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CHAPTER SIXTY-FOUR

T he cuff spit Elodie and Xenia out at the base of a moss-covered tree deep within the woods behind Stoneridge. The damp ground soaked Xenia’s dress as she spun away from Elodie’s claws and frantically searched for Cael.

He’d grabbed her arm before she’d portaled with the cuff, but he must’ve slipped before they’d fully made the jump. Only Elodie and Xenia had arrived beneath the tree.

Well, not Elodie .

Lizbeth Burkhardt.

Lizbeth stood on shaky feet, pressing her palm against her neck. Inky crimson lines trailed down the ivory bodice of her elegant wedding dress, and wet leaves clung to her lace sleeves. Her bouquet was nowhere to found, buried within the layers of vegetation at their feet.

“You little CUNT ,” Lizbeth roared, lunging for Xenia, who tapped her cuff and reappeared several feet away. “Do you have any idea what you’ve just ruined? How many centuries of planning?”

Keep her talking, keep her chasing.

Those were the only thoughts in Xenia’s mind.

Just a few more jumps, and?—

Lizbeth’s claw caught Xenia’s shoulder and she yelped, portaling a few yards further.

All the jumping was making her nauseous. Though the distances were short, the frequency was jarring. Xenia’s vision blurred and spots appeared in her periphery.

High Gods, where was Cael?

Xenia pressed a hand against a damp tree, trying to not to vomit as Lizbeth stalked toward her. “I’m sorry about your parents, I truly am, but?—”

Lizbeth paused, startled. “How do you know who my parents were?”

“The Cynn Drakan. Aedelmar and Priya Burkhardt. Everything Arran took from you… the dragon, your people. I’m so sorry for all of it.”

Lizbeth’s face crumpled momentarily before twisting with fiery rage. “You have no idea what you’ve done. No idea! He was mine to end, and you took him from me, and?—”

“I know the dragon’s name,” Xenia said, playing her final card.

Lizbeth’s features went carefully blank.

Xenia continued, “Were you hoping to get it from Arran? That’s what you’ve been searching for, isn’t it? Were you hoping to ransom his son for it? Arran wouldn’t have given it to you. He would have let you kill Cael before he’d give up that information.”

“How do you know it?” Lizbeth crept closer and Xenia’s fingers hovered over the cuff. Rain plinked against the leaves, puddling at her feet. Birds chirped overhead, and the wind whistled through the branches. The edge of the tree line—Xenia’s final destination—was less than a hundred feet away.

“Your father is alive ,” Xenia said and Lizbeth’s face fell. “He’s in Tartarus. My friends were sent there, and they learned the name from him.” Xenia reached out a hand. “We’re going to free them. Lure the dragon, then take her to the prison to burn down the wards. You don’t need to get your revenge today. Join us. Then take your revenge against the entire Empire.”

Lizbeth tilted her head, considering, then rubbed at her neck wound again. She began to shake her head as brown fur fluttered along her limbs and her nose transformed into a dark brown muzzle. “I don’t make deals with fucking humans .”

Three things happened at once.

Cael burst into the clearing, shouting Xenia’s name.

Lizbeth swiped a massive claw across Xenia’s torso, shredding fabric and slicing her chest open.

And Xenia tapped the cuff one final time.

The two females disappeared, then reappeared inches outside the tree line.

Outside the edge of the Stoneridge property line.

Where Lizbeth Burkhardt’s head exploded.

Xenia collapsed to the ground, clutching at her ruined chest.

“No no no no no !” Cael wailed, skidding to his knees in the tall grass and pulling Xenia into his lap.

She was covered in blood, brain matter, and skull fragments. He couldn’t tell which blood was hers and which was Elodie’s. Lizbeth’s? He thought he’d heard Xenia call her that.

Xenia’s hands brushed feebly at the vicious, bone-deep slash in her chest. Her skin was paling. She was losing too much blood.

“Stay with me,” Cael begged. “Stay with me, Zee.”

Her eyelids fluttered and her limbs trembled as a laugh shook her thin, cold body.

Cold. She was too cold. Cael needed to warm her up.

“What did you do?” he whispered.

“Pretty fucking spectacular, right?” she croaked, gasping for breath. “I think my rescue skills might be even more dramatic than yours.” She reached beneath her collar, stiff and coated with blood, and pulled out the flute. She pressed it into his palm. “Call the dragon. Leonard released her.”

Her eyes slid shut and Cael patted her bloody cheek. “Don’t you fucking die on me, Xenia Cirillo. Don’t you dare! ” He bit into his wrist, pressing the wound to her cold lips and trying to force his blood into her mouth. She coughed it back up, couldn’t swallow a drop.

