CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

M y body froze in response to the hiss in my ear and the blade at my throat. It wasn’t a voice I recognized, but I couldn’t turn to face him without the blade slicing into my neck.

“Who are you?” I demanded, doing my best to hide the shakiness in my voice. Whoever it was didn’t answer. Although I didn’t feel the man move, I heard more rustling from behind me. Were there more of them? How many? Did Elias and I have a chance at winning if it came down to a fight? I wished I could look to see how many people there were to fight against.

“Who are you and what do you want?” I demanded again.

“He is not inclined to answer without my permission,” another man’s voice replied from ten feet or so behind me. This voice I recognized, but I couldn’t identify where I’d heard it before. I silently cursed at the sharp point of the blade that prevented me from turning around to see.

“You do not want to kill me,” I asserted. “You don’t know who I am.”

A snake-like laugh came from the direction of the man. “Oh, I know exactly who you are, Princess Aurelia.”

My blood ran cold. The way he said my name, with disdain on his tongue… in a voice I hadn’t heard in years.

A flash of his face entered my mind as recognition hit.

“King Volund,” I said breathily.

The viciousness in his laugh made my stomach churn. “Smart girl,” he teased, as he slowly walked into view.

Two men stood at his left, and another man and a woman at his right. The fifth was still behind me, his blade at my throat. I recognized them by their attire as Sprathian warriors, completely under their king’s command. The garments they wore differed heavily from the other kingdoms. Rimorian soldiers wore steel-plated armor, Chatusan guards wore gold chainmail, Monuvian scouts wore leather armor, and Sprathian warriors wore all black tunics with deep hoods to cover their faces. Instead of being protected by armor, they had sashes across their torsos, lined with almost a dozen different knives. Volund’s clothes were nearly identical, except that he did not have a hood.

The King of Sprath looked me up and down with a sinister grin while I could not think of a damned thing to say. His frame was tall, but slender. His hair, black as night, was pulled back and tied behind his head. And his eyes… His deep brown eyes were as empty as his soul, with nothing behind them but darkness and depravity. Even when I was younger I feared those eyes.

“Where is your pet?” he asked me.

Pet? Could he mean Elias? “I don’t know what you mean,” I said through gritted teeth .

Volund scoffed in response. “The damned dog I sent to kill you, but stole you away from your kingdom instead. That halfwit has caused me a great deal of trouble.”

I blinked a few times in rapid succession, trying to process his words while my body remained frozen in place by the knife at my throat. Did he just say he sent someone to…kill me? Possibly sent Elias to kill me?

I attempted to pull myself together. “I don’t know what the hell you’re talking about,” I repeated. “Now let me go.”

“Your father was supposed to be in mourning right now,” he hissed, as if he didn’t hear a word I said. “Instead, he has gone full savage, looking for you. This has caused a great headache in my fucking plans, and that damned wolf owes me an explanation.”

Wolf? I tried to make sense of what he was saying. Did the King of Sprath really hire someone to fucking assassinate me? “Why…why do you want me dead?” I tried to ask calmly, but could barely hide the quiver in my tone. Maybe if I could keep him talking, it would give Elias enough time to get back and we could fight our way out of this.

He blinked at me. “It’s nothing personal, my dear. It’s all just part of a greater scheme.” He grinned, showing his teeth, which reminded me of a predator about to devour its prey.

A scheme which involved my death but not my father’s? I knew Volund was a fucking rat, but I didn’t think he would plot against my father, the most powerful king in the Four Kingdoms. What the hell did he have planned?

“If you kill me, my father will have your head removed and put on a fucking platter,” I scolded. It was not an empty threat. My father would do exactly that.

Volund chuckled as he ran his fingers over his bearded chin. “That’s why I hired an assassin, darling. Your death was supposed to be quick and abrupt, with not a trace of a killer left behind.” His nose twitched in a sneer. “But instead he took you and gallivanted you across the continent. Now I have to change my entire fucking plans.”

