57. Elianna

Chapter fifty-seven

Elianna

An odd buzzing sensation glided over my skin as we walked through the portal and into the Islan street. The grey cobblestones we stood on shone in the moonlight. The familiar sounds of the city I loved were absent, leaving an eerie silence to its aura.

“That’s strange,” I whispered as I faced Veli. “Usually, it’s still lively in some areas at this time of night. I can’t hear anyone or anything.”

“Perhaps the queen has issued curfews,” she stated.

“To an entire city?”

“I wouldn’t put it past her,” Avery chimed in.

I crept up to the corner of the alleyway and peered around to get a better look. “There’s…no one here. Not a single soul in the streets.”

“Elianna, get away from there!” she hissed. As I turned to her, shadows like I had never seen burst from the confines of her silver hair and straight at me, shielding me in their darkness.

My aide stepped up to me and let out a huff. “There is magic at work here. I can feel it all around us. We should turn back. ”

“And what of the people who risk everything for our aid and meet at the city's center? What will become of them when we don’t show and Idina’s guards see a gathering?”

She let out a huff as her fuchsia eyes radiated concern. “We must stay close to the sides of the buildings for the shadows to remain convincing. And since the portal is emanating power, we are already running out of time.”

Relief flooded me that she didn’t fight me on risking the rebels. Their lives would be threatened if we didn’t come to sneak them out of the city as promised.

Veli broke into a run, leaving no room for arguments and forcing us to follow her lead.

With only occasional flickering torches, the city became a labyrinth of shadows as the moon moved to hide behind shifting clouds. We moved swiftly through the deserted streets, our steps silent on the stones, as we navigated to the city's heart through its narrow alleys.

My eyes flared as the fountain that stood in the city's center came into view. Still, not a single person in sight. At any time of day or night, people could be seen around the fountain, whether it was younglings during the day, or the occasional drunken fool in the late hours of the evening.

“Something isn’t right,” Avery whispered as we halted, all of us peering around where we stood.

“I need to get a feel for the guards…it’s bothersome that we haven’t come across any yet,” Veli admitted.

“Is there a chance they may have become aware?” I dreaded the answer.

“Let’s hope to all the gods that’s not the case, for all of our sakes. ”

Hidden within the shadows of a looming building, Veli dropped her own—the power that radiated from them instantly ceased as they disappeared.

“ Impyrum Kortyus .” The ancient words left her mouth, and we waited as she searched for the minds of lingering guards.

My eyes wandered to a small alleyway a street away, where a small figure sat on the ground beneath a hood. My heart began racing in my chest until I realized that, by its shape, it had to have been a youngling.

A shuddered breath left me. Everything about this felt wrong. The empty streets, not a single soul in sight, but I would never be able to live with myself if I left a child behind—a child alone in the cruel streets of the relentless queen.

Where would I have wound up in the world if I didn’t have Lukas while growing up beneath her? The message sent out was to rescue any lingering rebels and those who sought refuge. If the only one brave enough to bear the consequences of betraying the crown was a youngling, then I would be damned to leave them behind.

“Stay here,” I whispered to Avery as my eyes remained on the figure.

“Lia, no! We need to stay together.”

“I will just be right here. I think there’s a youngling over here waiting for us,” I said over my shoulder.

As a precaution, my fingertips drifted to the hilt of my dagger sheathed on my thigh, but I tried to conceal the movement to avoid frightening the little one. The closer my steps brought me, the more apparent it became that the figure was indeed that of a small child.

“Hi, friend.” My voice was gentle, causing the hood to stir slightly. “Are you here for help?”

I was answered with a nod beneath the cloak.

I squatted before the youngling, trying to get a better look under the hood. “Are your parents here, or are you a Solus? I also bore the name growing up, and there’s no shame in it.” My hand reached out as a peace offer. “I’m not going to hurt you.”

At the same moment my hand reached out, I was frozen where I stood from the next thing that reached my ears. “Elianna, no!” Veli’s voice echoed in a near scream that startled me. “They know!”

Before I had time to react, my gaze whipped back to the child, or what I thought was one. An aged, withered hand shot out from the cloak and gripped my wrist, just as its hood lifted to reveal crimson eyes beneath them and a bone chilling cackle from the crone.

