Chapter 109

Istalked into the darkness of the tunnels beneath the Jade Castle, my boots thumping on the rough, rocky floor, fire crawling up my arms, ice crusting my fingertips, vines coiling across the ground before me and air lifting my raven hair so it billowed at my back.

The deep timbre of my husband's footsteps echoed mine, one step behind and to my left, the monster in him making his presence echo through the space with its power.

My sister stepped out of the shadows and began walking at my side, her mate falling in at her back too, teeth bared and the scent of death calling to the beast in him.

A pack of hellhounds trailed us, every one of them a monster of their own making, power resonating in every step as we closed in on our prey.

"All hail the Savage Queens," Geraldine called into the hall of our enemy. "And pray to the stars that they offer you a swift death."

"He's too frantic," Gabriel muttered as we strode through the darkness of the caves which spread out beneath the mountain which had once held the Jade Castle. "He's bolting, picking directions at random – I can't get a good read on where he'll end up."

I nodded, exchanging a look with Darcy. "Then we split up. Close in on him from every side."

"He can't run forever," Darcy agreed in a low tone.

We'd left Melinda Altair and Tiberius Rigel with Tharix, all three of them guarding the entrance to the tunnels along with the remainder of our army so we knew Lionel wouldn't make it out that way and the Oscuras had taken up position around the edges of the mountains that filled the basin the battle had taken place in. Which meant we simply had to find the False King within the bowels of the mountain and force him to face our reckoning at last.

Without another word, we split off at the next junction, Darcy taking the lefthand tunnel with Orion, Xavier, Geraldine and Max, me taking the right with Darius, Seth, Caleb and Gabriel.

I kept my pace in check, resisting the urge to run, instead simply hunting my prey through the echoing tunnels.

A cry reverberated through the passages and we paused, exchanging looks.

"That wasn't Lionel," Gabriel muttered.

We walked on.

Death was riding the beat of my heart, the culmination of the deal I'd struck with The Ferryman so close and yet infuriatingly out of reach. I was battle-worn, bloodsoaked and drowning in the grief of all it had taken to get to this point, but we couldn't stop until it was done.

Another fork in our path and Seth and Caleb silently peeled away from us, power crackling around them as they strode off into the dark.

My steps didn't falter but the cavern began to slope downwards, a dank coldness creeping over my limbs.

Grunts and bangs echoed up from the distant darkness, but we said nothing of them, our focus set and purpose clear. Lionel Acrux had taken so much from us, so much from everyone in our kingdom and the end of his reign had finally come calling for him.

At the next fork, Gabriel silently slipped away, leaving me alone with the hellion I had chosen to bind my life to.

Darius offered me a grim smile, the darkness almost entirely concealing his features and I let my fingers brush against his, coiling around them for a brief moment before releasing him again.

"Death doesn't seem so terrifying with you by my side," I told him.

"Not now that I know we will face it together," he agreed roughly. "But let's leave that adventure for another day, shall we?"

My lips curved and I pressed on into the dark, a Faelight springing from my fingertips and twisting away down the roughly-hewn cavern.

I sucked in a sharp breath as a face was revealed in the darkness, a man pressed into the shadows of a crumbling hunk of rock, clearly trying to remain undetected.

A vicious snarl lifted my lips as I recognised Vard, his pathetic, quivering form cowering against the damp stone wall.

"Oh look – a gift," Darius purred.

Vard screamed, the left side of his badly-burned face twisting into gruesome, bloody welts that oozed blood and pus.

"Where is Lionel?" I demanded, my flames flaring around me.

"He was deeper in the tunnels," Vard gasped, backing away from us with his hands raised. "Please, I was just his servant. I never wanted to-"

"Oh you wanted to," I replied in a low growl. "You forget that I was your plaything for a long time, Vard. I saw the pleasure you took in the pain you doled out and I know that you sought that position for your own sadistic needs. There is no part of me which will buy in to you playing the victim now."

"I…yes, you were my creature once, but I-"

"That's where you're entirely mistaken, you piece of shit," Darius snarled, sheathing the axe on his back and forging a wicked-looking dagger from ice instead. "She was never yours. And you signed your own death warrant the very first time you dared to come near her."

Vard backed up, his hands raising in some pathetic attempt to defend himself but as I strode towards him at the side of my monster, we all knew how this was going to end.

"What was it I promised I'd do to you?" Darius mused, violence dripping from him until it stained the air we breathed and the stone we passed through. "Oh yes, I think I said I'd rip you open and tear your insides out while you watched."

Vard's eyes widened with terror at the memory of that threat and my smile widened viciously.

"Oh, I think I'd enjoy seeing that."