I knew Volund had spies all over the place, but didn’t realize he had assassins for hire at any given moment. Was Elias really one of them?

You’re a bounty hunter? I had asked Elias once.

Something like that .

No. I couldn’t believe it. Wouldn’t . Volund had to be talking about someone else. And he obviously didn’t know that no one took me away, and that it was my own choice to leave Rimor.

I glared at the king. “Maybe I killed your assassin, and came to kill you next,” I bluffed, still trying to stall as much as I could.

Volund glared in my direction. “I wouldn’t threaten me if I were you,” he sneered.

“Why? You just told me you want me dead. It only seems fair that I kick your ass. Tell your lackey to let me go, and you can fight me yourself like a real man instead of hiding behind others like a coward.”

If I could get the guy behind me to drop his blade and let me go, I could fight off at least one of them while Elias killed the rest. I didn’t doubt that he could. Or would.

Volund’s nose twitched again and I could see anger swirling behind his eyes. He turned to the Sprathian woman who had stood at his right. “Make sure she has no weapons on her,” he ordered.

The woman, face covered by her hood, strode over to me and began to pat me down. I struggled for only a moment before I was quickly reminded that there was a blade at my throat. The woman took my mother’s knife from its sheath and tossed it to Volund. He caught it and inspected it in his hands.

The Sprathian warrior finished her search and backed away. “That’s all she has on her,” she said to her commander.

Volund chuckled. “One measly knife, Princess Aurelia? I have ten times as many, and that’s only where you can see them.”

“That’s the difference between you and me, King Volund. I only need one.”

Volund’s expression darkened at the insult, and he quickly strode towards me until he was an arm’s length away. Quicker than I could have expected, he extended his arm until he had my own knife pointed directly at my throat.

“Hold her arms,” he ordered the warrior at my back. He obeyed, lowering his own knife and then pulling my arms so tightly behind me, I felt like my bones were going to snap.

Volund moved forward until the point of the blade pricked my skin. I felt a drop of blood drip down my neck. “I will remind you, Princess, that you are in no place to insult or threaten me.”

I tried to look down at my knife, but couldn’t see the blade from the angle he held it. I looked back up at him. Before I could say another word, a sinister grin formed on Volund’s face. “Your dog is here,” he whispered.

As if on cue, Elias’s large frame entered my vision as he tore through the trees and into the small area where we all stood. His fists were clenched, his eyes murderous. The four Sprathian warriors around him took a fighting stance and readied their weapons, the fifth still at my back.

“Let. Her. Go.” His demand was deep, guttural, and absolutely lethal – a pure threat. Even the warrior holding my arms shifted behind me. Elias stepped toward us, his eyes beginning to glow. I definitely wasn’t imagining it this time.

“Ah, ah, ah,” Volund scolded. “Shift, and I’ll slit her throat.”

Shift? What the hell did he mean by that?

The growl Elias made was beastly, almost inhuman. His eyes darted to me and my knife that Volund held to my neck, and I watched as the glow in his eyes slowly dissipated .

“Get down on your knees,” the king ordered.

Elias’s eyes shot to Volund and he took another step towards us. “On your knees, now !” Volund screamed, the blade pushing slightly farther into my neck. I grunted at the sharp pain, and felt more blood run down my skin. Elias froze, then obeyed, slowly lowering himself to his knees. “Toss your blades and any other weapons to the side,” Volund ordered Elias, and he complied.

Elias tossed his last weapon on the dirt and raised his hands. “Let her live,” he pleaded, now looking at Volund again. His voice was calm, but I could recognize the turmoil beneath his tone. “I will go back with you without a fight. Just let her live, please.”

A grin of pure wickedness reached Volund’s lips. “You and I both know I won’t do that, Elias,” he sneered. My heart fell into my stomach as he called Elias by name. They really did know each other.

Which means Elias was my hired assassin.

