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Chapter 31

Hanna

Icouldn”t stand abandoning Dare.

Maybe I needed him. Maybe I just missed having him by my side. The way I”d disappeared probably wasn”t going to improve the bonds of trust between us, and I questioned if I could ever sway him over to my side. I couldn’t risk him endangering my plan to help Kaelan… but still. Something made me turn back.

I soared above the forest until I caught a glimpse of a band in the distance. Dare. Dare was in their midst. There, amidst a dozen or so magical assassins of all shapes, was Dare. My heart skipped at the sight of his face, which was highly annoyed under his tousled blond hair. I felt a mix of irritation and affection. How had the dragon come to be shackled by the mice?

Then I dropped like a rock, settling between the trees to go on foot. I wished I could stay airborne, but I didn”t want them to see me. They”d know I was coming back for Dare.

I tracked them through the forest until our paths converged.

Damn it. I”d left him to face one monster. Where had these twelve come from?

Unless the attackers we”d faced alone had been the first wave.

I”d abandoned Dare to a trap. I felt a rush of regret.

I scanned the group, noting the variety of Fae. Some were winged, others horned, and all quite deadly. Maybe they”d taken him to bait me . . . or perhaps Kaelan. But the attack we”d narrowly escaped earlier was just the first wave.

I watched as the ragtag group of Fae and their captive made camp beneath the ancient trees. Their movements were methodical, practiced. They set wards and snares with the ease of those familiar with the borderland”s dangers.

Were they Seraphine”s or the Snake Queen”s servants? If they were the Snake Queen”s, would they even have to set up defenses? Had the Snake Queen lost control of her monsters?

I used an enchantment to hide myself and climbed up a tree, remembering how comforting it had been to climb with Thorne. Now I settled myself onto one of the branches, watching them move through a haze of green leaves.

The smoky scent of their cooking fire, then of roasting meat, wafted up to me. My stomach growled.

They ate dinner, but they didn”t offer any to Dare. Terrible manners. I”d make sure they regretted their lack of courtesy.

They began to wrap themselves up for the night. Two of them shimmied up nearby trees, and I held my breath, my muscles tense and coiled, ready for a fight. But they settled down into sleep. I waited until the last light faded, until the tree sleepers were deep in their rest.

Just one troll remained awake, prowling the perimeter of the camp every fifteen minutes or so. The rest of the time, he rocked toe to heel in front of the fire, holding out his hands for warmth over the glowing flames. He seemed to be dancing to music that only played in his head, and I smothered a smile. I hoped I didn”t have to kill Lord Dancey.

I slid back down. The trunk was rough against my palms. I froze when a twig broke, but no one stirred, and I kept moving. My feet touched the earth soundlessly.

I moved through shadows. A near miss—Dancey turned his gaze toward my path, his eyes narrow slits of suspicion. I froze. Then, as if the forest itself conspired with me, a branch snapped in the distance, drawing his attention away.

I exhaled, the danger passed, and then I could slink closer to where Dare was held.

If I were going to have a heist, I wished there was a more exciting treasure at the end. Not Dare, who was lying back in the cage they”d hemmed around him. One big arm was canted under his head. He looked so damned comfortable, even as a captive. Meanwhile, I was out here doing all the work.

The guard was still standing in front of the fire, his keys glinting like an invitation, and I crept closer. My fingers curled around the cold metal. I paused, weaving the magic to keep the weight familiar at his side as he turned away. He left the keys behind in my palm.

I wondered if he”d get in trouble for losing the keys to me. He”d probably end up dead before the night was over as Dare and I fled, so he wouldn”t have to face that embarrassment.

With the keys now burning a promise into my palm, I darted toward Dare”s cage. I dared one glance back at the troll, who was now doing a two-step back and forth with an imaginary friend, before I moved to the cage.

”Decided to grace me with your presence, did you, princess?” His voice was a soft breath that wouldn”t carry beyond us . . . but somehow he still managed to imbue it with all his usual charming sarcasm.

”Of course,” I shot back, already working on the locks. ”When you got yourself into trouble, even though I have more important things to do, I came back to play hero.”

”Hero?” he scoffed. He caught the shackles as they fell away so there would be no clatter. ”I wouldn’t call you a hero. Go ahead, abandon me again. I’m not going to owe you.”

”Stop being such a baby,” I retorted, ignoring the sting of his words and the guilt they dredged up. ”I”m here now, aren”t I?”

”Here to save the day?” Dare challenged, his eyes narrowing as he rubbed at his chafed wrists.

”Something like that.” I offered him a sardonic smile, all the while the sight of him, hurt and vulnerable, tugged viciously at my heart. Viciously, and unexpectedly. ”Let”s go. You”re too ugly to play the damsel in distress.”

