Chapter 26

26

B eing in the tunnels brought back distant memories of the mere days I’d spent in the Night Realm before Ruslan came for me. Bubble lights floated around us, provided by myself and Liliana, as we walked behind the walls, using the same passages to navigate the Royal Wing as we had when we snuck from my room to the High House Wing. A pang of longing swept through me as I recalled how much fun I’d had with my friends, and how all of that had been lost when Kazimir went insane and the remaining Nighthounds chose him over Liliana and me.

Were they all in Este Castle, totally unaware of who moved behind their walls?

“Only a bit further,” Liliana whispered, her voice barely traveling down the line and reaching Savich and me.

The cramped space was triggering a medley of physical sensations, from my heart galloping against my ribs to nausea churning in my gut.

What if Kazimir caught us and chained me again?

Panic clawed its way up my throat, and I forced myself to inhale and imagine myself flying on Ruslan’s back through the Agrenak Mountains. Wide, open space. Endless air. Puffy white clouds…

We broke into the hub of the spoke, and I sucked in a serrated breath, trying to regain control over my emotions. But I was struggling – with the narrow, oppressive spaces, the threat of facing the Night Fae, everything that Kazimir had fucking done . Liliana grabbed my hand and squeezed, offering her silent support. It only slightly tempered the images of that knife sailing toward my chest, and the clanking of chains filled my ears.

My best friend took charge of my body as I grappled with my mind and forced me to step into the next passage behind her. I did not release her hand as we navigated the final steps toward my old rooms.

We dead-ended at the door that led into them, and Drazen squared up with it, preparing to open it. Savich also took his place in front of us, while Liliana notched an arrow into her bow and aimed it toward the door. The iron arrow tipped in poison would paralyze its target with only a graze against the skin.

The passage was too narrow for me to draw my swords again, so I called on my magic instead. Opening up to that well of white fire wrapped protectively around a spear of dark crystal and moonlight, I pulled my power to the surface of my skin, ready to unleash my light or manipulate my foes. The scrape of rock against stone was the signal that Drazen had begun to open the door, and shouts rang out in the distance.

Fuck.

“Prepare yourselves,” Drazen hissed, then with a mighty shove, flung the door to the side, revealing my old bedroom and a stream of soldiers bursting through the door beyond.

Liliana’s arrow shot straight over Drazen’s head and landed in the exposed neck of one in the front, sending him to his knees and those following him stumbling over his dying body. In a flash, Drazen shot forward and engaged them in combat, Savich hot on his heels. The big males fought brutally, while Liliana moved off to the side and emptied her quiver. The door was a chokepoint that halted their progress and helped us pick them off.

But then I remembered the closet.

Whipping to the side, I raced in its direction moments before the door slammed open and a line of soldiers forced their way into the room. Fire coated my twin blades as I pulled them from their straps on my back, and the first soldier had the audacity to laugh as I sank into my fighting stance and held my blades high. He towered over me, but he did not scare me.

I was an insidious bloom, and it was time to show him my thorns.

In a flurry he could not follow, I sliced him to ribbons, the wickedly sharp blades Ruslan had gifted to me cutting through his leather armor like butter. The eyes of the soldiers behind him widened a fraction as he fell at my feet, and by the warmth coating my face, I had no doubt that I wore his blood. The third in line was too busy watching his fallen friend to see the arrow flying in his direction, and the iron tip tore through his neck, coming out the other side and catching a companion in the shoulder. They both dropped, leaving the second for me to kill.

“There are soldiers in the castle,” Ruslan relayed to me.

“We know,” I shot back, wanting to return to my prey.

I smiled a vicious, triumphant smile that showed this male how I would savor his blood coating my blade. He raised a hand to throw magic at me, but my shield was rock solid and faster than him. The moonlight shattered against my shield like it was nothing more than a delicate glass, and as I dropped it, I used my flame-coated blades to hack off his hand, then spear him through the stomach. His jaw dropped as he clutched his wound, burning his hands, and as he fell, I yanked my blade free. The pleasure of watching the life dim from his eyes was divine.

Gone was my trepidation about returning to this place. Power thrummed in my veins, and I imbibed every dark drop.

The room was silent, save for the pounding of my heart, and when I glanced up from my fallen foes, Drazen and Savich looked on with pride swimming in their eyes. Liliana held her bow in one hand and saluted me with the other, earning a laugh from me.

But then, a tiny wail broke the silence.

I leaped over the dead bodies and raced through the closet that still held all the dresses I never got to wear. There, in the living area, was a young female clutching a baby to her chest, frozen in shock and fear.

Drazen and Savich barreled through the other door, and the female was immediately surrounded as the four of us crept toward her. Liliana slipped to my right, trying to circle out of the female’s field of vision. I shot my best friend a questioning look, needing to know if she knew the nursemaid.

A subtle shake of her head told me she didn’t.

“Give us the child,” Drazen commanded, holding his blade in one hand and extending the other.

The Night Fae female shook her head, still unable to speak. The little princess cried in her arms, wailing louder as tension filled the room.