“I didn’t even know you were evading me until Sarai scried for you a few days ago, only to see you with your target in your arms, alive and well. Naughty dog. Who knew you had a soft spot for pretty princesses?”

I had no idea who Sarai was, or how she could have seen us. We had been alone since Elias saved me from the bandits. But what Volund said next was even more shocking and confusing.

“You walked into a lake knowing a water witch could use her magic to see you? That wasn’t very smart, Elias.”

I froze.

Witch? Magic? Was Volund insane?

“Had you just done your fucking job , the princess’s death could have been swift and painless. Now I think I’ll have her tortured, just to teach you a lesson, seeing as torturing you for the last few centuries hasn’t taught you anything.”

I didn’t have any time to process what was just said before another deadly growl tore from Elias’s throat. “I will burn everything you love to the fucking ground if you lay a hand on her.”

“You are in no position to threaten me, dog .” Volund’s voice was bitter and full of hatred. I gasped slightly as the blade of my knife began to dig into my neck even further, and the blood that trickled down felt like more than just a few drops. Elias’s entire body tensed.

“Elias,” I uttered, afraid if I moved too much, the knife would slice further and sever something that would cost me my life. “What the hell is he talking about?”

“Were you not paying attention, Princess?” Volund interrupted. “I hired Elias to assassinate you. And for whatever reason, he chose to frolic through the woods with you for the last month instead.”

This confirmed it. Elias really was hired to kill me. Was he the man I saw in my window all those nights ago in Rimor? He must have been. And killing me was the whole reason he was in Rimor in the first place, the whole reason he befriended me.

It was all an act. His feelings for me – an act. None of it was real.

But why? Why not kill me that first night in Rimor? What ulterior motive did he have to keep me alive? Why…why lead me all this way and pretend to fall for me?

Deep, gut-wrenching despair filled me, threatening to swallow me whole. My lips began to quiver, and I clenched my jaw to try to stop them. I looked at Elias, and only when I blinked did I realize my eyes had filled with tears. “You never loved me,” I said softly. So softly, I thought he wouldn’t hear. But he did.

“Aura, please,” Elias begged, anguish in his voice.

Volund’s devilish laugh interrupted. “Don’t think so highly of your wolf now, do you?”

He said it again. Wolf .

My eyes darted to the malicious king. “Wolf?” I asked.

A look of realization mixed with amusement crossed Volund’s features. “Oh no… no, no, no.” He shook his head as he laughed out the words. “Don’t tell me she doesn’t know. Don’t tell me you didn’t inform your precious princess of what kind of abomination you are.”

“Volund, please…” Elias’s plea sounded defeated as his shoulders dropped.

“Tell her what you are,” Volund demanded, a crazed look in his eyes.

“Please…”

“ Tell her , or she dies right here and now.” Volund grabbed my shoulder with his free hand and twisted my knife in his other, causing me to cry out as I felt the skin of my neck tear and shred under the blade.

“Stop!” Elias begged. “I’ll tell her!”

Volund loosened his grip on my shoulder and stopped twisting.

“I’ll…I’ll tell her,” Elias repeated, looking down at the ground with defeat.

Worry mixed with intrigue were at the forefront of my emotions as I awaited whatever Elias was about to say. I never thought I would see Elias on his knees, at the mercy of another’s command. Grief tore at my heartstrings for him. I wished it didn’t. He didn’t deserve my grief.

“Elias,” I muttered. “Just tell me.”

He looked up and his eyes met mine. “I’m…a lycan.” He stared into me, but I only looked back in confusion. I had no idea what a lycan was.

Volund recognized my puzzled expression. “A lycan,” he repeated, like hearing it a second time would help it make sense to me. It didn’t. “An immortal shapeshifter. A wolf.” He looked impatient now.

A wolf . I began compiling the pieces of the puzzle, and fitting them together in my mind. The wolf I thought I had been seeing wasn’t a hallucination after all ?

No. No, that was impossible. There was no such thing as giant wolves. No such thing as shapeshifters and witches and magic. They didn’t exist. Couldn’t exist.

