While I had no connection to the gargoyles, I felt her panic as she continued trying to fly away. Like a terrified bird bashing against a window, she flew into the side of the pit, bounced off, and did it again.
I didn’t think it was her broken wing fueling her movements, but rather her imprisonment. Two gargoyles swooped down, gripped her arms, and lifted her away. They soared out of view, taking her somewhere safe to heal.
Near where I uncovered Zira, I found six servants. Four of them had perished. With tears in my eyes, I helped the others carefully remove them from the rubble. They carried the two injured servants away and the dead to the burial pile.
“They chose their path,” Tucker said from behind me.
“I know.”
I said the words, but a stone had lodged itself in my stomach. Fortunately, I had to keep focused on the task at hand and couldn’t wallow in guilt.
What’s going to happen if I find Ryker and the others dead in here?
You’ll keep going until it’s done, and then you can fall apart.
And then I could fall apart.
I was about halfway through the rubble when the sun started to rise and I uncovered the Countess of Halsbad. She’d survived but was in bad shape and unconscious when they pulled her from the rubble.
Unlike the guards, she wouldn’t be set free in the woods. Now that we’d taken control of the realm, we required someone who could open a portal out of here.
Even though she was unconscious, the amsirah locked her in chains and escorted her to the jail in Nottingshire. They’d ensorcelled it to ensure amsirah couldn’t open a portal out and her powers would be useless there.
I found Bria soon after. Her broken body was so crushed that her heart was pulverized. A twinge of sorrow tugged at my heart as they carried Leo’s last living, now dead heir, away.
About an hour later, I discovered the Baron of Muzek and one of his daughters. He didn’t survive, but she did. Unlike the countess, she was awake as they took her to jail.
Further down, I uncovered the baron’s wife and another daughter. His wife had also perished, but the daughter lived. She was so badly injured that, while her eyes were open, she didn’t blink or move when taken away.
I dug out more servants and guards before discovering the duke next, which meant I had to be getting closer to the others. My elation over discovering him, and that he hadn’t fled the realm, was buried by the realization that he still lived.
Like the other survivors, he was badly wounded but conscious as he struggled against the amsirah who would gladly tear him limb from limb. And judging by the looks on their faces, they were contemplating it.
“We’re not setting him free in the woods,” Tucker said.
“Is this him then?” Indon asked as he landed nearby. “Is this Ryker’s father?”
“It is,” I confirmed. “And while he couldn’t open a portal out of the rubble, he can open portals out of Tempest. We can’t have him escaping.”
The duke glowered at me, but when Indon moved closer, his eyes shifted to the gargoyle and widened. He gawked at Indon while a soft, trickling sound came from nearby.
Frowning, I searched for the sound before glancing down at his filthy, torn clothes. My mouth dropped open when I saw the wet spot at his groin.
The Duke of Locke had just pissed himself.
CHAPTER SEVENTY-FIVE
Ellery
At first, I was too astonished by the duke’s reaction to do anything, but then I lifted my gaze to his bulging eyes. Many of the amsirah started laughing and pointing as the duke’s face became a thunderous shade of red.
I wanted to laugh too, but instead I felt sick to my stomach. This weak, pathetic man terrorized this realm before he ruled it, and he’d tortured Ryker as a child. He imprisoned my mother because I slept with his son, and he broke Ryker and me apart.
He’d done countless atrocious things far scarier than the gargoyle standing beside me, yet the wretched man had pissed himself.
Hate filled his eyes as he sneered at me. “Whore.”
“You may think me a whore, but at least I’m not weak and pathetic.” My gaze raked over his ruined, wet pants before I met his again. “I’m also not the one who will soon be in chains. We’ve broken the ones you and the other aristocrats placed on us. We’re free.”
