A soft smile formed on my face, but then the estate’s front door slammed open, startling us both. We grabbed our weapons on instinct, fastening them to their belts and sheaths as we rushed out of the bedroom.
“Commander!” Leon’s voice boomed through the house as we turned the corner of the stairs, everyone else shoving out of their own rooms behind us.
Jace raced down the stairs, taking two at a time as I remained at the top with the others.
“What is it, Leon?” I asked.
Lynelle came running through the door behind him. “Thank the gods they’re here!” she yelled, out of breath.
“What’s happening?” Jace demanded, his hands balling into fists.
Leon's eyes flew to my mate and then up to me, prompting me to slowly descend the steps.
“I fear for Ellecaster.”
My eyes flared as my steps quickened until I was at Jace’s side. “Did something happen?”
He blew out a breath through his nostrils. “You all need to come see this.”
The general turned on his heel and marched back through the door, and everyone followed.
Racing into the front yard, we turned to face the mountains in the distance, and my jaw locked instantly at the sight beheld.
Thick, black smoke was lifting into the sky at an alarming rate on the opposite end of the peaks.
“No,” Jace whispered as he turned back to face me, eyes filled with ruin.
I swallowed. “She said she left a gift for us to find.”
“Gods fucking dammit!” Jace bellowed as he pivoted and stormed up to Gage. “Prepare a fleet to march back to Ellecaster, and—”
“No,” I interrupted him, bringing everyone’s attention to me. “We don’t know what lies in wait there. It could be a trap.” My eyes moved to Veli and then back to my mate. “You and I will take Nox and scope it out before we involve any soldier. With any luck, some of them may remain and they will meet their fate by fire. However, for all we know, a trap is set at the opposite end of that tunnel.”
His nostrils flared as I felt his aggravation, pure enough to believe it was my own, but he answered me with a nod.
“I have reservations regarding it just being the two of you,” the general admitted.
“The two of us and my wyvern,” I reminded him, and he swallowed his retort as he stood frozen in my glare.
“In the least, we can prepare a small troop to await at our gates on this end, in case we need to storm the city at its opposite end immediately,” Gage interjected.
“And if they have discovered the tunnel and are on their way now to Alaia?” Zaela questioned.
I turned to her. “Then we will scorch the passage. They’ll have nowhere to run.”
The dense smoke filled the skies ahead as it danced and swirled with the air currents. Nox raced through the clouds and between the peaks. Jace and I kept our eyes peeled, watching the passage down below for any intruders as we leaned over the sides of the saddle, but we hadn’t seen a damn thing.
“We’re nearing the city,” Jace announced, and I turned to him, just as Nox’s flight took us into the outskirts of the smoke.
“Gods,” I said through coughs. “What could’ve done this?”
As our eyes adjusted, we looked down towards the city that we could catch glimpses of as the smoke passed.
There was…nothing left. No movement remained on the ground aside from that of the lingering flames. I gazed out in the distance to find that no retreating army remained in sight.
“Mother of the gods,” I breathed.
“We’re too late,” Jace hissed. He wore the face of wrath incarnate as devastation emanated from him.
