Page 17 of The Last One Standing (Rogue X Ara #4)

DELPHIA

H eavy snowfall swallowed the world as we reached the clearing—the dead center of the crown’s Black Veins.

Our footsteps were the only sounds to be heard, not even the whisper of wind or the rustling of animals.

Eerie silence was our only greeting.

Godrick whispered, “It’s said that too much tragedy has occurred here for nature to live alongside it.”

Speaking didn’t feel right, like the silence itself was a message from the past—broken by the sound of vomiting.

We all spun on our heels to find Iaso had stopped at the clearing’s edge, bracing herself on a tree trunk as she retched.

She stood, chest heaving, and wiped her mouth. “ Death .”

My blood ran cold.

“My first act as king was clearing the Black Veins and chaining the doors. They went unused for decades. To see it opened once again…” Godrick ran a hand down his beard as he took in our surroundings and grimaced. “It’s devastating.”

“Which entrance should we use?” Edana asked.

Godrick had described the several points of entry. Most doors were hidden, but not all. Some exited through cliff faces, straight into the ocean. No need to hide those.

As he led us to one of the doors, falling snow blurred our surroundings into smears of gray and white. He knelt and swiped a finger over a spot on the shattered door.

He lifted it to Iaso. Dark red marked his fingertip. “Still wet.”

Iaso brought it closer to her face and inhaled deeply. Her eyes widened, her mouth opened to speak, but whatever she was about to say stuck in her throat when something rustled behind us. We whirled and came face to face with an impossibly silent wyvern.

Navy skin, mottled with scars, and pitch-black eyes were mere inches from me. It huffed and blew my hair back.

I didn’t scream or gasp. I didn’t show any reaction at all. I knew better than that.

Its eyes flitted to Iaso, roaming over her golden attire, and recognition flashed in them. He backed away to reveal another wyvern: the serpent-neck one that Ara had named Guardian.

His gaze locked on me.

A split second passed, and he raced toward me faster than I’d ever seen a creature move. With his lithe body, he slithered past the others with ease. I scrunched my eyes and cowered a second before his teeth snapped together with a loud clack, inches from my hands, shielding my face.

After a few agonizing moments, I cracked my eyes open. My hands were still attached to my arms. I wiggled my fingers before lowering them slowly.

The wyvern, Guardian as Ara had named him, seethed. I didn’t need to be able to speak with him to know he knew who I was and what I’d done, what I’d cost Rogue.

The rage in his eyes, the tension in his body was enough, but he didn’t maim or kill me. Why?

“Rogue is down there,” Iaso said, her voice slightly shaken.

Guardian’s gaze flicked to her. He lowered his head and tipped it in the direction of the broken door.

That was all Iaso needed. She flew down the small set of stairs without a second thought, but Godrick whisper-shouted after her, “Iaso! Wait.”

She spun on her heel, and her glowing irises lit the dark hallway a bright gold—a sun underground. “What?”

“There’s another entrance. If Rogue is coming down this one, we can come in from the opposite and trap them in the middle. It’s not far.”

Iaso was above ground once again, sprinting in the direction he pointed before he even finished speaking.

Thank the Goddess, the snowstorm eased up by the time we arrived at the entrance, the sky a cold gray.

Iaso looked me over and cursed under her breath. “How many can you hold?”

I furrowed my brows, but it was her question that alerted me to the exhaustion settling in my bones. “Two? Maybe three if we’re quick.”

“Godrick and I will go with Delphia,” Iaso said. “Terran and Edana, wait in the tree line. Be on the lookout for soldiers, but also Ara and Rogue.”

My heart skipped a beat, and I swallowed down the knot rising in my throat—hope and fear. Today, Ara would finally be found. She’d be free.

After Edana and Terran slipped into the woods, I took a deep breath to slow my racing heart and threw the blind over us. My hands immediately started trembling, but I clenched them into fists as Iaso started forward.

We didn’t make it inside.

We didn’t even make it to the door.

Instead, the sound of a lock clicking stopped us in our tracks. The door swung open, and a voice poured from it, then another.

Two voices.

Two calm voices, speaking of…the weather?

The world tilted on its axis when Adonis and Ara stepped out together.