by Meg Anne
Those that had not been hit by the acid wasted no time fleeing. As far as wins went, it was a questionable one, but at least there was only one foe left for them to deal with.
Her body ached with protest, and she pushed herself up from the ground, the tip of her sword scraping against the dirt and ash as she rose. The wyrm twisted its head, its hellacious eyes finding her due to the tell-tale sound.
“Mother’s tits,” she rasped. There was no way she was going to defeat this thing on her own, but a little bit of a break would have been nice. Even if the temporary safety was only an illusion.
The wyrm reared back, preparing for another strike. Effie was grateful that her hands were steady as she lifted her sword. If the damn thing wanted to eat her, it was going to feel her blade sliding down its fucking throat. Determined, she steeled herself, preparing for the attack.
“Don’t you dare give up now,” Lucian roared, swinging around the creature’s neck, his arm cocking back. With a savage battle cry, Lucian swung his fist and slammed it straight into the wyrm’s demonic eye.
Effie fell to her knees as the creature let out a deafening screech, the earth trembling in response to its outrage. Her mouth fell open on a soundless scream as Lucian was flung from its neck. She started to crawl, pushing herself up with some misguided notion of trying to catch him.
His arms windmilled as he fell through the air and time slowed to a crawl. Heart in her throat, Effie threw out her arms as if her will alone could hold him suspended in the air, and she prayed.
When Lucian didn’t crash into the earth, Effie blinked and then blinked again. It worked. He was still falling, but it was a controlled, graceful descent. Shaking now, Effie looked at her hands, wondering if this was some newly discovered Guardian power.
Lucian’s voice was a bit breathless as it filled her mind. “I hate to disappoint you, fledgling, but you aren’t the one responsible for this.”
Wide-eyed, she looked from Lucian to the man whose hands glowed a soft blue. Joquil. The Kiri’s Master of Magic had managed to use his power to control Lucian’s fall. Tears spilled from her eyes as she let out a grateful hiccup.
The sudden silence finally registered, and Effie spun back to the wyrm. Why wasn’t it pressing its attack?
The answer pulled another startled laugh from her. It was frozen, completely coated in shimmering ice crystals.
Effie darted forward, flinging her arms around the Master. “Mother bless you,” she gasped, squeezing him as another tear slipped down her cheek.
Joquil returned the embrace with an awkward pat on her back. “I would have helped sooner, but we were a little tied up.”
Lucian stood beside her, blood dripping from a gash in his head and entirely coated in sweat and grime. He’d never looked more handsome. Lucian pulled her up in his arms, grunting when she wrapped herself around him.
“Stop doing that,” she hissed.
“Doing what?” he murmured, burying his face in her neck.
“Almost dying.”
“I told you, I’m very hard to kill, especially now that I have so much to live for.” He lifted his face, his dark eyes scorching her as he let the words sink in.
Effie pulled his face to hers, lips aching to claim his.
Crack.
As one, Effie and Lucian turned back to the wyrm as it somehow managed to break free of its icy prison.
“No!” Effie cried out in exasperation and shock, even as a part of her knew it had been too easy.
Lucian lowered her to the ground, and they raced away, Joquil on their heels. Helena and the others were running toward them, expressions grim.
“I think you’re going the wrong way,” Effie panted when their group was reassembled.
Helena gave her a humorless smirk. “Someone has to deal with that thing.”
“You say that like we weren’t trying.”
Her smile turned genuine. “You were just wearing it down for me.”
Effie barked out a laugh and used her arm to push her sweat-dampened curls off her face. “Exactly.”
Another loud crack shook the earth, and with a savage screech the wyrm flung off the last of the ice.
Bracing herself, Effie turned back to the wyrm. “Any great ideas, Vessel?”
Thunder and lightning chased each other across the sky as Helena lifted her arms. “One or two.”
