“I can feel Ryker.”
Scarlet’s breath sucked in as Luna grasped my arm. “Can you feel Callan?”
I shook my head. “My bond is to Ryker.”
“Do you think the duke is bringing him to us?” Ianto asked.
“He’d be foolish to put them anywhere near each other,” Mr. Fletcher said.
“He would,” I agreed. “But Ryker’s definitely nearby.”
“Would they have imprisoned him here instead of inside the palace?” Luna inquired.
“That could be a possibility,” Ianto agreed. “And you’re close enough to feel him again.”
“Maybe,” I murmured, “but it seems more likely the duke would have put him in the palace dungeon, where he’d be harder to get to.”
“It does,” Indon agreed.
“We have no idea how that man works or what goes through his mind,” Luna said. “He’s fucking crazy.”
She was right about that. When Indon rested a claw-tipped hand on my shoulder, I pressed my fingers to my lips as I tried to figure out what was happening.
Are we walking into a trap?
I strained to see through the fog coiling around the entrance of the cave as shouts came from the field. Their words were lost to the mist, but they sounded more confused than battle-ready… for now.
There had to be soldiers inside that cave, but I couldn’t see them. Should there be someone outside the cave too, or are they trying to keep its location hidden?
Indon squeezed my shoulder, drawing my attention to him. His thick brow was pulled down in puzzlement; beside him, Ianto looked as confused as I felt.
We’d already accomplished so much and made it this far; we had to move quickly to get the children out, but I was frozen with indecision while my heart begged me to move onward.
Closing my eyes, I took a deep breath as I resigned myself to what I had to do. This could be a trap, but we had to push on. It wasn’t only the children; Ryker was ahead as well. We had to try to free them.
If it were a trap, then we’d break free of it.
CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO
Ellery
“Be extra careful,” I cautioned. “This could be far worse than we anticipated.”
Indon studied the cave entrance. I suspected he was communicating my words to the other gargoyles before he shifted his attention back to me and nodded.
I edged forward again, creeping through the fog and around the boulders at the entrance of the dungeon. Once the opening came into view, so did the flicker of torchlight and the two guards standing there.
When our eyes met, shock widened theirs. As they opened their mouths to shout a warning, Indon surged forward on a rush of air that rocked me a little. The opening wasn’t big enough for him to unfurl his wings, but he didn’t need to as he moved faster than a horse fleeing its most feared nemesis… a puddle.
The guards, too petrified to move, stood there sputtering gibberish. One of their swords fell from their hand and clattered against the stone.
That sound snapped the man out of his paralysis. He spun to flee, but before he made it two steps, Indon seized his neck and jerked him back. The man’s feet flew out in front of him as Indon grasped the top of his head and spun it around.
I recoiled when the man’s horrified eyes met mine before they rolled back in his head. The other guard finally found his survival instinct and sprinted toward us.
He didn’t make it five feet before Indon tore off the other fighter’s head and heaved it at the fleeing man’s back. The impact caused a humph of air to explode out of the man’s lungs as he was flung forward and sprawled across the rocky ground.
Another gargoyle stepped up and freed the man’s head from his shoulders with a swipe of his claws. It rolled toward us before stopping a few feet away.
