Wicked Curse (The Royals: Warlock Court Book 4)

by Megan Montero

  “Of course, I’ll help you…” He calmed for a fraction of a second. Then his eyes began to glow bright blue once more. “…kill every single one of them.”

  Logan staggered to his feet. “What about me? I can help.”

  “We’re going to need you to be at the ready. Save your energy.” I turned to face out toward the legions and let a calm wash over me. “I’ll take the ones to the right, Nova down the center. Beckett to the left.”

  The bindings dropped from Beckett and he took a step out to the left. He glanced at me as though debating whether to jump down there again. Instead, he straightened his stance and gave me a casual shrug. “I prefer to be on the winning side.”

  That smile, his casual manner, the cold power running off him sent chills down my spine. I didn’t know what this place was doing to him, but I could only pray that when we got back, he’d return to the Beckett I knew.

  Kylian chuckled. “Hey, Red, I’m not without my own set of gifts.”

  “Then let hell rain down on them. And may the creator have mercy on their souls. Because I won’t.” Cold determination overcame me as we all lined up on the edge of that shell and looked out into the faces of what could be our death. Only one thought went through my mind as I slowly raised my hands over my head and let power gather. Not today, Satan. Not today. Kill each other, now!

  I threw my hands forward and a wave of golden magic exploded out of me. I forced every ounce of my charm to speak into that wave. It flowed over thousands of the Unseelie, seeping between them like a snake. The moment it hit them, they broke out into pure hell, attacking one another viciously. They turned those bodybuilder physiques on one another, smashing down with war hammers, stabbing each other with swords and wrestling one another to the ground. From this height, we could see them crawl over each other, writhing, fighting and screaming.

  “You FOOLS!” Nylore’s voice boomed over the crowed. “Stop!”

  But they didn’t. My power washed over them like a tidal wave. I felt it deep in my bones and knew I had them clutched within it. Beside me, Nova yanked off her gloves and purple magic surrounded her hands like fire. It shot from her hands like flame throwers, covering the Unseelie in it. The moment her power touched them, it was pure death. There was no fighting, no resisting. They dropped to the ground like their necks had been snapped. Everywhere her power touched, there was nothing left but a trail of bodies. My eyes widened and my jaw dropped. I had no idea. Amazing.

  “Don’t look at me like that. Some of us only have death to walk with.” Her whole body lit up bright purple and she fired once more, killing thousands with just a single touch of her magic.

  On the other side of her, those black blood vines lifted up into the air like some kind of underwater sea monster. They writhed and twisted through the troops, knocking them to the ground, strangling them or just dragging them away. Beckett threw back his head, laughing at the destruction. When he looked down at himself, marveling at the power that came from him, I knew we were in trouble. He’d never relished the thought of hurting others. Now he wasn’t the Beckett I knew. This thing was the Dustwick heir… and truly Corvin’s son.

  A chill when down my spine, but I had no time to fix him now. There was nothing to do here but survive. My heart hammered in my chest and adrenaline pumped through my veins. I reached out with my other hand and envisioned exactly what I wanted to happen. In the distance, the sound of falling water filled the air and I smiled. Nylore’s head snapped up and our eyes met. I winked and let the water flow. A wave the size of a building rolled over my half of the army. I held it there, letting it take them all under. With my other hand, I convinced the others to continue killing off one another.

  Nylore’s red irises glowed a deadly color and he raised his arm. “Fire!”

  A volley of arrows blacked out the sky and I froze. Kylian yelled over the whistling, “I got this.”

  His hands glowed a fiery copper and he slammed them into the wall behind us. Huge sheets of slate fell off. He nodded to Soto. “You’re up.”

  With the flick of her wrists, those sheets shot out in front of us like shields. The arrows thunked into them. Nylore threw back his head, roaring to the gray skies. Kylian kept his hands on that wall and a row of arrows fell out next, dropping down next to Ashryn. She nodded to him. “Thanks.”

  One after another, she let her arrows fly. Not once did she miss. All of her targets fell to the ground with an arrow jutting from their heads. The wall rattled once more and huge boulders fell down.