A bolt of lightning struck the wyrm, then a second and a third, lifting it up into the air and illuminating its interior like some kind of scientific drawing. The creature spasmed and the air was filled with the scent of burning meat.
It crashed to the ground, and the sense of expectation was palpable. Tiny currents of light still danced around the creature born of corruption and darkness. Just when it felt safe to breathe, the wyrm’s slitted eyes flew open and it screamed.
“I think you made it angry,” Kael announced.
“What do you think it was before?” Effie asked, heart pounding.
“Hungry.”
Not wanting to give the creature a chance to strike first, Von and Kragen sprinted forward, weapons in hand. Effie’s heart sank. Their weapons were useless against those scales.
Kragen swung first, his mighty axes glinting in the pale light. He could have been using wooden toys for all the good they did. Both weapons bounced off, utterly harmless.
Von struck almost simultaneously, his flaming sword aiming for the sliver of space between two of the scales that covered the wyrm’s belly. The strike was true. The wyrm’s scream of pain infused their small group with renewed purpose.
“Fire!” Lucian shouted. “It’s not immune to fire.”
Helena’s lips lifted in a cruel smile, her eyes sparkling with iridescence. “Fire I can do,” she murmured in the harmonic voice of her power.
Effie’s eyes lifted to the sky, expecting fiery bolts to rain down and crash into the wyrm. Instead, Helena pulled her arm back, a spear of flame forming in her hand. With perfect aim, she hurled the spear forward, using Air to guide it to its target.
The wyrm’s jaw opened once more, each glistening row of teeth on display as the spear flew upwards into its mouth and buried itself in the creature’s brain. Helena wasted no time, lobbing ball after ball of Fire until the monster was no more than a pillar of flame.
There was one final, horrific screech and the wyrm toppled to the ground, completely consumed by the inferno.
They edged closer, watching as the fire burned and the sky started to clear. The light of the flames danced on their faces and in their eyes as the fiendish beast turned to smoldering ash. Heat lapped at her skin and sweat trickled down her body, making her battle leathers stick to her skin, but she relished the burn and the almost perfect silence.
Today they had won, and this time, Effie hadn’t lost a single person she loved.
Or so she thought.
Looking around, Effie’s victorious smile faded. Not all her friends were among their ranks. “Guys . . . where are Ronan and Reyna?”
Chapter 28
Ronan raced to the edge of the trees, his axes lifted defiantly as he chased the escaping Shadows. The last of them disappeared into the jungle, and Ronan finally stopped giving chase.
“Run you fucking cowards,” he spat. “But know that I will find you. So long as I draw breath, you’ll never be safe.” The crack of a branch had him spinning around, weapons held high. “Mother’s tits, Reyna. Are you trying to get yourself killed?”
She blinked at him with her forest-colored eyes, the multi-hued orbs glittered with suppressed mirth. “I thought you could use the assistance. Apologies for treading on your fragile ego, Shield.”
Ronan grunted.
Reyna tilted her head, her eyes flitting from him to the place where the last of the Shadows had disappeared. “Why did you think it was a good idea to go after them on your own?”
He shrugged. “Helena will make easy work of the wyrm, and it didn’t sit well, the thought of these abominations running free once more.
We allowed it last time and look what came of it.”
“There are far fewer among their ranks after today,” Reyna pointed out.
“Yes, well. One is too many, especially now that they can multiply.”
Reyna let out a soft murmur of assent and fell into step beside him. “We have the means to track them now. They will not hide from us for long.”
Ronan supposed she was right, but it still rankled.
Another snap sounded to his left, and Ronan gave Reyna an amused grin. “For a Night Stalker, you sure make a lot of noise. I thought your kind were exceptionally gifted at sneaking up on your prey.”
Reyna gave him a haughty look that had his pants tenting uncomfortably. Ronan mentally calculated the last time he’d lain with a woman. When the number of days surpassed the better part of a year, he decided it had been entirely too long.
