Chapter 45

45

TREYTON

I hold Kassandra tight against my chest as I kick open the door to my room and hurry into the hallway.

It’s absolute fucking chaos.

Guards run in every direction—at least those who haven’t been crushed by the caving roof. Staff members scream, and someone is sobbing in the distance.

And there, beneath a collection of cement, is the young female Kassandra introduced me to just a few ticks earlier.

Bailey’s eyes are wide and unseeing, and her lips are parted as if she had been about to scream before death claimed her. Blood trickles from her lips, and there’s even more blood surrounding her head, darkening her fair hair.

“What the fuck is happening?” Aleksander rushes towards me, his eyes wild with panic—an emotion I’ve never seen before on the seemingly unflappable elf.

His shoulders seem to physically sag in relief when he catches sight of Kassandra in my arms, unconscious but alive.

Then he notices the young girl buried beneath piles of cement.

“Gaia,” Aleksander curses, dropping to his knees.

He brings a hand to her lashes and shuts them, obscuring her eyes from view.

Permanently.

Grief threatens to claw at my chest, but now isn’t the time to give in to my emotions. I need to get the fuck out of here. Now.

I cradle Kassandra closer against my chest as panic rattles my nerves.

I haven’t been to Blaze’s castle in…who the fuck knows how long? I have no idea how to navigate these hallways.

“What is happening?” Aleksander demands again, unsheathing his sword and holding it at the ready. “Are we under attack?”

“I think it’s the Mark of Chaos!” I have to raise my voice to be heard over the screams, cries, and shouts.

I twist Kassandra’s body slightly so Aleksander can see the jagged mark on her smooth flesh, currently a vibrant shade of red. It seems to be glowing from within, as if someone lit a candle beneath the surface.

“Shit!” Aleksander stares at Kassandra for a moment longer, but he doesn’t demand I hand her over.

Which is good, because I wouldn’t give her to him, even if he asked.

Instead, he steps in front of me, sweeping his eyes in both directions. “We need to get the fuck out of here before we’re buried alive.”

“You’re fucking telling me.” I shift Kassandra slightly so she’s more secure and then take off after Aleksander.

At first, I have no idea where he’s going—he seems to be taking pathways at random—but then I realize that he isn’t just guessing the direction.

He’s following the sounds of screams.

Bile scorches my throat like claws tipped in acid.

All of this carnage and destruction…

All of these dead fae…

I pray Kassandra doesn’t wake up until we’re free of the castle. I don’t want her to have to see this and blame herself.

There are over a dozen bodies on the ground, all of them twisted in unnatural ways. All of them covered in blood. All of them staring straight ahead, their vacant eyes penetrating my soul.

The walls continue to crumble around us. Huge pieces of cement drop like fucking raindrops—if each raindrop were the size of a ball and ten times heavier.

We reach a fork in the hallway, but before Aleksander can lead us down one way, a door opens, and Blaze and King Darius come running forward. Blaze’s eyes immediately home in on Kassandra like moths drawn to a flame.

His pace quickens until he comes to a stop in front of me, his chest heaving, his eyes wild, his hair covered in debris. He reaches for Kassandra…and then immediately drops his arms back to his sides, a muscle in his jaw twitching. He grabs the battle ax he always keeps on his back and swings it in a smooth arc.

“Protect her with your Gaiadamn life!” he roars.

I want to snap at him that I’m already doing just that but realize he’s offering me something he never gave me before—trust. He knows that he’s a better fighter than I am, so he’s willing to lead the charge with Aleksander, and he’s trusting me to keep an eye on Kassandra.

So instead of retorting, I simply nod once and tighten my grip around the female I love.

The female I’m beginning to believe we all love.

“What the bloody hell is happening here?” King Darius demands.

He sweeps his gaze over the dead bodies on the ground, and genuine grief splays across his face.

“I don’t know,” Aleksander lies easily. “Perhaps we’re under attack?”

Blaze’s eyes flicker to Kassandra’s arm—to the mark on her skin, nearly iridescent currently—for a fraction of a tick before he quickly looks away.

“Get your mate out of here, son,” King Darius tells Blaze, clamping his hand down on the prince’s shoulder. “I’m going to save as many fae as I can.”

Blaze looks as if he wants to argue—whether to demand King Darius come with us or for him to go with King Darius, I can’t tell—but one glance at Kassandra has him assenting without a noise of complaint.

“Be safe, son.” King Darius gives Blaze a loaded look before turning his gaze towards me and Kassandra. “Take care of that girl, Princeling. You hear me?”

And with that, King Darius breaks into a run—directly into the chaos.

I wonder if my father would run into the collapsing castle to save his citizens…or if he would run in the opposite direction as fast as he can.

My guess is the latter.

“Start talking. Now,” Blaze demands as he leads us down a hallway and then skirts to the left.

“We were talking. Her mark started lighting up, and then she fell back in pain…” I swallow as I recall the agony etched across my mate’s face before unconsciousness claimed her. “And then the entire fucking castle started crumbling down around us.”

