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Zander caressed my cheek and I backed away, repulsed and angered by his touch.
Zander cleared his throat, offended I had not returned his affection, but his tone remained gentle. “I understand your concern, but we must try. Hurry.”
The reinforcements, OA warriors surrounded us clad in white battle suits with golden trim around the collar and down the sleeves of intricate lines and curls.
“Where are they?” the leader demanded.
Zander gripped my arm hard, his words gritting through his teeth. “You still have time. Do it now.”
As I raised my sword, I willed all the strength within me, then impaled the blade through the dirt. A blinding light blasted. The force and the power within the light zapped through every tunnel and space, smashing rocks and shattering boulders as the ceiling began to fall, as if the earth itself was crumbling under its own weight.
Then darkness engulfed us.
“Wake up.” A deep velvety voice filled my heart with warmth.
When I opened my eyes, a stunning man with kind, brown eyes and hair dark as night smiled down on me with such tenderness I almost believed he wasn’t real.
Not a dream. The vampire to that voice was real, kneeling beside me. What did Victus forget when I blasted the light? Perhaps the power didn’t work. He didn’t seem to have forgotten Joleen. Nor Nadira, Markane, and Abacus.
So many unanswered questions, but it was none of my concern.
I sat up and raised a palm to my forehead as the sunny sky and the clouds spun.
“Where are we?” I groaned and shifted my body, noting the weight of the divine sword within my feathers and the dagger inside my boot.
“I’m going to help you up, so don’t stab me or do something unreasonable.” He anchored his arms around my waist and pulled me up from the grass.
I stumbled forward as dizziness came over me suddenly. I crashed against his hard chest and he bumped into a tree trunk behind him to break our fall. Our eyes locked and, for a moment, I was transported back into the cave.
I felt the ghost of his lips on mine, and my heart swelled with happiness from the deep love he held for Joleen. Not that I wanted him to love me, but I yearned for such passion and desire.
I love you with every breath and every beat of my heart. You are my Little Dove and we belong together. My love. My life. My everything. We are two halves of the same soul. We will find each other again. Either in this lifetime or the next.
Someone with a ruthless heart would never be able to express such emotion or hold such undying love for another being. Yes, Zander loved me, but would he die for me as Victus would have for Joleen?
My heart softened for this vampire, for what he had been through. And on top of his own grief and loss, he had a whole kingdom of people to look after.
“Sorry.” I pushed back. “Where are we? Are we still in the cave? I’m so confused.”
“What does the key look like?”
“You will know if you pass the test.”
“What is this test?”
“Your greatest fear.”
I had felt Joleen’s fear and not mine.
“Here.” Victus held up a small dagger, its blade shiny and the handle crafted in pure gold glistened when caught by the sunlight. “I found the Gate Key.”
I didn’t take it since I didn’t know if he meant to hand it to me. “How do you know it’s the key? It looks more like a weapon. And where did you find it?”
“I went through a tunnel and it was embedded in a boulder.” His gaze landed on my hair, likely staring at my dark strands that reminded him of Joleen.
I narrowed my eyes at him and glanced about the surrounding trees and bird chirping on the branches high above. “We’re not inside the cave, but are we still being tested?”
“No.” He shoved the special dagger inside his boot. “We’re not dead, so we must have passed whatever the test the drakon lady held for us. I don’t know how we got here, but we’re out and I’m glad it’s over.”
