Chapter 44

CHAPTER 44

" A nd she has company."

Just when I thought her words couldn't get more terrifying, she had to go and add to it.

"The hostages are there."

I immediately went to shout down the bond for Esta to stop. To turn around. But just as I did, I felt her shock and rage slam through it, reverberating through me enough that I closed my eyes and fell to my knees under the force of it.

Morana? I asked Esta.

Yes.

Avril just warned us. We're on the way. Stall, Esta. Please stall.

My wings had sprung forth at some point as if sensing my need to help her. My rage that Morana would dare to enter a lair that wasn't her own. Then again, she had no honor left. So why was this all that surprising?

I spun to the balcony, ready to fly to The Drak as fast as I could. "Let's go."

Avril's voice stopped me. "Wait."

I turned back to look at her. Every second I did not make it to Esta was a second more she was in danger. Grave danger. The thing which stood between Morana and what she wanted most, the crown, was the person currently wearing it. Esta.

And even if Morana was thinking logically enough to realize Jagen was also still in the picture, I would not put it past her to kill Esta anyway. Esta was Dra Skor's first woman Mallick queen. The position that Morana had always coveted but would never hold. And if she couldn't have it, I wouldn't put it past her to make sure Esta couldn't either.

"I cannot go," Avril explained quickly. "I have to remain here. My presence will cause the rest of you to hesitate and one if us will die if I go. I've seen it as a possibility." She added, "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry."

"Thank you for telling me," I told her, moving back to the balcony. "Dex, stay with Avril."

"I—"

"I don't have time to argue with you," I snapped.

"Trust your instincts," Avril told me. "You don't need me to finish this."

I looked to Amory before I jumped. "Round up as many shifters as are still down there. I want everyone at The Drak. Surrounding it. Morana will not live through this day."

"Got it," Amory said, her brown eyes looking as determined as I was sure my own did.

I turned back to the balcony, to find Zaire there, already shifted. "Can you reach Malachi?" I asked.

He gave his large head a shake. He's too far, but I have already spoken to a few winged shifters who may beat us there, hoping they can reach him.

Just before I took to the sky, he said, Hop on.

In my hesitation he added, Save your strength for when we get there . He let out a ring of smoke. I'm faster anyway. You can focus and speak to Esta on the way, and we can form a plan .

I couldn't argue with that logic. I used my wings to fly me to his back and we were hurtling toward The Drak. My every hope, my every thought all a prayer that we would make it in time. That she would still be breathing when we arrived.

Three winged shifters soon joined us, unable to keep up with Zaire's intense speed, but I felt their presence and saw them as I looked over my shoulder. Jagen, Whit, and Malachi's second in command.

I felt a shiver which did not feel as if it was my own, though I was also terrified to my core, so it was a bit harder to decipher what was mine and what was hers.

Es, I begged. Are you okay?

I have shifted into my human form, she told me. Hold on.

The minute it took her to say something more waged a war on my heart. I knew she was still breathing because I could feel her, but I didn't know what was going on. There was a big difference in Esta being alive and Esta being okay. A difference I couldn't bear.

I am going to try to trade myself for one of the hostages. It's the only way I can stall and save their life.

I hated it. I hated every minute of it, but it was in character for Esta to do so. To try to save even one of her people's lives like that. Keep stalling, I told her. We are on the way. In force.

Morana did not know that Esta and I were bonded and speaking through that bond, so Morana likely felt that she had the upper hand. Still, she had to know that we would never leave Esta alone for long. Her time was limited.

But remembering that Morana did not know that Esta and I were already bonded, I forced my wings, which were still out, to retreat. I had to use that to my advantage if needed. That and with as fast as Zaire was flying, it was easier to tuck them in anyway.

There are six hostages, Esta told me. One from ea ? —

She cut off, and my heart left my chest, but I again knew she must be speaking and dealing with Morana. I could connect the dots enough to know she was saying there was a hostage from every Dra Skor city.

