Gerick’s heart thudded as he worked through the pieces Peri laid out.“With no power, does that mean it will drain her life force?”
“I’m honestly not sure,” Serapha admitted.“TheNushtoniais very old and has accumulated a lot of power over the centuries.That alone could have caused the rules it must follow to have changed.Which means you did the right thing coming here.We might be able to contain whatever evil it might be planning, not to mention keep it out of the wrong hands.”
Lucian shifted closer to his mate.“So you’ll help us.”
Serapha looked over all of them, warlock queen, wolf, high fae, and one very stubborn general held together by fury and a bond stretched thin but unbroken.
“If Raja is free,” she said slowly, “then Draheim will not remain neutral.”
The forest seemed to breathe again.
“But,” she continued, “we do not rush blindly into wars we do not yet understand.”
Perizada smiled faintly, her eyes filled with mischief.“I feel like rushing in can be surprising to the enemy and catch them off guard.”
Serapha inclined her massive head.“You will stay.You will tell meeverything.And by everything, I mean where the rest of your allies are.Then,” her eyes gleamed dangerously, “we will decide how best to remind the Realm of the Dead that Draheim remembers old debts.”
Gerick exhaled for the first time since arriving.He finally felt, though it was still minute, that they just might have a chance at getting his mate back.
CHAPTER2
“Diplomacy is just a fancy word for ‘try not to kill anyone while you’re asking for help.’Unfortunately, some people hear ‘try not’ as more of a suggestion.”~Kara
Kara held her chin high,arms folded tight across her chest as if bracing herself against the weight of what she’d just done.
Told a Troll King she was a witch.In hindsight ...questionable life choice.
But the words were out and echoing through the cavern now, too late to stuff them back down her throat.
The king, a wall of stone and muscle built out of nightmares and bad decisions, loomed in front of her cage.His eyes, black as polished obsidian and just as cold, tracked over her face the way a wolf might study a rabbit that had started reciting insults instead of running.Even the air seemed to hesitate, the low rumble of the trolls fading until the chamber settled in a silence so thick it pressed against her skin.
Kara resisted the urge to fidget.She really, really wanted to fidget.
Chains creaked somewhere behind her, the sound sharp as breaking bone.Nick’s growl followed, soft but steady, the kind of dangerous rhythm that made the hair on Kara’s arms rise.He was in his cage beside hers, too close and too far all at once, his eyes burning gold through the gloom, wolf close enough she could practically see his fur rippling under his skin.
“Touch her,” Nick said, voice flat and lethal, “and the things I will do to you will cause your clan to have nightmares for the rest of their lives.”
The Troll King didn’t move.Didn’t blink.Didn’t evenacknowledgehim.
Which somehow made it worse.
He kept his focus locked on Kara.“A witch,” he repeated, the words rolling slow and heavy, as though language itself offended him.“That is not what you smell like.”
Kara’s smile felt brittle.“Well, I like to keep people guessing.”
From the next cage, Wadim snorted, the sound echoing off rock.“That’s one way to put it.”
“Not helping,” she muttered through clenched teeth.
The Troll King stepped closer, the ground beneath him complaining with every movement, rock grinding against rock under his huge feet.His shadow slid over her like a stormfront.The smell of him, iron, soil, something older, hit her nose and made the back of her throat itch.Her pulse quickened, but she refused to retreat.She’d learned a long time ago that backing down around predators only painted you red.
“You are not troll,” he said.“Not wolf.Not fae.”His head tilted, too slow.“Not anything I have encountered.”
“Pretty sure you already said that,” Kara managed.“I’ve been confused about what I am for years.So, who’s this fae you were going to have come out and test me?”
His mouth curved, not into a smile, not exactly.His expression flickered through something sharp and interested before hardening again, and the heat coming off him changed.Predatory.Appraising.
Yep.Definitely not comforting.
