Page 287 of Sky’s Edge

“Fucking hell,” Nayden bit.

Tanyn just held me tighter.

“They’re lore,” Nayden asserted.

“Apparently, they’re not,” I replied.

“Right, if that’s so, they don’t exist anymore,” Nayden said.

“Trust me, they do,” I replied.

“They fell off the face of the earth like a thousand fucking years ago,” Nayden clipped.

“I sense they did not,” I fired back. “I sense they went underground, because Mon used magic. She conjured weapons. These beings were demons.” I did another sweep of my arm. “And there were more of them that went into the flames. As such, she had to fight with demon speed. She also had no trouble moving through the castle in the dark, even in the levels where it was dark.”

I turned to Tanyn and kept sharing.

“She sent the text that I was next. She, or they, were the ones who knew about your mom and dad. She even saved Laura’s life when her beast was attacked. She shared all of that before she disappeared, and when I say that, I mean she vanished right before my eyes. Poof!”

I was losing it.

And could anyone blame me?

“But before she disappeared, she told me, during Laura’s attack, the target wasn’t her beast. It was Laura.”

“And why the fuck did she go poof?” Tanyn demanded. “Why the fuck didn’t she stick around and tell us what in the bloody hells is bloody happening?”

Apparently, he was losing it too.

“I have no idea, honey. She just said she’d always be there, and then she wasn’t there. And she said…she said…”

Okay.

Totally losing it.

“She said she’d die for me,” I forced out, my voice husky and raw.

He pulled me in tight, stroking my back, and cooing, “Okay, calm down. You’re good. I’m good. Nayden’s good. Let’s get you upstairs. Cleaned up.”

“And check on Hurley. She spelled him to sleep.”

“And check on our dog,” he murmured, shifting me to tucked to his side and guiding us to the bridge.

After all that went down, I was not looking forward to climbing what had to be at least ten flights of stairs (or more).

Fortunately, I didn’t have to.

Tanyn lifted me in his arms.

And with demon speed, Nayden leading, we were up them, the red sigils on the walls flashing bright and blinking out nearly immediately with our haste.

We were in our bedroom in less than two minutes.

Nayden wasn’t. He’d peeled off on the ground floor. Probably to oversee the aftermath of whatever happened in the garden.

And when Tanyn and I looked at the bed, Hurley wasn’t there either.

I began to panic (again).