If I shift back to my dragon form, she will kill them, she told me around the rage and fear I felt down the bond. But I am afraid she will anyway. Why else would she have one from each city? She is trying to destroy my reputation and legacy as queen. By having their deaths fall on me. By making sure this is felt across all of Dra Skor.

I cursed and quickly filled Zaire in, who communicated to Jagen and the others.

Stall, I begged her. I know it goes against your every instinct. I know you could shift and take her out of the equation.

Not with a hostage with a dagger to their throat, she argued logically. I could handle it in my dragon form, but at least one of them will die. The only chance all seven of us live is if I wait.

So keep stalling. Keep her talking. Even if she's angry. We are coming, Esta. Help is coming.

I love you, Keir.

No, I snapped. No goodbyes. This is not the end of us. You hear me? You fight until I get there and then we will handle her together when I arrive.

After a moment, I remembered Nyx was always at The Drak, preferring his lair even now that he was healed. Where's Nyx?

We are in my lair and she forced me to shift right away to save one of the hostages. I am not sure he knows anything is happening.

I relayed that information to Zaire. "Make sure he waits for us," I told him. "He and Malachi both. We have to proceed with caution. At least one of the hostages is being held with a dagger to their throat."

I felt an increase in rage down the bond, gasping out. Es?

She's wearing one of my jewels.

We will make sure you get it back, I promised. She's taunting you right now because she thinks she has the upper hand.

How far are you? she asked .

Over halfway, I told her.

Zaire might not be my favorite shifter, or even in the top five, but dammit if he wasn't fast. The farther we flew, the larger the gap between us and the others got. We were going to beat them there by minutes. And those few minutes could make all the difference.

Hurry, she told me. She is getting angrier by the second. More impulsive.

We shot toward The Drak as fast as we could, knowing that we would collide with Morana when we got there. The day we had been scheming for was finally upon us. And though I promised Esta we would handle it together, for the next ten minutes, she was on her own.

I held on to our bond with everything I had. Ignoring the wind streaming by my eyes so fast the result was that my eyes burned. Every hope and dream I had was on the other side of that bond, facing our enemy... alone.

At the tree belt which signaled The Drak was close, Zaire and I threw out instructions to Malachi and Nyx.

Malachi was going to enter The Drak on foot while Zaire and I would drop down from the sky. Nyx would wait for Zaire's move. And Jagen and the others would hold off until we needed them.

Were it not for the six hostages Morana had smartly acquired, she'd already be dead. One on one versus Esta, she would lose every time and she knew it.

Get ready to drop, Zaire told me. Your wings are going to want to shift with the plummet.

I pinched my shoulders back and let my magic build and burn but willed my wings to stay hidden .

"No roaring until we are in there," I reminded Zaire. "Do not give Morana warning."

To Esta, I added, Do not look toward the entrance of your lair, but we are about to drop down to The Drak. Nyx is hiding and waiting for our command.

She didn't respond, but I could feel her hope.

Zaire tucked in his wings and we began racing toward the ground at an insane speed. A weightlessness took over every nerve in my body and it took everything in me to keep willing my wings back. Even falling to the ground wasn't this fast. I couldn't breathe or think, except to hold on to Zaire's scales and wait for the sweet relief of the ground.

We flew over the lake of The Drak so low I was confident Zaire's feet or tail avoided it by mere inches.

And then we rolled right into Esta's lair.

I fell off Zaire's back with the force of our entry, Zaire opting for speed and surprise over finesse. I rolled once and found my footing, my eyes immediately darting to my wife.

I inhaled deeply, happy to find her breathing. Alive.

A slick wet noise was heard, following by a gurgling. My eyes went to the source only to find Morana had slit the throat of the nearest woman hostage that she had been holding at knifepoint.

"I thought I told you this was between the two of us," Morana told Esta.

"No!" Esta moved to help the hostage, like any decent human would, and much to my own horror, Morana moved swiftly.

She grabbed Esta and yanked her to her feet.

Zaire's roar rattled the ground of the lair.

My worst fear was realized as Esta took the place of the now dead hostage, a dagger held to her throat.