“If I hadn’t wanted you to hear me coming, Shield, trust that you wouldn’t have known I was there until my blade was sinking into your heart.”
Ronan would be lying if he said the thought of it didn’t make him want her more.
“Feel free to try, sweetheart. But don’t be too disappointed when you are the one that ends up pinned by my blade.” He gave her a fierce grin, letting the double meaning of his words pulse between them for one long heartbeat.
Color stained her cheeks and her eyes flashed with desire. The color looked good on her. Healthy. Ever since the lajhár attack, she’d been less herself. Less vibrant in some indiscernible way. Multiple healers had inspected her, and in every way that mattered she was healthy. But she was a shadow of her former self. Just as fierce, but more fragile now.
Ronan knew better than to mention it. She’d practically stabbed him in the thigh with her dinner knife the last time he’d tried to bring it up. She did not appreciate being called out on her weakness. Fair enough. Neither did he.
He started walking once more, letting the moment between them pass unacted upon. They would have their time together. Soon. But this was hardly the place for seduction. And Reyna deserved seduction. A woman such as her deserved every skilled move he could lavish upon her.
Snap.
Ronan laughed and looked over his shoulder. “Now you’re just doing it on—” He broke off when the only thing he found was trembling branches. “Reyna? Reyna, stop fucking around.”
Even as he tried to tell himself she was just playing games, trying to prove a point, he didn’t believe it. His heart spiked as he combed through the nearby foliage. His movements became more frantic as he tore through the jungle.
There was no sign of her. Not so much as a scrap of cloth hanging from a nearby branch to indicate which way she’d gone.
Ronan dropped to his knees as the air left his lungs.
Reyna had vanished.
Effie’s heart fell as a lone, heart-wrenching cry pierced the air. There was no mistaking the sound of her friend’s anguish. “Ronan!”
Their group sprinted toward the sound, already preparing for a fight. They found him not far from the remains of the battle, just on the edge of the jungle on his hands and knees in the dirt.
Von was the first to reach him, dropping down beside his best friend. “What is it? Where are you hurt?”
He was inspecting him for some sign of a wound, something that would have justified such an awful sound to be torn from him. Effie could have told Von he needn’t bother with his search. She recognized the grief that had etched itself in the lines of Ronan’s face and body. This was no physical wound. This was loss, in its purest form.
Her voice was so quiet it took the others a moment to realize she had spoken.
“Ronan, what happened to Reyna?”
He looked up, and Effie gave an involuntary shiver. His eyes were colder than shards of ice, and they were entirely devoid of life.
“She’s gone.”
“Gone?” Helena asked, eyes narrowed as she scanned the horizon.
Ronan gave a brittle nod. The man was barely holding himself together. He was practically vibrating under the twin forces of his rage and grief.
Lucian exchanged a look with Effie, picking up on the direction of her thoughts. He knelt down on the other side of Ronan, his hand braced on the other man’s shoulder.
“Gone as in dead or taken?” Lucian asked.
Even though the Guardian’s voice had been gentle, Ronan flinched violently. “Taken.”
Lucian nodded, glancing up at Helena. “Say the word, Kiri, and we can begin a search.”
Helena’s eyes swirled with power, her lips twisted down in a frown. “There’s no need. Reyna isn’t here.”
“How do you know?” Kael asked, his own eyes glowing emerald as he scanned the jungle using his power.
“I know what her power looks like. There is no trace of it here. Wherever she is, she’s no longer in this jungle. Likely not even in Bael.”
Ronan’s jaw clenched, and his hands fisted into the damp ground as if he could strangle the truth out of the earth itself.
Effie’s head shot up as the Shadow’s hissed words came back to her. “One of the Shadows spoke to me. I didn’t pay much attention to it. I just thought he was trying to distract me at the time, but he said we had a traitor among us.”
“Reyna would never,” Ronan growled, his eyes wild.