She cupped his cheek, pulling his face toward hers. Her voice was so faint he barely heard it above the pounding of his panicked heart.

“Tell Cass…” she sucked in a shuddering breath, blood oozing from her chest and staining her teeth, “…tell Cass that I wanted to see her again. So much. That I’m sorry I won’t be there to watch her take down Eamon.”

“You’ll tell her yourself,” Cael sobbed, clutching Xenia’s hand on his face. “You’re not going to die.”

A soft smile parted her lips. “You’re so much stronger than you think.” Her emerald eyes hardened with determination. “This will not break you.”

She pressed her lips against his, then whispered against them, “I love you, Cael. Every part of you.”

And then she became very still.

“Blondie? Zee? Xenia! ” He shook her shoulders, but he couldn’t rouse her. His Fae hearing detected the faintest pulse of her heartbeat. She may have lost consciousness, but she wasn’t completely gone. Not yet.

He slipped the cuff from her wrist and placed it on his own, then sent a frantic message as the sun slid below the horizon.

He placed the flute at his lips and blew into it. A single, piercing note echoed through the world.

“ Signys ,” he said aloud.

Then scooped up Xenia, tapped the cuff and portaled back to the lodge.

To fucking finish this.

Cael appeared in his bedroom with Xenia’s limp body cradled in his arms, and prayed to every real and false God in Ethyrios that the message he’d just sent had reached its intended recipient.

And that the male was on his way.

Xenia was still unconscious as he laid her on the bed, but every few moments her chest shuddered upward.

He cursed himself for making that stupid blood vow. It hadn’t even mattered in the end. He’d never said his vows to Elodie. She wasn’t Elodie at all. Which meant he’d never been constrained by the vow. And Arran hadn’t harmed Xenia. The little fool had led herself to death’s door all on her own.

But Cael would be damned before he’d let her walk through it.

He stripped off her dress, then cleaned and bandaged her wound as he awaited his guest. He peered out the window and down into the backyard.

What he saw was enough to momentarily pull his attention from the woman slowly dying in his bed.

In the burgeoning twilight, the wedding guests were tearing each other apart.

Tomas, Viktor and Arran stood atop the altar, hands raised and striking out with gusts of wind. A large black bear—Phidion?—was fighting a golden mountain lion, claws and fur flying. Cael thought the lion might have been one of his mother’s distant relatives? Had Phidion and Zosime known of this plan all along? And if so, did they even have a daughter named Elodie?

Cael didn’t fucking care. He was about to end all of it.

He searched the chaos for Erik and Petra, but didn’t see either of them. Cael hoped Erik had gotten their mother to safety. Hoped they were fleeing the estate at this very moment.

Cael would be fleeing as well. Soon.

Kaleidoscopic light flared behind him and he turned, relief shuddering his chest.

Trophonios strode toward him. “What happened? I got your message. You said Tristan was able to?—”

“No time for that,” Cael ground out, pointing to Xenia. “Fix her.”

Trophonios reared back. “ Fix her? What do you mean? I can’t?—”

“Fucking. Fix . Her,” Cael snarled. “Or the Teles Chrysos doesn’t get the dragon.” He pulled the flute from his pocket. “I played the note. I said her name. And she’s on her way to me now. I can feel her.”

And it was true, he could feel Signys. Heat thrummed through his blood and colossal wings flapped in his mind.

His destiny racing toward him at several miles a minute.

Trophonios knelt beside the bed, feeling Xenia’s wrist for a pulse. “She’s still alive. For now. But her pulse is extremely faint. Any other mortal would have already died from the loss of blood.” He sniffed her wrist. “You’ve given her yours.”

“Yes,” Cael bit out. “Several times. You told me to.”

Trophonios cocked his head. “It may be the very thing that saves her.” Cael braced himself against the bureau, his knees sagging. “ May be, I said. Even I may not be clever enough to bring her back.”

“Try.” Cael gnashed his teeth. “Or I swear by your fucking Creator, I will?—”

“Now, now.” Trophonios flashed his own blindingly white fangs. “There’s no need for blasphemy. Especially since she’ll likely need Adelphinae’s help.” Trophonios wrapped Xenia in Cael’s plaid blanket and lifted her into his arms.

Cael ran his lips across Xenia’s forehead. “Please. She’s… I cannot live without her.”

Trophonios’s teal eyes softened. “I will do everything in my power to bring her back to you. Once you have the dragon, message me on the cuff and I’ll tell you where to meet us.

It’s time to free our Prince.”