“You’re fucking insane,” I sneered at Volund.

A frown crossed the king’s face, yet he still looked malevolent as ever. “Am I telling the truth, Elias?” he said without breaking eye contact with me.

I turned to Elias, a pleading look on his face. “Yes,” he muttered. I narrowed my eyes at him. Why was he feeding into this? Was he fucking insane too?

“And how long have you been the personal assassin to the past kings of Sprath?” Volund asked.

Elias sighed. “Don’t you think this is enough?”

“ Answer the damn question,” Volund nearly shouted.

Elias glanced between me and the Sprathian king. Elias was surely much younger than Volund, so how could he have worked for his ancestors?

“Over three hundred years,” Elias answered.

I stood in utter disbelief. What was his game here, really? Was there a good reason he was feeding into Volund’s insanity?

Volund sighed and took his hand off my shoulder to rub at his brows, clearly exasperated. “I can see you don’t believe what you’re hearing.” He pulled the knife away from my neck, causing blood to drip a little more heavily. He sheathed it at his belt, then pulled a new knife from his sash. “I guess I’ll have to prove it to you.”

Volund walked over to Elias with determination.

“What are you doing?” I shrieked.

One step closer. Two. He raised his knife.

“Stop!” I begged.

He was only a few feet from Elias, who sat on his knees, unmoving.

“Stop it!” I yelled again, squirming in my captor’s arms and feeling his grip tighten, bruising my wrists. Volund closed the gap between himself and Elias, raised his knife, then brought it down with force, stabbing Elias directly in his chest.

The blood-curdling scream that came out of me could have woken the dead. I watched in horror as Volund pulled his knife out and Elias fell forward onto his hands, blood dripping from his chest. I couldn’t hear his grunts of pain over my own desperate screams.

Volund stepped back, a wicked smile on his face, and a bloody knife in hand. “Let her go,” he told the warrior who had been in charge of constraining me. The man obeyed, and I immediately sprinted to Elias, dropping to the ground in front of him.

“Oh gods, Elias! We have to put pressure on it!” I demanded as he leaned back onto his knees. In that moment, there was only me and him, and I was focused solely on keeping him from dying. It didn’t matter that he was hired to kill me. It didn’t matter if our relationship meant nothing. I couldn’t – wouldn’t – let him die.

“Aura,” he said gently.

I ripped the top of his tunic down until I found where he had been stabbed. Then I tore off a piece of my own sleeve in one fluid movement, and pressed it against the wound. Elias fidgeted. “Stop moving!” I shrieked. “We have to stop the bleeding!”

“Aura,” Elias said a little more sternly, putting a hand to my cheek.

“You’re not dying today, do you hear me?!”

“ Aura ,” he said again, the demand in his tone making me finally look up at him. “I’m fine,” he assured me, with no evidence that he was still in pain shown anywhere on his face. “Look.”

With tears streaming down my cheeks, I pulled my hands away and looked at the wound, and…it wasn’t bleeding anymore.

What the hell?

I watched in utter astonishment as the gaping wound began to close itself up. Little pieces of Elias’s skin began to weave themselves back together – tendons and ligaments reconnecting right before my eyes.

I shuffled backwards, falling onto my hands. “What the…what? How?” I couldn’t form words as I watched the wound completely disappear. Nothing but smooth skin now took the place of where a hole should have been.

“My body can heal itself,” Elias answered, worry lining his features. Worry that I wasn’t taking the news easily, that I couldn’t possibly comprehend what I just saw.

“No, I…I saw you get hurt. You got sliced with my mother’s knife. I…I sutured your wound. It’s still there.” I stumbled over my words, coherent thought nowhere to be found as I sat in shock.

“Was it this knife?” Volund asked, unsheathing my mother’s dagger from his side. I looked up at him, mouth still gaped open, and nodded. “This blade is made of silver. Lycans cannot heal from wounds caused by silver.”