  Soto chuckled. “Is this the bowling game you were telling me about?”

  “Just throw the damn balls,” Kylian gritted out.

  Those boulders went flying across the field, flattening all in their path. They bounced and moved, making the whole world shake. The Unseelie screamed and ran for cover. Blue smoke and tentacles continued to decimate Beckett’s side. Nova’s path was silent and still like a graveyard. If the creatures in my area weren’t fighting among each other, they were caught in my swirling pool. And this right here was why. Why the Fallen wanted us to join forces. Why we needed to learn our powers. It wasn’t just the fate of Evermore on the line. It was the fate of the world.

  “Fire in the hole!” Kylian bellowed and a dozen huge bombs dropped to the ground behind me.

  Beckett threw back his head and chuckled. His blue magic grabbed those bombs and launched them out over the field. One by one, they hit the army. Bright fire exploded over them, lighting up this gray world in red light. Smoke billowed and the ground shook under my feet. We were… winning. How was this possible?

  “NO!” Nylore bellowed over the sound of his dying army. He drew his sword from the sheath on his back and held it out in front of him.

  This dude needed to die. I shot my power at him, willing him to fall on his own sword. He swung out, batting it away like it was nothing. What the hell?

  Nova arched an eyebrow at him and let her purple sparks flow all around him. Yet he spun in a circle, swinging his sword and knocking away her power like he held a shield around him. Beckett gave me a sideways glance, and I got the message loud and clear. We fired at the same time, aiming right for his chest, yet he stood with that sword out in front of him, blocking our power. How was this possible? For him to stop all of us?

  Kylian growled low in his throat. “Drop a bomb on him.”

  “ENOUGH!” A voice boomed from inside the castle. “Nylore, take what you have left.”

  “NO! Sire, let me finish them.” Anger rolled off him in waves.

  I looked to that dark, jagged castle for any sign of life, yet I saw nothing, only darkness and shadows. Nothing moved and I didn’t know who was in there. I glanced back to Soto and she paled. She took a small step behind Kylian. “The… the king.”

  I held my hand at the ready, full of power. Logan staggered toward me and grabbed my hand, extinguishing my power. “No, don’t. You have no idea.”

  “Nylore, collect yourself. The battle is lost this day.” And then I felt the power vanish as if it were never there. A command from the shadows, yet somehow what was left of the army began to limp away. There were barely a thousand left and I wanted the rest of them gone.

  Logan tightened his grip on my hand. “No, he’s called them back. We must go.”

  Nylore jumped off his pillar. “This isn’t over. I will hunt you down.”

  Soto motioned down into the canyon. “Come on. I think I know a way out, but we have to move quickly.”

  Stay or fight? That was the question. We didn’t know what power Nylore had or where the powerful shadow came from. Did we take our chances and try to kill what we witnessed as unkillable or did we run to get back to our most powerful warriors? We were here for one reason and one reason only. “We got what we came here for. Let’s go.”

  “No. How can you let them just walk away? We’ve got them on the run.” Beckett began to light up like a reactor.

  I looked to Kylian. “Take him out.”

  A devil
ish smile spread across his face. “With pleasure.”

  Chapter 38

  Astrid

  Kylian brushed his finger to the wall and long strips of thick slate came out. Soto moved to his side and shot them at Beckett. They wrapped around his body like a spider web, pinning his arms to his sides. Blue smoke began to flow around him and I felt his magic roll. I closed my eyes for a moment and took a step toward him. I laid my hand over his cheek.

  “Forgive me.”

  I didn’t want to do it, didn’t want to bind him this way, but if we didn’t move now, we would all be lost. I let my power flow over him, imagining it containing all his magic within my boundary. A faint glow wrapped around him, holding him in.

  “I will never forgive you!” His eyes blazed and blue smoke covered his body but stayed within my boundary.

  “Nova, you got Logan? Kylian, you got Beckett. Soto, lead the way.” They all stopped and stared at me. “What? Let’s move, now.”

