on as much mortal television as Adrian, or exposed to it like Ivy, but I knew a zombie thing when I saw one. I watched all seasons of that show when Adrian and I were in basic training at the compound, and I felt like it prepared me for this.

Well, not for setting fires, but the principal still stood. I could battle it out with the zombies if needed.

Black wielded his swords of shadows as we stalked to the spot Nash wanted to set fire to next.

I wasn’t a total fan of deferring to the asshole, especially because this entire time, he hadn’t done or said shit to Ivy about why he didn’t want to bond her.

If I could claim her again, I would do it in a heartbeat.

But he’d walked off into the woods with her, and she’d come back sadder than ever.

The Luna prince, however, looked terrified.

I knew he was trying to hide it, and he did it well, but there was something about him that reeked of fear.

Maybe it was the fact that he wasn’t nearly as bad as I expected him to be.

I mean, he planned on giving Ivy an entire island .

Had doomsday prepped it just in case we went to war with Dante.

The prince had been preparing, even if he hadn’t been directly at her side.

I could respect that. I knew I wouldn’t have the strength to do what he’d done, and I knew now that Ivy was fast on her way to accepting him back into her heart. And I wouldn’t blame her if she did.

He kind of deserved it after everything.

But the fear…it radiated from him. He had his eyes on the village and the army itself.

It was horrifying. The shifters that weren’t on chained leashes were in cages.

The smell of blood, old now, was thick in the air.

There were tents for the others, though.

I had a feeling Black was keeping an eye out for his father.

Fucking bastard of a male.

For the first time since entering the Old World, I pulled a gun from my belt and checked it. The soldiers had guns, larger ones with more enchanted bullets, and I wasn’t taking any risks—not with any of our lives.

Even Nash had his out. He stalked ahead, eyes moving between our next location and the encampment.

When the first bullet came flying towards us, we all ducked. The explosion of gunfire made me grit my teeth, the sound ringing in my ears .

I felt Ivy down the bond, her worry enough to have me moving. Not risking a bullet wound. She would never forgive me.

“Come on, let’s fucking move,” I grunted, shoving at Black. The male cursed me under his breath, but Nash covered our backs as we ran to the next fire spot. As we moved, the smell of rotting flesh hit me, and the sound of Elias’s howl reached us, even from the other side of the ruins.

“We have to move fast,” Black muttered as he pulled a fire rune-stone from his belt. He handed it to me before grabbing another. “They’ll be on us soon.”

Over the sound of gunfire, more howls, shouts, and voices sounded. The encampment was awake. We tossed the rune stones towards another collection of tents and watched as they hit the ground before lighting up the dark tents. Flames licked at the material, and at those who were desperate to escape.

Too bad Dante wasn’t amongst them. Or Hyperion Black.

“Move, move!” Nash yelled. I didn’t even look back; the Luna Prince and I ran, heading for the back of the village.

I shot Ivy a quick thought and sent a prayer up to Nyx for her protection. Two fires set, be careful. The guns are out.

She responded a moment later. I love you, see you soon .

A shiver rolled down my spine. Fuck, I hoped this didn’t end badly. That the demon king could take us all out of here once Ivy got her hands on that damned skull.

Black came to a sudden halt, his swords raised. Dammit. His chest rose and fell with harsh breaths. I followed his line of sight, and cursed under my breath, raising my own gun in the direction of the three Fae .

Hyperion Black stood before us, his silver-white hair pulled back from his face, a crown of moons in different stages of the cycle on his head.

He also wore what looked like armour that might have been worn by the Fae a thousand years ago.

It was metal, woven together to look like the night sky covered his chest. There were actual fucking gems carved into it.

He didn’t look ready for war, or battle. He looked like he was about to walk a fashion show back in Avalon.

I almost laughed, more to myself. Damn, and here I thought the other two idiots we killed looked dumb as hell in their knock-off gear.

The other Fae with him were females; I didn’t recognise the older one, with the dark hair and eyes, but the younger one…yeah, she was all too familiar.

She’d been one of Black’s little followers at the academy. I’d heard the snide remarks she’d made towards Ivy more than once when she thought no one was listening.

It shouldn’t surprise me that she’d chosen Dante’s side.

“My disappointment,” Hyperion snarled. “You have only one chance to join the right side of this conflict. Otherwise, your death is mine.”