It was a lie. Dare wasn”t ugly at all.

”Charming,” he grumbled, but there was a spark in his gaze.

I shouldn”t have left him. The realization gnawed at me, even though I had felt trapped . . . what was I going to do? He wouldn”t want to let me charge off to do things my way.

I needed to make sure Dare, Thorne, and Kaelan were all safe and free. Too bad they were all impossible in their own ways.

Dare climbed down from his cage.

”Glad you”re here, princess,” he told me, and I couldn”t quite read it. ”Now don”t get killed on our way out.”

”Same. I”d hate for you to waste my time.”

His lips curled just faintly over that sharp, chiseled jaw. His eyes glinted down at me.

”Left or right?” I whispered, my voice laced with urgency, though I masked it with a playful undertone. ”We have to make it past their wards, and if they”re wise, they”re set to keep enemies in as well as out.”

”Your sense of direction is pathetic,” he murmured back. ”I”ll lead.”

”And yet you followed me out of your cage,” I teased, my voice dripping with faux sweetness.

We slipped past a tent, the fabric brushing against my arm, leaving a trail of goose bumps in its wake. The air was thick with magic.

Dare and I paused, studying the tents and wards, traps and carts that blocked our way out. We didn”t have long until the guard began his rounds again and found the empty cage.

Dare leaned in, his breath warm against the shell of my ear. ”Try not to be too reckless tonight. I still have to keep my promises to Kaelan.”

”You should”ve kept your promises by not needing my rescue.” I offered sweetly.

His lips parted, the light in his eyes telling me that he had quite the barb ready.

A sudden laugh from nearby stole the moment, and we froze. Our troll came into view, an axe over his shoulder that made me feel more amused by him than I had before.

”Behind here,” I hissed, pulling him toward a cluster of barrels.

As we crouched behind our makeshift cover, Dare”s shoulder and mine pressed together. His scent, spicy and warm and pleasant even after the day”s exertion, washed over me. His warmth pressed through my shirt, and it was a pleasant surprise. Kaelan always felt cool to the touch, as if ice ran through his veins literally as well as metaphorically.

”Tight quarters,” he mouthed.

Was Dare complaining we were too close? He must hate the way he felt around me.

Then a new realization was a sudden flame in my chest.

Dare didn”t hate me at all.

”You know the old saying: nothing brings two people together quite like being hunted by monsters raised by one deranged royal or another.”

”I never heard that before. Whoever coined that must”ve been insane.” There was no mistaking the genuine amusement in his gaze.

In the dim light, his eyes held mine. The guard”s footsteps crunched over the ground nearby, and someone sleeping in one of the tents cursed him sleepily for being so loud. I bit my lower lip, amused again, and Dare”s lips quirked upward, as if my smile made him smile.

The guard”s footsteps faded, but not far enough. He paused, forcing us to stay concealed. The minutes were dripping by. What if someone else discovered the empty cage? We exchanged a look.

Dare whispered, ”We could shift and you could reduce this place to cinders. I couldn”t shift while I was bound. There was some enchantment… hopefully, it was only on the chain itself.”

My heart leaped at the thought of calling my flames. I gave him a nod, then focused on my magic.

But as I willed my body to change, a cold shiver of realization crawled up my spine. Nothing happened. No scales sprouted, no wings unfurled.

I glanced at Dare, seeing similar frustration etch his features.

He growled. ”It”s a warding spell. A bloody trap.”

”Of course, it is,” I muttered. ”Because this night wasn”t going poorly enough already.”

Dare shot me a look that could curdle milk. ”You came back for me. If you were going to abandon me in the first place, you shouldn”t have. Now we”re both stuck.”

”I know. Stupid of me to care about your life.” But what choice did I have, really?

The guard moved away, and we crept toward the edge of the camp. Then he shouted in the distance, from the general direction of the cage. The two of us winced and took off running.

The camp erupted into chaos as the Fae came flying out of their tents.

Twelve Fae of various shapes and sizes, each more menacing than the last, began to try to circle us. A hulking pair of ogres. Another goblin with jagged teeth bared in a grotesque smile, gripping twin daggers. Insubstantial forms that tried to get into the shadows, to slip around behind our backs.

”Fantastic,” I murmured, sliding a blade out of its sheath and pressing it into Dare”s hand. Our fingers brushed, sending a current of electricity between us despite the dire circumstances.

”Against twelve? Your optimism is adorable,” Dare gripped the knife, ready for the fight.

”You”re just jealous, because when the gods passed out gifts, no one poured any positivity in your cup.” We backed away slowly, searching for any advantage. ”I have faith in the two of us together.”

I had to get to Kaelan. I couldn”t fail him and Thorne.