“Fuck!” I hissed as her grip on my wrist tightened, and she tried to pull me to her.

Damn this soft heart of mine.

On instinct, my opposite hand unsheathed my dagger and ripped it through the skin atop her arm, forcing her to release me with a screech of pain.

I nearly tripped over my own feet as I hurried back to Veli and Avery. Soldiers flooded the streets then, coming out from every alley and corner. Kellan was at the front of them, a cruel grin on his face .

“Evening, Princess,” he greeted with a wicked grin, and a growl rumbled through me at the sight of him still alive. “Did you really think we wouldn’t know?”

“We need to run. Now!” Veli screamed as she tugged on our arms, propelling us into a sprint back towards the portal.

“Get them!” he boomed and his soldiers funneled around him, chasing after us as he remained in the square.

“How did they find us?! How did they know?!” I shouted, trying to breathe through the desperate run we were in.

“Azenna must’ve created a shield around the city. You know I have not explored the magic of that book. It could be anything!”

The echoes of armored boots reverberated through the streets as the army of soldiers closed in. Moving swiftly, we darted around corners and deftly weaved through the shadows cast by the towering buildings. We only had a few more blocks until we reached the portal.

“ Foolish little heir of the realm .” Azenna’s all-powerful, malevolent voice filled my head. “ Did you truly think we would allow you all to just come here and waltz out with our people? The only one who heard your whisper was me. And, my dear, you will never be leaving this city again .”

“Get out of my head, witch!”

“Don’t listen to her, Lia!” Avery boomed.

I let out a scream of frustration as I forced my body to move faster, and out of the periphery of my vision, power lashed out from the side of us.

“Avery, look out!” I tugged her into me, but we both lost our footing and tumbled to the ground .

Veli’s magic lashed out back toward the source of the attack as I pulled Avery to her feet, and we were on the move once more.

“Come on!” I screamed as a volley of arrows soared through the air, narrowly missing us.

As we turned the last corner, the portal appeared, and tears were streaming down my face at the sight of it. We were close. We were so gods-damn close. Veli continued to have her magic attack the soldiers behind us, sending her shadows to devour and choke them the closer they loomed at our backs.

“Don’t look!” she demanded. “Just keep going!”

My steps quickened as we neared the rift, but somehow, time slowed all around me. A figure of swirling, lashing darkness formed at my side, moving along with me in tandem. My eyes whipped in its direction mid run, and what I saw gazing back at me made my heart nearly stop.

The shadows revealed Azenna’s face, an ear-to-ear grin adorning it. “I told you, you will not be leaving the city, Heir of the Realm .”

“No!” Veli boomed from behind me, and suddenly, my body felt as if it would collapse as power slammed into me on all sides.

“Lia!” Avery’s desperate, heart-wrenching scream filled my ears as she reached out for my hand, but it slipped from her grasp.

Azenna’s shadows reached for me, threatening to consume me whole as a burning blast erupted at my back from Veli, sending my body violently soaring through the air and blasting through the opposite side of the portal that was twenty feet before us.

The portal’s essence sizzled my skin, and then my body slammed into the unforgiving terrain of Alaia. The force of Veli’s power sent me tumbling halfway to where our soldiers awaited.

“Lia!” my mate screamed in horror.

He was at my side in an instant, but my head whipped up to the closing rift, ignoring the agony tearing through my body.

“No!” I demanded in a guttural scream. “Leave it open!”

My arms and legs pushed me to crawl toward the hazy, swirling gateway, and my eyes never left Avery as she and Veli raced towards us—two wicked sorceresses and an army at their backs.

We all watched on in terror as Veli reached out for Avery’s hand and raced for the portal that Empri and Madalae held open just wide enough for the two of them.

“Weapons up!” Jace boomed, and the sound of metal unsheathing filled the air.

“They’re going to make it!” Zaela yelled from behind us as Veli’s first foot emerged through the rift, but at that same moment, we watched as Azenna’s shadows lashed out once more.

“ NO! ” I cried as I forced myself to my feet.

“Lia, stop !” Jace roared as he threw his arms around my chest and tugged me into him. I vigorously tried to shove him away, but he dropped to his knees, forcing me back down to the ground with him .

Veli’s second foot was through the portal, and as she turned to tug Avery with her, Azenna’s magic wrapped around her ankle and yanked my sister back down the alleyway, a fading scream of terror echoing from her.