Beside me, Orion stiffened, but my anger boiled to the surface. “Disappointment,” I spat, earning a sharp look from the male beside me. “That’s fucking hilarious coming from the likes of you.”

Hyperion gritted his teeth. “I do not converse with bastards.”

“Me?” I laughed this time, the sound harsh in my own ears. “Oh, yeah, okay. Funny. I also don’t like talking to wankers who betray their Queen all because he couldn’t get his dick wet. But yeah, sure, you should have standards. At least I’m mated to the Queen. And you’re just…you. ”

Finding out on the car ride out of Avalon that Hyperion Black was jealous because he hadn’t been Queen Greer’s mate was wild enough. But overhearing what Orion admitted to Ivy in the ruins of the city? Worse.

Hyperion’s face flushed with anger. “You little half-bred bastard,” he seethed.

Once, that might have actually hurt my feelings.

There used to be assholes in the palace who liked to spit those insults at me when I’d been particularly naughty back in the day, but I’d grown a thick skin.

It didn’t bother me nearly as much, especially knowing now that Sable really had set me up for success when it came to protecting Ivy.

It didn’t matter much now, not knowing who my biological father was.

All that mattered was that Sable had done something great for my future.

I shrugged without lowering the gun, aiming it at his head. “Yeah, but isn’t that what you are?”

It was a shot in the dark. Someone like Hyperion Black wasn’t as obsessed with power like he was without reason. And I had a feeling that if he was calling out daddy issues, then he had to have some of his own hidden in his past.

I had to admit, I didn’t know much about him.

I was sure Maeve or even Nash knew more than I did.

Hyperion was one of those Fae wankers who didn’t really like spending that much time out of Faery.

Though, knowing more about Orion and his life with his asshole of a father, I had a feeling that really wasn’t the case.

How much treachery was going on in his manor in the city, I wondered? How much was actually happening right under our noses?

Rather than responding with more words, the Fae high lord attacked.

Shadows whipped out from his outstretched hand, aimed right at my chest. I didn’t have a chance to consider any type of shield, other than hoping the charm Ivy had built into my gear would hold.

I’d heard about how strong her protective charms were, and I prayed to the Goddess that it would save me now.

But Orion jumped in front of me with his shadow-blades raised. I cursed as soon as the shadows hit him, but he barely moved an inch at the force of his father’s attack.

It gave the two female Fae a chance to strike. The one from Ivy’s class shifted from girl to beast, taking on the form of her court creature—a wild Fae beast made of earth and leaves. Her court thrived in battle with this form.

Against enchanted bullets, though, she was just like everyone else.

Either she was stupid, naive, arrogant, or a little bit of all three, because she charged right at me without caring about the fact that I could tear her head clean off with bullets.

I shot at her; one bullet tore through her shoulder, and she let out a scream that definitely alerted the others to our presence.

It really didn’t matter. I mean, it would have been nice to stay hidden and make our way back to Ivy, so she wasn’t going in totally alone with Adrian and demon king.

The first bullet that went through her didn’t slow her completely, but the second had her on the ground.

She shifted back and cried out, blood spurting from the wound in her stomach.

The bullets we’d enchanted would stick a little longer than regular bullets, and should be hard to pull out on her own.

At least she was distracted by the pain.

Nash fought the other female. She was skilled, but her brutality made her sloppy.

It didn’t take a genius to know that her brand of fighting was more torture than battle.

Because of that, Nash had her on the ground, a bullet in her chest, and the blade of a dagger pinning her hand to the earth.

Our eyes met. The half-Fae asshole nodded to another grouping of tents, where there was no fire.

The third pyre that would create a barrier of flame.

Aka, his plan of chaos.

I hated to admit it, but it was a damn good plan. And clearly working, because there were not only shifters, but other soldiers coming towards us now.

Orion held his own against his father, probably for the first time in his life, actually inflicting damage. And who was I to get in the way of that?

I nodded to Nash, who threw me a fire stone, and together, we aimed them at the last tents. The stones flew through the air as the sun peeked over the horizon, the smell of death and decay overwhelming.

The stones hit their mark and erupted into flames, swallowing the dark tents and everyone within.

But they also cut everyone who had made their way to us off from the main part of the village ruins.

And us off from Ivy.