The varied assembly of Fae moved in. There was yet another gods-damned orc with a stupid smile and an excessively large hammer, and he took a step out into the lead toward us.

”Any last-minute plans?” Dare demanded.

”Still working on it.” There had to be a way out. There always was. ”So far, I”m on ”don”t die.””

”I think you”re missing some steps between now and our triumphant survival.”

The orc rushed us, and we moved forward to meet him. The others followed, as if the dam had been broken. And then Dare and I were moving together, fighting and parrying.

Dare managed to slip in close to the orc and drove his knife into his stomach. Leaving the knife in the orc”s undulating fat, he wrenched the axe out of his hand as the orc fell. Then he was moving again, now with a far larger weapon that he still wielded with finesse and ease, as if it weighed nothing more than his dagger.

”Watch your left!” I shouted, spinning to meet a goblin”s mace with the flat of my sword, the impact vibrating up my arm.

Dare was at my back, his presence a fierce comfort as he knocked aside a dryad”s whip.

”Nice work,” he grunted, ducking under a banshee”s scream that sliced through the air, palpable as a blade.

The truth was, fighting beside Dare felt right, even in the midst of chaos.

He slammed the axe down on one of the Fae, who crumpled, leaving a gap in their ranks.

”Now! Run!” I shouted, following him as the two of us raced for the edge of their perimeter.

A telltale shimmer spread across the air: a ward, and it might be just as much to keep us in as to keep other enemies out.

”Stop!” I reached out to halt Dare, but it was too late.

His foot crossed the invisible line, and the world seemed to slow. A net of glowing runes shot up from the ground, wrapping him in golden light.

His back arched, his fingers spasming in pain by his face.

”Damn it,” he cursed. ”These are soul-snaring runes. They”ll drain me.”

Until he died.

My gaze flicked between the approaching monsters and Dare”s grimace of pain. The trap was clever, designed to incapacitate even a dragon without resorting to brute force. With each passing second, the runes glowed brighter, feeding off his energy, growing stronger.

”Can you break it?” My voice was calm, though panic clawed at my insides.

“I can absorb all the magic so you can escape the wards.” The fact that he didn’t answer my direct question—and didn’t bother with sarcasm—spoke to just how bad this situation was.

His eyes met mine. “Get ready to run, Hanna.”

One of us could disrupt the runes” pattern, absorb their curse, but at a terrible cost.

”Like hell.” I stepped forward, my hands lifting as my magic sparked at my fingers, as I tried to feel out the edges of the ever-strengthening ward. ”You don’t get to play the martyr, Dare. I don’t want to have to like you.”

A wry smile touched his lips, laced with the bitterness of our shared predicament. ”Don”t do anything foolish, Hanna.”

”Too late for that. I came back for you, remember?” I studied the ground, raising my light to illuminate the dark ground. The enemies at our back had paused, afraid to enter the circle of destruction that they expected would snap us up.

But there it was. The rune, darker than the soil itself, but just faintly so, was carved into the black earth.

As I watched, the rune pulsed ominously. Dare’s lips curled back in pain he didn’t voice.

”Guess Kaelan never mentioned I”m a champion of spycraft, and that includes breaking traps.”

”Champion of foolishness, more like it,” Dare shot back, his voice strained with both concern and the effort to resist. His eyes, usually so cold and steely, were edged with panic.

”Watch and learn, darling.” I reached toward the pulsating runes as I called my magic. The magic crackled, snapping at my fingers like a snake.

The runes drew our magic along with our soul. I would feed it more magic than it could manage.

I gathered all my magic into a bright ball, imagining it slamming into this rune.

And then I forced my magic down. The dark symbol pulsed in alternating black and fiery gold as my magic fought to overwhelm its power.

My vision blurred into a kaleidoscope of pain and power, the world distorting around the edges.

Dare”s voice cut through the chaos, a blend of anger and desperation. ”Hanna!”

But it worked.

The runes unraveled, expanding outward in a burst of light before it dissipated to nothing.

The force threw me backward, my body limp as a rag doll.

A pair of strong arms caught me. Dare had moved with impossible speed to catch me.

The world had turned dark around the edges. I managed to focus on Dare”s face hovering above mine. My lips moved, trying to tell him I’d accept his undying gratitude, but I couldn’t seem to get more than a rasp out.

His eyes, usually the piercing green of some hard stone, were clouded with dread. ”You reckless, infuriating, stupid?—”

I smiled even as the shadows coiled tighter around me. I wasn’t sure if my attempt to speak was intelligible or not. ”All part of my charm.”

I must be dying, because Dare didn”t tell me that I wasn”t charming at all.

Instead, he clutched me tightly as he shifted and launched us up, away from our enemies, leaving the shattered wards behind us.

And I clung to him as darkness fell.

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