Effie shook her head, hands held up in a placating gesture. “No, you misunderstand me. I wasn’t suggesting she was the traitor, but perhaps someone else orchestrated her abduction?” Her eyes darted around as she studied each member of their party in turn. Could it be true? Who among them would dare to betray one of the Guardians, let alone the Kiri herself? And how? Who had the means in addition to the death wish?
“Impossible,” Helena declared, her voice thick with power. “None of the Circle would dare betray me.”
“Not all among us are bound to you,” Von murmured, his silver eyes dark with suspicion as he studied Lucian and Kael. Beside him Kragen cracked his knuckles and Joquil’s eyes narrowed.
Lucian returned Von’s look with a bland one of his own. “The Guardians are sworn to the protection of this realm and all that inhabit it. We could not betray our vow even if we wanted to.”
Effie bristled at the implication, offended on Lucian’s behalf. No man who walked this earth was more honorable. He slid his hand into hers and squeezed.
“I appreciate your concern, but he would not be doing his job if he didn’t voice the possibility. He is sworn to her, as I am sworn to you. Her safety comes before all else.”
“Your loyalty should never have been in question in the first place.”
Lucian chuckled. “I don’t think anyone has ever been so fiercely protective of me and my honor before.”
Effie squeezed his hand. “Well, get used to it.”
“Peace, fledgling. You can soothe my wounded pride with your kisses later.” His words were light, but Effie knew he was touched by her declaration.
“Just your pride?”
Her Guardian’s eyes flared hot. “To start.”
“If it’s not one of us, who else could he be speaking of?” Kael mused, bringing them back to the conversation.
They eyed each other uneasily, trying to think who else could have the ability to do anything to compromise their mission.
“The Valen Council?” Kragen asked.
Lucian shook his head. “It doesn’t feel right to me. What do they have to gain from such a move? Besides . . . things were going on that haven’t sat right with me long before their involvement.”
Effie didn’t disagree with him. There had just been one too many coincidences for the events of the past few months to feel unconnected. She searched through her memories, trying to recall the first event that truly felt off. It wasn’t their visits to Sylverlands or Caederan. There was nothing about what happened while they were there that felt like a personal attack.
She bit her lip, memories racing through her mind. The lajhár attack. That was the first time that thin
gs didn’t quite add up. Kieran’s vision had sent them to the site of the slaughter, and they’d all agreed there was something odd about the manner in which the jungle cats had been killed.
That trap in the jungle. The one they’d found after Kieran’s vision about the missing Keepers. She’d assumed it had been the Shadow-touched, but while lucid, they’ve never been particularly strategic . . .
Heart pounding, Effie’s thoughts turned to the attack on the citadel. Someone had to lead the Shadows to the portal; they never would have found the entrance otherwise.
Effie sucked in a breath as the answer came to her.
Just like a key sliding into a lock, pieces fell into place. Things that hadn’t made sense at the time were suddenly glaringly obvious.
Lucian was rigid beside her, each one of her thoughts broadcasted to him and Kael via their Guardian’s bond.
“Kieran,” he snarled. His face was twisted in fury, his eyes practically black with rage. “He’s the one who’s responsible for the markers being fulfilled. He orchestrated the whole damn thing. If we can find him, perhaps we can stop any more of them from coming to pass.”
Ronan looked up from the ground, his eyes murderous. “Is it possible Reyna is the key to unlocking the last binding?”
Lucian considered the question and then slowly dipped his chin. “If the Night Stalkers are tied to this Father as she says, then it’s certainly possible.”
“Then perhaps it’s time we pay the ex-prince a visit,” Ronan snarled, pushing to his feet.
“How will we find him?” Kael asked. “We have no clue where he went after he fled the Vale.”
“Leave that to me,” Helena said in a voice that was not wholly her own. “If he’s truly behind these atrocities, there’s nowhere he can hide.”
Effie shuddered. It was a voice she recognized. One that belonged to the Mother herself. It was the voice of justice . . . and bloodshed.