“We need to get her to the Bone King,” Aleksander says firmly. “Now.”

“I’m going to kill whomever did this to her,” Blaze growls, and I can’t help but agree.

Anger coils in my stomach, a serpent waiting to strike.

Kassandra won’t give a damn about the pain she was in. No, my mate will be broken by all of the senseless death. Death…that occurred because of the mark on her arm. She’ll blame herself, and I can’t allow that to happen.

I know firsthand how deep you can spiral when you lose yourself to your self-loathing and self-hatred.

A wave of panic and paranoia upends all rational thoughts.

What if Kassandra did what I tried to do? Yes, it was the Forest that caused me to put the noose around my neck, but hadn’t the thought crossed my mind on more than one occasion over the years? What if she?—?

I realize I’m falling into a canyon I have no hope of climbing free of. I work to regulate my breathing.

Kassandra’s here.

She’s alive.

She’s safe.

She’s safe.

I allow that last thought to sink in and marinate as I pick up my pace. I may be smaller than Blaze and Aleksander, but I’m just as fast, even while carrying Kassandra’s body.

Fortunately, there are no threats that Blaze and Aleksander need to dispatch.

We break through a side door and spill out into a world ravaged by storms. Thunder crackles overhead, and a burst of white light explodes in the sky above.

“Fuck!” Blaze is as tense as a loaded spring.

He glances back at the castle helplessly.

Just as the entire structure caves in on itself in a flurry of wood, cement, and clay.

I fall to the ground and throw myself on top of Kassandra, trying to protect her from any loose materials. Something heavy hits my back, and pain spirals through me.

“No!” Blaze gasps in horror.

“Treyton?” Pale-blue eyes blink up at me, saturated with pain. Her hands tremble as she attempts to sign. “What’s happening?”

“Everything will be okay,” I rush to reassure her, even as something hard lands directly between my shoulder blades. I grit my teeth together and hiss out air. “I promise.”

Her sharp exhale of breath trails over my neck, exacerbating my goose bumps.

“Are you okay?” Aleksander crouches down beside us and rolls me off of her.

When my back touches the ground, pain explodes within me. I grunt out something that may have been a curse, may have been a scream.

And in front of us, where the castle once was…

There’s nothing but debris.

Blaze is bleeding from a wound on his head—and there are numerous bruises scattered throughout his body—but he doesn’t seem to notice any of them as he drops to his knees and howls his despair to the sky.

The sound seems to shake some life back into Kassandra. She immediately attempts to sit up, but Aleksander places a hand on her stomach to stop her. She swats it away with an irritated hiss and finally drags herself into a sitting position. Pain dances across her face, made all the more prominent by the bruise just above her right eye.

She spots the remains of the castle right away, and her lower lip begins to tremble.

Turning towards me, desperation fueling her movements, she signs, “Bailey? The guards? King Darius?” She pauses and then adds, “Runt?”

I slowly shake my head.

I see the exact moment her expression shutters.

The exact moment grief closes around her throat like a noose.

The exact moment despair and self-loathing war for dominance inside of her.

A strangled sob escapes her, and she lowers her face to her hands and cries.

Aleksander immediately wraps an arm around her and pulls her into his side. He whispers something to her, too low for me to hear, and she sniffles and clings to him. Over her shoulder, he gives me a look I cannot read but interpret anyway.

Blaze and Kassandra are both lost in their grief, but I can go see if there are any survivors. Maybe… Maybe Kassandra will be able to heal them. I don’t want her to use her powers and be in pain, but I know she won’t live with herself if she didn’t do everything within her power to save all the lives she can.

So I get up, and I walk.

For the longest time, I only find bodies.

Body after body after body after fucking body.

All dead.

But as I move around the perimeter of the crash site, I hear tiny whimpers that drag my feet forward, towards a pile of boards. I grab the largest one and heave it up.

Alarm and relief wrestle in my chest at the sight of Runt, alive and well, his tiny pink tongue out as he pants.

“Holy fuck,” I breathe, removing another board.

The pacon wiggles his tiny body out from the pile and falls to his belly at my feet. He’s covered in scratches, and his back leg is twisted at an odd angle, but he’s alive.

He’s fucking alive.

“I am so glad to see you,” I breathe as the pacon’s eyes flutter shut.

And then the strangest thing happens.

A white, fluttery powder surrounds the pacon and expands upwards like particles of dust. I take an automatic step backwards as golden light explodes from the creature’s body. That’s the only word I can think of to use. Explodes .

Silhouetted in the detonation of light, I see the pacon’s body change and distort. Its legs lengthen, as do its arms, and its horns recede back into its hairline.

The light dissipates gradually, and I find myself not looking at a pacon…but at a fae.

A naked, male fae.

A naked, male, familiar fae.

“Holy fuck,” I repeat, but this time for an entirely different reason.

Holy fuck.