I stared at my mother’s dagger as Volund twisted it between his fingers before sheathing it, an evil grin on his face.

Is that why Elias had seemed so surprised that he was bleeding after he saved me from the bandits? I remembered seeing a look of realization on his face when I told him the blade was made of silver.

So Elias was…not human. An immortal. And he was at least three-hundred years old and had been working for the past Kings of Sprath as an assassin. I turned to him, worry still etched on his face as he looked at me. “You’re immortal? Only…only silver can kill you?” I asked.

Volund laughed, and I was starting to get really tired of him interrupting. “Two things can kill a lycan,” he explained. “Silver weapons, and wolfsbane. The plant is severely poisonous to them. Large doses will kill them. Smaller doses can slow their healing, and make them weak and sickly. How do you think we’ve been able to keep Elias under our control for all these centuries? ”

I sucked in a breath. They tortured him. Poisoned him. That’s where all the scars on his body came from.

A deep hatred began to form in my gut, threatening to rise to the surface. It wasn’t a hatred for Elias, although the reality of his deception hurt my soul in ways I wasn’t sure I would ever recover. No, my deep hatred was for Volund. For torturing Elias. For using him as a weapon. Forcing him to kill. But kill who? Why?

My heart completely stopped at a sudden realization. Volund slightly cocked his head to the side as I glared at him with full loathing. “You had my mother killed.”

Volund frowned. “No,” he responded coldly. “I can’t take credit for that one, although it did spark other plans of mine into motion.”

A wave of relief hit me, knowing that Elias didn’t kill my mother.

Volund continued. “Adelaide’s death caused your father to nearly reach a point of insanity, so much so that I was close to manipulating him into giving me control of his armies. If your fucking roach of an uncle hadn’t stepped in, I would have succeeded.

“Then, to my pleasant surprise, your uncle got himself exiled. And after years of planning, I realized that your death would be the one to put King Callum over the edge at the precise moment I needed it.” He glanced at Elias with a glare. “But this imbecile took things into his own hands and delayed things for me. Why ?” His question was filled with icy disdain.

Elias glared back at him, but said nothing.

“After years of torture – centuries of conditioning you to obey – why didn’t you just kill her like you were supposed to?”

Elias clenched his jaw, but refused to answer. Then, I watched as Volund’s eyes widened and his malicious grin returned. Volund broke into maniacal laughter, causing an uncomfortable shiver to run down my spine. “You’ve got to be fucking joking,” he laughed. “Don’t tell me the princess is your fucking mate . ”

Mate? I glanced at Elias, who looked at me for a brief moment before looking away, unable to hold my stare. “What does that mean?” I asked barely above a whisper.

“It means,” Volund interrupted, “that the two of you were destined by the gods to be together. Only lycans have the ability to see and feel a physical mating bond. He probably recognized it the first moment he saw you.”

I cringed. Was that why he didn’t kill me that night when I saw him in my window?

Volund continued. “Once the bond is fully set, if you haven’t done so already, he will feel everything you feel.” He laughed again and wiped a laughter-filled tear from his eye. “This is too good. Now killing you will be ten times the fun.”

Elias’s eyes shot towards Volund. “No,” he growled.

“Oh, yes,” Volund replied condescendingly. “I will torture her slowly to death, and you will feel everything .”

Elias shot up so quickly, the speed at which he darted towards Volund was definitely not human. But before he could reach the king, several knives went flying in his direction, all from the five Sprathian warriors around us. His unnatural speed let him dodge four of the blades, but the fifth went straight into his shoulder. This didn’t stop him, only slowed him down as he continued lunging towards Volund.

Volund stepped to the side just in time, and grabbed another one of his own knives and stabbed it into Elias’s back. I screamed.

Wait – he could heal, right?

Elias turned and a fist went flying towards Volund, knocking him in the jaw. Volund squealed and stumbled backwards. “Get him with wolfsbane, you fucking idiots,” he screamed at his warriors.