“Give us the child, and no harm will come to you,” Drazen promised, his tone more like a caress and less like a command.

I winced as the child’s screams reached a piercing crescendo. Whatever soldiers remained on patrol would no doubt hear and rush toward the sound.

“Zuriel, we found her. In my old rooms in the Royal Wing.”

“We’ve got her. Take the potions,” I relayed to Ruslan, then returned my attention to the female Drazen and Savich were backing into a corner.

Heavy footsteps grew louder, and I glanced toward the door. “Liliana lock it,” I whispered in a rush. Kazimir had once taught me how to do so, but having not practiced it since, I didn’t trust myself to do it. Moonlight ripped from her palms and sealed the area around the door. Her brow furrowed as she focused, and I was so busy watching her that the first bang against it startled me.

Gripping my weapons, I tore my attention back to the female caretaker.

“You have nowhere to run. You are surrounded. This is your last chance to hand over the babe, or we will have to kill you.” Drazen took a step closer, his expression utterly serious. He meant every word – I knew it, Liliana knew it, and the Night Fae female knew it.

She looked between the four of us, her gaze lingering the longest on Liliana and me. A lone tear slipped from her green eyes, and she gingerly extricated the babe from her hold and held her in Drazen’s direction. The moment he had hold of Princess Gizela, Savich’s blade sliced through the air, ending the female’s life. I didn’t take as much satisfaction in her death as those of the males.

“We need to get going,” I shouted as the banging on the entry door grew more forceful and shouts rang out in the hall outside. “Take the potion, Drazen.”

Handing the baby to me, he dug for the vial in his cloak and lifted it to his lips. She still screamed, and my ears continued to bleed as I held her. Tapping into my magic, I attempted to soothe her, offering her happy, healing emotions and siphoning away the panicked ones. She calmed quickly in my arms, and I breathed a sigh of relief when the only sounds assaulting my ears were from the angry guards at the door.

It was poetic, really, that I was the one to rescue her when I had been the first kidnapped princess.

Without another moment of hesitation, I led us back to the tunnels, throwing bubbles of light into the air as we entered the darkness.

“We’re on our way,” I mind-spoke to both Ruslan and Zuriel.

Drazen closed the door behind us, and with renewed purpose, I focused all my energy on getting out and stoking the fire in my chest, should I need to call on my magic again for another fight – especially if Kazimir were to make an unwanted appearance. Given that we trudged behind the walls of the Royal Wing, it was likely he was only rooms away.

Our footsteps were hurried as we retraced our path, nearly missing the sliver in the rock that led to the getaway tunnels. Fortunately, I was small enough that I could shimmy sideways while still holding the princess, but when we burst into the wide, rocky tunnel, I was grateful for the space once again.

“We’re in the clearing. No sign of Ruslan yet,” Zuriel notified me, and worry knotted my belly. I hadn’t heard from him since he told me there were soldiers in the castle.

“Ruslan?” I whisper-shouted down our bond, just in case he needed to focus. What if my persistence got him killed?

Silence.

We rushed along, and my heart rate ratched up with each step.

“Drazen, Ruslan isn’t answering me.” I tried to keep the panic from my voice and failed.

The male skidded to a stop in front of me. His usual nonchalance vanished like smoke in the wind. “When was the last time you spoke with him?”

“When he told me there were soldiers in the castle,” I replied, voice shaking. My arms trembled around the little princess, and I fought to keep my emotions from bleeding into her and waking her again.

“Fuck,” Drazen swore, and Savich released a string of colorful curses before turning as if to return to the castle to save my mate.

“Where do you think you’re going? We have to stick to the plan,” Drazen hissed, stopping his soldier in his tracks.

A convulsion rippled through Drazen, and the three of us said, “Oh, shit.”

“Drazen, you need to get above ground. Now.” The big, burly Félvér grasped him by the arm and began half-running, half-dragging his general toward the hint of moonlight that filtered through the door we’d left open to find our way back.

Indecision rooted me in place, my heart torn between the dark tunnel we’d fled and the males scampering toward the cliffside. Liliana tugged my arm again, tearing me back to reality. “You heard Drazen. We have to stick to the plan.”

I sent another nudge down our bond, hoping to get something, anything back. Still, he did not respond. But I could still feel him, which was enough incentive for me to move my feet and chase after Drazen and Savich. By the time we spilled into the briny night air, Drazen was stripping out of his clothes and blue scales were rippling across his body.

“Run!” I shouted, taking off in the direction of the woods and our remaining party.

Drazen’s shift was happening too fast – Ruslan was supposed to move us further away from Vaenor before their Dragon forms took over so we could fly the remaining distance home and conserve magic energy.

“Ruslan, we need to get out of here, now!” I shouted down our bond, and finally, I got some acknowledgement.

“Tell Drazen we’ll meet him in the skies,” he growled, and a moment later, a roar shook the ground beneath my feet, nearly pitching me sideways mid-stride.