  They all jumped to action and I followed Soto toward the edge of the cliff. We’d gotten this high up because of Beckett. Now it would be up to me to get us down. I looked over the side down into the deep cavernous canyon surrounding the castle. “So what’s the way out?”

  She pointed down to the castle. “Rumor has it that there’s an Unseelie entrance just there.”

  “Under the freaking castle? You’ve got to be kidding me.” There were so many dark corners in that canyon and it was a labyrinth of jagged pillars and dark shadows.

  Logan nodded. “I think it’s close to where they kept me. I used to see the glowing, like when that asshole would travel back and forth.”

  “After them!” Nylore pointed his long sword in our direction. There were ten Unseelie soldiers standing around me. Some I recognized as the ones outside of the bar the night he slaughtered one of his own kind for two coins. The others were battle-worn, soaked and beaten down. Horrible snarls covered their faces and each of them looked ready to murder.

  “I thought the king told him to retreat?” Why was my voice coming out so high?

  “Looks like he’s not following orders.” Kylian grabbed Beckett and dropped him down the side of the cliff. He jumped after him and landed on top of him like he was his own personal toboggan. I grabbed onto Nova and called on the dizzying power. I didn’t know what it was, but I knew it got me places.

  I stopped just at the bottom of the slope as Kylian arrived with Beckett in tow. Nova hunched over, sucking in deep breaths. Logan dropped to his knees and dry heaved. Nova rubbed her hand on his back and glanced at me over his shoulder. “Next time you’re going to teleport us, warning, dude.”

  “Teleport? Is that what this is?” I glanced down at my hands. “I can portal?”

  “Seems so.” She patted Logan.

  Soto came to a skidding halt in front of us. “Come on. This way.”

  She turned and started running down a long aisle. I followed behind her as quickly as possible. My body felt exhausted down to my core. I didn’t know what day or time it was. We hadn’t slept or eaten, and I was pretty sure we’d been here for an eternity of hell. Yet I pumped my arms as hard as I could. Nova and Kylian lagged behind, and I grabbed the back of Soto’s cloak, slowing her down.

  “We’re going to lose them.”

  “Shh.” She pressed her finger to my lips. Her silvery eyes widened and glittered. She grabbed the back of my head and shoved me to the ground. “Get down!”

  The wall exploded over me. Dust and dirt rained down. Shards of rocks tumbled down, cutting my shirt. Scratches burned down my arms and legs. I choked on the dust and ash in the air. I crawled out from under the rocks a second before one of those warriors climbed through the chunk of wall. His hair was gathered in a high ponytail that trailed down his back in brittle strands of midnight. His gray skin was pulled tight over hulking muscles. He held a spiked club in his hand. He lifted it over his head and swung it right at Soto.

  She ducked under the club and threw out her hands. A chunk of rock flew at the back of his head, but it had no effect. We didn’t have time for this. Power seeped from me across the ground and around his feet. “I’m real sick of this.”

  He turned around just as he exploded into flames. He threw back his head, howling in pain. I flicked my hand, knocking him back through the hole he made. Kylian caught up to us then Nova came in right behind him. He looked through the hole and wrinkled his nose at the smell of burning flesh. “Damn, Red.”

  I rolled my eyes. “Stop calling me Red.”

  Soto motioned for us to keep going and started to walk faster. Logan lifted his arm from Nova’s shoulders. “I can do it. I can do it.”

  He staggered but kept pace with us. Kylian hauled Beckett around like he weighed nothing more than a feather. He made no effort not to bump him into the tall stone walls. We turned left, then a sharp right, then left again. Are we going in circles? Another warrior jumped down in front of us. He jabbed a sword toward Soto, and she dove out of the way.

  “Down!” Nova bellowed and I dropped to the floor.

  Purple sparks blasted over my shoulder and hit the Unseelie right in the back. His head tilted back and he dropped to the ground. At Soto’s feet. She tossed that long braid over her shoulder. Her already pale green skin turned a sickly shade. “That was close.”