More knives went flying towards Elias. Two more hit, one in his thigh and another in his upper arm. A growl, more wolf than human, escaped from Elias as he tumbled forward, falling to his hands and knees. Pulling myself out of my state of shock, I finally stood up and ran to him. He pulled the knives from his body, and I followed suit and pulled the one from his back.

The wound wasn’t healing. Why wasn’t it healing??

Volund laughed, as if he could tell by my expression what I was thinking. “Knives laced with wolfsbane,” he declared, shaking a knife back and forth in a teasing manner. “The poison is slowly seeping into your mate’s bloodstream.”

Elias panted heavily. He looked at me, eyes blazing. “Run, Aura,” he ordered.

I shook my head. “No, I’m not leaving you!” I yelled. I still held the wolfsbane-covered knife in my hand that I pulled from Elias’s back, and I launched it at one of the warriors. To my surprise, it landed right in his thigh, and he fell to the ground, screaming and squeezing the wound as blood seeped through his fingers.

Volund’s eyes widened as his warrior fell. “Get her!” he squealed to the others. “But don’t kill her yet!”

Another man and the woman warrior launched towards me, and I managed to dodge them just in time. When the woman stumbled in front of me, I brought my knee up into her head. She grunted as she went unconscious from the blow. Then the man grabbed me by my hair before I could make another move, yanking me backwards. The two others ran over and grabbed at my arms as I kicked and flailed like a wild animal.

One of them swiftly fell to the ground and I looked up to see that Elias had stabbed him from behind with one of the blades he pulled from his own body. Then Elias fell onto his hands and knees again, barely able to hold himself up. Fuck. He was poisoned, and we were outnumbered.

I was suddenly thrown to the ground by one of the men, and I fell onto my stomach. I tried to push myself up, but was kicked in the side so hard, I felt a rib crack. I screamed as I fell to the ground again, clutching at my side.

“Stop fighting, Princess Aurelia,” I heard Volund say. “You are only delaying the inevitable.”

I spat at the ground and saw a small bit of blood land with it. “Fuck you,” I coughed. I looked over at Elias, who had also fallen to his side. Oh gods no. Was he dead? Dying? I needed to get us out of here. I needed us to make it through this. I needed a miracle.

A thought flashed through my mind as another kick knocked the wind out of me. I felt another crack as bones broke beneath my skin. I gasped as I pulled the necklace out from under my shirt. I quickly dragged my hand down the delicate gold chain until I clenched the stone.

What had Trybe said? Squeeze the stone in my palm and think of something that makes me feel safe?

I clenched the stone harder, and focused all of my energy on thinking of something that had always made me feel safe. I didn’t think about Rimor or my father or my guards. I didn’t think about my mother or my uncle or my weapons. I thought of Elias. Of the time he pulled me out of Rebellia River and carried me in his arms for a mile when I couldn’t walk. Of the time he fought Horus to keep me from being dragged back to Rimor. Of the time he slaughtered a group of bandits to save me from a terrible fate.

Just then, a bright light emanated from my hand. I unclenched the stone, and it began to levitate an inch above my palm, white light beaming from its center. It was so bright, I had to squeeze my eyes shut. I heard a ringing in my ears and then everything went eerily quiet. I slowly let my eyes open, and the bright light was gone. I flinched as I looked up and saw one of the warriors about to smash my head in with their boot. I closed my eyes again, ready for impact, but opened them when nothing happened. The boot was still there – hovering over me, but unmoving.

I rolled myself backwards, pain coursing through my ribcage. I looked up and saw the Sprathian completely fixed in place, like their body had been frozen in a block of invisible ice. They were looking down where I had just been lying, and had their leg up, ready to make contact with my head. But they were unnaturally still. It would be impossible to hold that position, but there they were.

I looked around, and saw that all of the other Sprathians, including Volund, were also as still as statues. But birds still chirped overhead. The leaves on the trees still rustled as a breeze blew by. Time wasn’t frozen. Only them. Only the threat.