Even in the darkness of the night, my mate’s Dragon form was visible in the skies, sucking in every bit of star and moonlight. Beside him, a deep green Dragon carrying two riders flew toward us. Drazen’s wingbeats dusted the ground as he lifted off, Savich barely hanging on as he climbed.

Calling my wings to me, I took a running leap and soared into the night, flying hard and fast away from Vaenor. Liliana was right by my side, bow in hand and ready to fire at any pursuers.

Ruslan banked to the left, and I tracked his movements, brow furrowed.

What was he doing? Where was he going?

Then I saw them.

Hundreds of soldiers raced from rows of long buildings outside the city walls.

Those weren’t there the last time I left Vaenor.

Some gripped bows and arrows, and swirls of moonlight swept around others as they gathered to face the intruders – us. Ruslan opened his mighty maw and released a stream of black fire over the buildings, all of them igniting immediately and filling the sky with acrid smoke. More shouts rang out as the city woke from its slumber, and from my vantage point, lights popped into existence as far as the eye could see.

If Kazimir was in Este Castle, there was no doubt he was awake and watching the giant Dragon destroying his army’s camp.

Ruslan released another stream of fire before banking sharply and flying in our direction.

“Land on my back, sprite,” he instructed, and I halted my forward motion to time my landing.

I snapped my wings shut as he dipped beneath me, falling perfectly between his large black spines. Gripping his sides with my legs, I fashioned my cloak around me in such a way that the baby sleeping against my chest was secure and I could rest my arms.

Zuriel, Gozzak, and Xorrek were already waiting in the air above our meeting spot when we reached them, quickly spreading themselves out over the Dragons’ backs while Kriath soared through the night in his massive Eagle form.

Zuriel placed his hands on my shoulders, giving them a light squeeze. “You did it, cousin,” he shouted over the wind.

“I did for her what was never done for me,” I replied, grip tightening ever so slightly on Princess Gizela.

His icy blue eyes were sad, and for once, he let me feel the depth of his emotions. Closing my eyes, I welcomed the sympathy and validation, because I was fucking proud of myself for standing up for the powerless and doing whatever it took to protect her, despite the panic that had gripped me while I faced it.

“If I had known, I would have done the same for you,” Ruslan repeated the sentiment that had always filled me with a sense of safety and certainty. Somehow, after all this time, he still felt responsible for what had happened to me, despite him not having a hand in it.

“I know.”

We flew through the night, stopping when the potions began to wear off for the Dragons. Midway through the wall of mountains that separated the Night and Iron Realms, we landed on a large, icy plateau. As the sun broke over the horizon, I carried Princess Gizela to a large boulder perched on the edge, settling in with her as we welcomed the new day.

“Your mother is going to be so happy to see you,” I told her, my throat working around the lump settling there. Little tufts of golden hair caught the rising light, contrasting against her silky, pristine skin.

Thank the Goddess she was unharmed – at least physically.

So many feelings bubbled up in me, and rather than shove them away, I allowed myself to feel the depths of them all. I had to, if I wanted to be free.

Grief, for my mother dying as I was ripped from her arms, then lost to the world for twenty-one years. Anger, at Kazimir for daring to do something so fucked up after how long he’d searched for me and all his claims of loving me. Pride, at holding my own in a fight and delivering vengeance to those who dared try to harm an innocent babe.

Ruslan interrupted the wildfire of emotions burning through me as he settled on the rock to watch the sun rise in solidarity.

“Don’t ever ignore me like that again,” I snapped, dulling the edge of my pain on him.

“I was a bit busy trying to get away from the dozens of guards that found us in the middle of the castle,” he replied, but there was no bite or admonishment in his tone, as if he knew my emotions were an inferno that needed an outlet.

“I thought I lost you,” I whispered, voice cracking like the wall I tried keeping my emotions behind.

“Not a great feeling is it?” he quipped, and I ripped my gaze toward him.

“Fuck you,” I hissed, jaw clenching over the words.

His smoky eyes shone with amusement. “You will, later.” His hand wrapped around my throat, thumb tracing my jawline and making my heart flutter. “You and I will burn together while we relish our victory. I plan on making you come until you forget your fear and all you know is my name.”

His words went straight to my core, heating it and my blood in the best way.

“I always want your fire, sprite. Seeing you sad kills me.” He dropped his hand from my neck to my braid, yanking my head back. Ruslan’s lips touched mine with a tenderness that I only expected when we were utterly alone. “Mate, future wife and empress. You are the air I need to breathe. I love you. I will never leave you.”

When I opened my eyes again, the sun hit the smoky center of Ruslan’s eyes, lighting them up in a way that showed me his soul. “I love you, mate. Us against the world.”

A small cry interrupted our moment, and I sent soothing emotions to the princess.

“Can we go home now? My arms are getting tired,” I laughed, the sound of it everything I needed to release the turbulent emotions swirling within me.

“Let’s grab the others, and I’ll move us as far as I can,” he promised, helping me to my feet and off the boulder.

We huddled around Ruslan like we had before, speeding off in the direction of Radence, with one victory of many under our belts.

If only I didn’t have this nagging feeling that we were missing something.