  I motioned for her to go down the next path. “Go, go, go!”

  Wham! My magic teleported me forward without me even trying to do it. Shit. I was at least ten yards ahead of them. I froze like a deer in headlights. I took a step to go back for them when Nova’s eyes went wide and she screamed. I threw up my hand and my magic shot out of its own accord. The arrow stopped two inches from my face. Ashryn leapt on top of the wall next to Nova. She ran across the top of it like a gymnast on a balance beam, then flipped down next to me. She plucked the arrow from my magic, pulled her bow from around her shoulders and drew the bow tight. It happened in a matter of seconds. The she fired the arrow back in the direction it came from, nailing one of the Unseelie that was so far away I could barely see him perched high above us. His body fell from his hiding place, disappearing onto the canyon.

  Soto ran at me and grabbed my hand. “Stay behind me from now on.”

  “I didn’t mean to…”

  She didn’t wait for me to finish. She just took off down another turn.

  I ran to catch up to her but nearly collided with her back. We were at a dead end in the middle of this madness. Soto looked up at it then pressed her hand to it. I moved beside her. “Is this it?”

  “Supposed to be.” She let her fingers wander over the rough surface of the stone.

  Kylian dropped Beckett on the ground with a thunk and came up beside Soto. He too pressed his hands to the unmoving stone wall. Kylian growled low in his throat and slammed a fist into the wall. “Damn it!”

  “What, it’s not here?” I spun in a circle, feeling like we were being watched from all angles. All the hope of possible survival came crashing down and my shoulders sagged.

  Kylian punched the wall once more and blood trickled from his knuckles. Ashryn placed her hand on his shoulder and he instantly calmed. “We will find another way.”

  “What if we go back the way we came?” I took a step toward the front of the hollowed-out mountain. “If we can get out, then maybe we can get back.”

  Kylian shook his head. “Do you even know how far away that is?”

  “I don’t see you coming up with any other ideas.” I extended my hand toward him. “Give me your hand. I’m going to try to portal us out.”

  “You don’t even know where you’re going.” Soto raised her eyebrows at me.

  “Out, that’s where I’m going.” I shook my hands at them. “Before we get cornered and killed here. NOW!”

  They all lined up, holding onto each other. Nova muttered under her breath, “That whole charm speak thing is annoying.”

  I hadn’t even realized I’d used my powers, but I didn’t care. We needed out of here. I was
going to get Beckett back, along with Logan and the rest of them. And then I was going to fix whatever the hell was wrong with my soulmate. I closed my eyes and cold determination overcame me. That wave of dizziness came, and we were suddenly standing over the cliffs looking out over the flat lands that I sprinted across to get away from the giant. There were huge dents in the earth where his feet had come down.

  “Soto, can you get us back there?”

  “In theory, yes.” She glanced over her shoulder and her eyes widened. “Run. Run now.”

  I didn’t hesitate, I just took off. Beckett bellowed, “This would be easier if you let me go!”

  “Are you going to do as you’re told?” My words came out in panted breath.

  “Yes.” He hissed and I hesitated. “Screw this.”

  His blue magic exploded, breaking my hold and that the stone webbing around him. He landed right next to and easily fell into step beside me. “We will discuss your treachery later, little soulmate.”

  He planted his feet and turned around. His power fired and the earth lifted in a wave, rolling out toward the group of Unseelie following us. The slate cracked and split under his power, throwing them back toward the canyon. He dusted off his hands and turned in my direction. I grabbed his shirt and yanked him to me.

  “Tell me how to portal? Explain it to me? I can only go short distances and we need to get back to the entrance. Your portals aren’t working. Help me out here.” I wasn’t playing anymore. I’d had enough. This world ruined my soulmate, nearly killed me multiple times and we were getting out now.

  He rolled his eyes. “You just have to visualize your intent on where to go.”

  “Okay.” I sucked in a deep breath and placed my hand on his shoulder. “Grab on, people. We’re jumping again.”

  Logan groaned. “The chains were easier.”