My aide’s jaw dropped, and just as she was about to run back through the rift, the twins closed it on her as the guards were about to reach it and blast through to the valley.

“ AVERY! ” My scream tore through my throat as tears rushed down my face, uncontrollable sobs leaving me as Jace held me down.

Gage rushed past us and Veli as if he could run through the portal that no longer remained before us and go get her himself. He silently fell to his knees where he stood, his head hanging below his shoulders as his hands balled into fists at his sides.

A booming, guttural yell of heartache left him that echoed through the fields.

I shoved out of Jace’s hold as he tried to keep me still and comfort me, but I would never be able to find comfort again—not while they had my sister.

My breaths were rapid—my lungs feeling as if they were on fire, and I couldn’t get enough air. Whipping around to face the others, my eyes locked on them as they watched me with absolute devastation written on each of their faces.

Finn was sobbing in Landon’s arms, who held him back, just as my husband had with me, only gentler. Zaela had tears slipping from her lashes, one hand covering her mouth in disbelief as the other clutched Veli’s wrist. Everyone else watched on in horror, unknowing of what to do or say.

I stormed up to Veli, towering over her small figure, hoping that she would cower beneath me. “Why did that happen? How did you not sense them?!” I yelled in her face, knowing that as the words left me, my anger was misplaced.

“It wasn’t her presence I originally felt. It was a shield…” she started as her eyes darted back and forth. “More powerful than anything I’ve encountered, with other spells woven into its inner workings. I had no way of knowing!” She was yelling, but her voice wobbled, as if she was fighting back tears herself.

My breathing remained heavy as I took a step back from her. “This is my fault.” My nails dug into my palms so hard they began to bleed.

Veli shook her head. “You are not the only one to hold blame for this.”

“You tried to warn me, and I made us press on.”

The rest of my court made their way towards us while Leon sent the soldiers away to give us privacy.

“Lia, what happened?” Jace asked.

“I didn’t listen,” I whispered.

Gage’s eyes met mine, and all I saw was disappointment—in me. My heart somehow shattered into more pieces.

“No,” Veli interjected. “We didn’t know that Azenna was the only one who heard the whisper. I warned you that I felt their power, but we had no way of knowing that would happen. You pressed on to save the lives of those citizens, not because you were being reckless. I didn’t motion to talk you out of it further because you were right.”

“We knew there would be risks. You said so yourself,” Zaela said softly from behind us.

I turned to face her, my lip curling back. “Not at the cost of my sister!”

“We’re going to get her back,” Jace said.

“The city is on complete lockdown, and now they know we are coming one way or another. Our plan of surprising them at their gates may be ruined now that they know we have used portals to enter the city.”

“The good news is that we know Mother won’t hurt Avery physically. If it were you or Veli, you would be lost to us, and everything would’ve been for nothing. Worst-case scenario is that she is held up in the dungeons, just as you had been,” Finn stated.

I huffed out a breath. “She will use this against me. She will use Avery against us , and you know it. Whether it’s telling the realm a lie that her daughter once again supports her and that I’m a tyrant, or dangling her life in front of us.”

“Avery won’t break. She won’t give up our secrets. I know it,” Gage said, a lingering anger in his tone.

My eyes lifted to his and softened. “I know,” I whispered. “Gage, I’m so sorry.”

He held up a hand at me. “Forgive me, Elianna, for I know you’re our queen, but I don’t wish to hear your apology right now.” He paused for a moment as the veins in his neck throbbed, as if he were holding himself back from lashing out at me.

“Gage. Easy ,” Jace growled before stepping in front of me .

Gage’s jaw ticked. “We’re going to get her back.”

“We are,” I whispered as I nodded slowly.

“ I’ve never seen him this upset ,” Jace said down the tether.

I couldn’t bear it—couldn’t even swallow with the sickening lump in my throat. “Even if I have to burn the castle to the fucking ground. I promise you, we will get her back,” I vowed.

My eyes drifted over the six of them. This was no longer a game for the throne. This was a matter of life and death for the realm, for my people, and for everyone who called Velyra home.

“Preparation is over. We move out in five days’ time and not a moment more. Bring everyone,” I ordered.

My feet moved me past them, and I began the walk back to the city. Alone.