I looked at Volund and saw my mother’s knife still sheathed in his belt. I slowly stood and walked over to him, being mindful in case this was some sort of trick. But he didn’t move – only stood there with his mouth open in mid-yell, his cold eyes demanding. I slowly reached for my knife and pulled it from his belt.

I stared at him for a moment more. I should kill him. I should stab him right where he stood, and end his life for what he and his disgusting ancestors did to Elias. But as I raised my blade, ready to strike, I faltered. I…I couldn’t do it. I couldn’t kill a man, especially one who, in that moment, was helpless.

Elias’s words rang in my ears. I just hope there never comes a day when you’ll have to kill a person. It is not an easy thing to do.

I lowered my knife. Then I huffed out another breath, feeling overwhelmed. Did my necklace just freeze my enemies in place? I looked down at the stone, which was now full of cracks. What the hell kind of sorcery was this? Then, I heard Elias groan, bringing me back to the present.

“Elias!” I cried out. I ran over to him, ignoring the pain in my ribs. He did not appear to be frozen like the rest of them. “We need to get out of here,” I stressed .

Elias groaned again. “Aura,” he muttered. “Go. Run. Find somewhere safe.”

I stared at him, baffled. “I’m not leaving you,” I exclaimed. Even though he lied to me our entire time together, I knew that if I left him here Volund would surely make him suffer.

“The magic…the magic from the stone will not last long,” he said, sounding out of breath. “You need to go before it wears off.”

My eyes narrowed at him. “I am not leaving you,” I repeated sternly.

Elias looked at me, pleading. Sweat dripped from his face and his eyes appeared sunken.

“Get up,” I demanded.

“I can’t,” he said with a labored breath.

“Get your ass up, Elias. I am not leaving without you. If you don’t get up, then they’ll take us both.”

Blood began to drip from his nose. “Aura, please. You can escape. You can live.”

“ No ,” I stressed. I looked over and saw Volund start to shift slightly. Fuck. “Get up. Now!” I hauled Elias up onto his feet, the pain from my ribs piercing me. He barely made it up, but he managed to do so, swaying generously. I slung his arm around my shoulder and began walking as fast as I could manage with a monstrously muscled human hanging onto me.

Well, he wasn’t human, I guess.

We hobbled off into the woods, but I had no idea where I was going. “Where do we go?” I asked Elias. I looked at him, his face extremely pale as he was barely conscious. “Elias?” I begged.

He gasped in a breath. “Northeast,” he wheezed. A lump formed in my throat from worry. Was he going to live through this? How much wolfsbane was saturated on those knives? How much was required to kill a lycan?

I did as he said and began heading northeast, practically dragging him with me as he was in and out of consciousness. After about ten minutes of stumbling and dragging, I heard voices from behind us. Volund’s voice was one of them.

Shit, shit, shit.

“Elias, where do I go? What am I looking for??”

He exhaled, but couldn’t form any words. I quickened our pace, exhaustion and pain overwhelming me.

“This way!” I heard a shout.

I cursed under my breath and kept heading northeast. I took step after step, doing my best to ignore the piercing pain in my side as the weight of Elias crushed into me. The voices were getting closer, and my heart raced. I hauled Elias through a clearing and reached the other side, only to be met with the edge of a steep cliff. I cursed again.

Is this really where Elias wanted us to go? I didn’t dare put him on the ground for fear that I wouldn’t be able to pick him back up. I hobbled over and peered over the edge. At the bottom of the cliff was a river, but there was no way to tell if it was deep enough to jump.

I heard rustling behind us and knew they were close. It was now or never. We had to jump. “Ready?” I asked aloud, even though I knew that Elias was fully unconscious at this point.

Gods, I hope we survive this , I prayed.

“Forgive me,” I whispered to Elias as I used all of my strength to haul him over the cliff’s edge. Then just as the Sprathians came bounding through the clearing, I jumped.