Page 96 of Gilded Curses

The other guards exchanged uneasy glances as more of their shaken brethren emerged from Desmond’s rooms.

“He’s dead,” one of them stated.

Stunned silence followed this revelation, and all eyes swung toward Alda and Aurora. The guards had no way of knowing it, but they were looking at him too.

“Seize them!” the biggest guard shouted. “We’ll take them to Renaldo. He, and the other Elites, will decide their fate.”

A few of them started toward the women, but they all stopped when another guard inquired, “Where’s the dark fae?”

The men all looked nervously around as they shifted their feet. Their gazes finally settled on the women. Alda and Aurora had no way of knowing where he was, but when some of the guards stepped closer to them, Aurora started blabbering.

“He followed us from Desmond’s rooms and was by our sides. He must be somewhere in the hall. Or at least he was! Please… please have mercy on me!”

Orin closed his eyes while inwardly groaning. She didn’t have to beg for mercy from these assholes; he’d kill her himself before this was over.

The guards looked frantically around the hall, and some turned in small circles while searching for him. He edged away from the one behind him but only squeezed another couple of inches out of the space between the guard and Alda.

He suspected the woman wouldn’t reveal his location if he brushed against her… at least not on purpose. However, he might scare her into a reaction if he touched her when she wasn’t expecting it.

“If he was close to them when they left the room, then he can’t be far,” one of the guards said.

Orin leaned slightly to the left to avoid the guard to his right as he stepped closer. He ducked a hand that swung at him and remained crouched while the guard fumbled around; the idiot only connected with Alda and the wall.

“It’s your fault we’re going to die,” Alda hissed at Aurora. “I hope you know that.”

Aurora scowled at her through her tears. Orin pondered if her take-pity-on-me act was just that… an act. She had to know it wouldn’t work. The Elites were going to destroy her in the most horrible way possible.

The guards edged closer as they sought to tighten their circle in the hope he was inside it. Orin was rapidly losing the little space he’d claimed for himself.

Lowering his head to avoid the hand of the guard to his left, he didn’t see the knee of the one to his right until it connected with his back. Orin didn’t so much as breathe while waiting to see what the guard would do, but he didn’t have much choice, as he couldn’t go anywhere.

Unsure of what he hit, that guard pushed his knee forward and knocked into Orin again. “Here!”

“Keep him alive for Renaldo. He’ll want to handle this!” someone commanded.

Cursing the cumbersome weapons strapped to him, Orin released the dagger and grabbed a sword. It rattled against the other blades as he pulled it free and drove it into the guard’s belly. The guard grunted while his hands clawed at a weapon that was still invisible to him as he bent forward and his back bowed out; when Orin pulled the sword free, blood flowed with it.

He had to move, but they’d trapped him in the corner. All he could do was try to fight his way out until he could break free of them.

Hoping to keep them confused and create more panic, he held the shadows around him as he spilled the intestines of another guard. Their inability to see him, or the weapon, created some chaos, but they started to regroup and lunged at him.

If they all came at once, they could overpower him, and they knew it.

CHAPTER EIGHTY-ONE

Sahira smiled at the crowd filling Elsa and Zeth’s rooms. All the light fae had refused to join the battle, which was expected of the normally pacifist immortals, but most of the others had come.

So many of them sought revenge on the immortals who had imprisoned them here that some were still waiting in the street outside the pub. They were waiting for their chance to enter through the portal there and into Epoch.

To keep the dagadon from thinking it was abnormally quiet in the pub and the other buildings, the light fae and a few others had agreed to remain behind to create noise and act as if life was the same. They couldn’t lose their element of surprise by having the dagadon learn they could open portals; it was their biggest advantage against these assholes.

The brownies were all gathered on top of Elsa’s bed. The tiny creatures held their spears at the ready, and determination filled their faces. They would make a lot of dagadon bleed before this ended.

Even the witches and warlocks had come to fight, including Carmella and Blair, who really didn’t like her. But since arriving, they hadn’t stared at her like she was the worst form of life.

They mostly ignored her and Elsa, but some smiled at her. I guess breaking the curse that kept them all trapped ingratiated me a little. Who knew that was all it took? Sahira thought with an inwardly bitter laugh.

Not like she cared about their acceptance of her. She’d given up chasing those crazy, impossible, heartrending dreams centuries ago. They would have broken her if she hadn’t.