Ninety-Four Samkiel

It’s fine. Everything is fine.I repeated the words to myself, running my fingers over the thick band of my ring. Perhaps it was the loss of her soul that had spurred this overprotectiveness. Or perhaps I had always been this way with her. I hated being apart from her for any length of time. Something terrible always seemed to happen. I sighed and gripped my ring, closing my eyes as I ran my thumb and forefinger over it. It had been longer than five minutes since I reached out this time. I just needed to hear her voice across my mind, and then I’d be fine . . . at least for another five minutes.

I pulled on our connection but was stopped by a thick wall. My eyes snapped open, my blood running cold. There was nothing there. No spark or tingle across my subconscious. No warmth. She’d taken her ring off. My heart pounded, terror gripping me. I knew there was only one reason she would do so. It meant she was in danger, and she thought she was keeping me safe.

Damn stubborn woman.

“Roccurem!” I bellowed, and he immediately formed in the room. I was already on my feet and pulling on my coat.

“Yes, my—”

His words died on shattered glass and broken wood. The windows erupted into the room, and we both looked down as the small devices came to rest on the floor. They beeped once before exploding into a cloud of piercing white noise and deep gray smoke.

MY EARS RANG AS I SAT UP, MY CHEST HEAVING. I COUGHED, TRYING to clear my lungs, and rubbed my eyes. My vision cleared, and the world came rushing back. Sound returned as my ears healed, and the first thing I heard clearly were the screams. I pushed a large wooden support beam off me and started shifting the stone, trying to dig myself out.

“Secure the fate,” I heard someone say. “She needs it whole.”

I stilled and lifted my head. The fate? They were here for Roccurem.

Smoke filled the room in a thick haze, but I could make out the shine of gold and black armor. Nismera’s soldiers. Fuck. They had found us, which meant this was all a setup. I pushed from the rubble and lunged to my feet, several of those golden helmets turning toward me. One soldier held chains that shimmered with silver power. They were wrapping them so tightly around Roccurem that I was glad the fate didn’t need to breathe to live.

“Who—”

I kicked him across the room, watching as he hit the wall and lay still. My back erupted in pain, and I hissed before spinning. The soldier held his sword to his side, already preparing for another attack. I darted forward, and we met in the middle. He raised the blade, and I grabbed his wrist, twisting until I felt his bones snap. His sword fell, and I snatched it out of the air before it could hit the ground. His eyes dilated a fraction as he witnessed my speed. One swipe, and I sliced his head clean off.

The air moved behind me, and I shifted my weight to kick out, catching the charging soldier in the stomach. His body slammed against the wall, and I chucked the sword at him so hard it pierced his chest plate. The force of the blade held him impaled against the wall.

I squinted. It was still too hazy to see clearly, and from the sounds Roccurem was making, those chains were also designed to hurt him. Fuck. Footsteps echoed, and I dropped to the floor as two soldiers swung their blades toward my head. Summoning an ablaze dagger, I swept my leg out in a low kick, taking both men to the ground and stabbing them through the neck.

Roccurem was coughing and moaning when I reached him, his skin fluttering as his form begged to be released from the shell he wore. I hauled him over my shoulder and ran out the door without bothering to look back. He coughed as I jumped the stairs, landing in a crouch.

Shouts came from above, various cries for backup, which meant I only had a few minutes to get out of there and find Dianna.

“Miska,” I muttered. “Where was she?”

Roccurem coughed again. “Study.”

“Okay,” I said. “This is going to hurt, but once you get the chains off, find Dianna. She’s in danger.”

Without waiting for his response, I tossed him through the broken door and into the empty shop building across the street, away from the smoke. Perhaps I was helping him, or perhaps I was still mad about how much he had kept from me, the secrets he had shared with my wife. Above the chaos, I heard him land and take a deep breath, sighing in relief, not pain.

I started toward the study door behind the staircase but stopped when guards pounded down the stairs.

“While my first instinct is to beat you all until you explain how you found us and this place,” I gathered power in my palm, “I have more important things to worry about.”

I lifted my hand, and a blast of wind slammed into them. As strong as any violent storm, it twisted the soldiers in a circle. A tornado of gold armor and debris spun, held in place by my power. I threw it toward the doors, tossing them down the road and away from the house. My side screamed, and my legs nearly collapsed from the effort that alone took. I needed to get this done and quickly.

On the plus side, the small tornado had sucked the smoke out with it, making breathing much easier. I ran to the study and threw open the door. Miska lay on the floor by the desk. The markers Roccurem had given her were still in her hand, and the journal she’d been coloring in was opened before her.

I lifted her to me, cradling her small form against my chest. I headed for the door, pulling her closer to check on her. Relief flooded me to feel her heart still beat, and while her breaths were short and shallow, she was alive. I wondered if the smoke had knocked her out, but I didn’t question it further as I stepped out of the broken building. Roccurem solidified from dark mist, whole and unharmed.

Roccurem held his arms out, and I gently transferred Miska to him.

“The gas may have been too strong for her, but she’s alive and breathing,” I said.

Roccurem nodded. “They know where we are, which means they know where she is.”

“I know,” I said, blinking to clear my vision further. “I need to get to her. Did you find her?”

A look crossed Roccurem’s face before he shook his head. “The smoke’s effects are still too strong. I’ll need time.”

“We don’t have time,” I growled. “I’ll send you back to the castle. Wait for us there.”

Roccurem glanced at my side, knowing the wound might slow me down. “As you wish.”

The air blinked in and out as the portal tried and failed to open. The pain in my abdomen doubled me over, but I gritted my teeth and tried again. This time, the portal formed with a whoosh, and I sucked in a deep breath, fighting against the pain. I felt Roccurem’s eyes on me, and I nodded. He turned to the open portal but paused and looked over his shoulder. I felt it, too. Fuck.

I steeled my back, straightening my posture. A group of gray-winged soldiers stood in the middle of the road. At their head stood Ennas. He was the older brother to Milani, the Queen of Trugarums, and one of the most prolific and ruthless generals I’d ever encountered.

“You . . . It’s been you all along. You’re the one she has been protecting, not the fate.” Ennas placed one powerful hand on his midsection and threw his head back as he laughed, his powerful wings flaring behind him. The guards around him did not move.

The way his armor curved around his shoulders always reminded me of talons, and a feather-like pattern was etched into his boots, chest plate, and helmet.

“Roccurem.” My thumb rotated the ring on my middle finger, and silver armor, starting at my toes, raced up my body, stopping at my neck. “Take Miska and go home. I’ll be there shortly with Dianna,” I said.

It was the first time I’d ever seen apprehension from the fate. He stared at the small army in front of us and nodded. “As you wish, but please be careful.”

A half-smirk graced my lips as my helmet formed. “This will not take long.”

Roccurem stepped through the portal, and I closed it behind him.

Ennas curled his lip, gripping his helmet a fraction tighter. “Still so arrogant.”

I cocked my head and summoned an ablaze longsword, pointing it toward him.

“You mistake arrogance for the truth. You are no match for me, not even with all your men behind you.”

Ennas grinned a fraction wider before placing his helmet on his head and securing it under his chin. He grabbed the feather-tipped broadsword from its sheath across his back. “The great and powerful World Ender escapes death itself. I should be surprised, yet . . . I’m not. Want to tell me how you did it?”

I shrugged. “I’d rather just split your head from your shoulders.”

He raised his blade toward the sky, and the army charged.