“Are you okay?” Lexi demanded as she knelt beside her friend.
“I’m okay,” Kaylia assured her. “A little beat up, but I’m good. What about you? How are you?”
“We’re fine,” Lexi told her. “What happened to you during the battle?”
“A couple of lycans jumped me, but I got away. I was going to return to the prison, but there were just so many…” Tears filled her eyes as she looked at the others, and her lower lip trembled. “They aresomanywho needed my help, and I lost track of time.” She brushed back a strand of blood-streaked hair and tucked it behind her ear. “I don’t know how long I’ve been here.”
“About a day,” Lexi said. “Brokk, Maverick, and Sahira went back to Verdan to search for you after the battle but couldn’t find you.”
She decided not to tell her that Cole had discovered she was alive by using the shadows. If it came up again, she would tell Kaylia then. There was no need now, especially when strangers surrounded them, many of whom were eagerly listening.
“How did you find this place?” Kaylia asked.
“I saved a witch from the battle,” Lexi said. “She opened a portal so we could come here to search for you.”
“Who was it?” Kaylia asked.
“Her name is Beatrix,” Lexi answered.
Kaylia closed her eyes. “I’m glad she’s alive; so many aren’t.”
“What about Circe?” Cole asked. “I haven’t seen her.”
“She didn’t survive the attack.”
“Shit,” Cole muttered. “She was a good woman.”
“She was,” Kaylia murmured.
“Do you know if a witch named Melisandra survived?” Lexi asked.
“Elisa?” Kaylia asked in confusion. “She’s over there. Why?”
Lexi followed Kaylia’s finger to a beautiful woman with flowing black hair and eyes the color of a penny. She was only twenty feet away, watching them as she held a goblet of some mixture to the lips of a wounded witch.
“How do you know about Elisa?” Kaylia inquired.
“Her sisters are at the prison,” Lexi said. “Her mother didn’t survive, but Brokk, Maverick, and Sahira got her sisters out.”
Kaylia blinked away the tears filling her eyes before she bowed her head. “We believed they were lost.”
“Do you want to tell Elisa or should we?” Lexi inquired.
“I’ll tell her,” Kaylia said.
“If she wants to see them, you can take her to the prison, but she won’t be allowed to leave again afterward,” Cole said. “And neither will the children or Beatrix.”
Kaylia frowned. “Why not?”
“You’ll find out when you get there. Niall can fill you in on what’s going on, but to keep Lexi protected a little longer, they’re not to leave the prison until we return.”
Kaylia glanced between them. “Is everything okay?”
“It’s fine,” Lexi said. “There’s been a… a… uh, new development.”
CHAPTERFORTY-NINE
“It’s a good thing,but with the Lord ramping up his destruction of the realms and his determination to ensure we don’t build an army, it’s best if we keep it as quiet as possible. You’ll understand when you return. They’ll eventually join everyone here if you decide not to return, but we have to go. We have to meet with as many leaders of the other realms as we can before the Lord unleashes his army on them,” Cole said.
