Page 52

You can do this, Kole whispers, squeezing my hand as he helps me to my feet.

As if he’s going to try to stop them taking me, he stands in front of me, blocking me from their view. Brynn snarls at him. “No point fighting it, Ink Heart. The queen wants her Fire Bird. You’ll only get hurt if you try to stop her taking what she wants. We both know that.”

Kole stiffens. His timbre is gravelly and thick and laced with disgust. “Don’t try to pretend we are friends, Brynn. We never liked each other before. We’re not buddies now.”

Brynn laughs and tucks a strand of greasy brown hair behind his ear. I didn’t realize vampires could have greasy hair. Aren’t they all supposed to be shockingly good looking? Perfected by death?

“They’re not dead.” I hear Mack’s words as clearly as if he were right here speaking them to me.

An image of me standing in his study back at The Hollow floats into my head, and suddenly I miss him so much my entire body feels like it might cave in on itself.

The whole time we’ve been here, I’ve tried not to think about him or Tanner or Sam or Luther. I’ve not thought of anything much beyond escaping Zephyra.

We have to take Miranda with us. No matter what. I meet Kole’s eyes as Brynn takes my arm and begins to tug me from the room. Without her, we can’t save Mack or destroy the scepter.

Kole nods, almost imperceptibly. I know, Little Star. Don’t worry. The witch will be freed.

* * *

Instead of taking me back to the throne room, Brynn leads me down through the tunnels, winding around corners, further down into the belly of the earth. The smells become stronger, and the air cooler.

And my magick starts to burn harder.

My skin fizzes.

My eyes adjust to the darkness, and I can see everything as clearly as if I were holding a flashlight.

Power rumbles beneath the surface of my skin, undulating like the waves of an incoming tsunami.

I swallow hard, forcing myself to keep walking, and to keep him from seeing that I could end this right now if I chose to.

I keep the sparks inside and almost smile to myself as I realize I’m not letting even one escape. There will be nothing to indicate that I’m capable of exactly what they fear the most – me being in control.

When we reach the end of perhaps the third or fourth tunnel, Brynn pushes open a large metal door. It creaks and he has to lean all his bodyweight into it, pushing with his shoulder, to force it open.

I blink hard as bright white lights invade my eyes. The room we’ve entered looks like a medical bay in a hospital. All white.

White walls.

White ceiling.

And a bed in the center that reminds me of the tattoo chair in Kole’s red room back at the bar.

Except not anywhere near as sexy.

“We prepared this room just for you,” Brynn says. Pointing to the chair, he tells me to sit down then moves to the edge of the room and takes hold of a small metal cart.

The door opens again.

Miranda walks in and stands against the wall, barely looking at me, eyes fixed straight ahead.

It opens again, and this time a small pale-haired vampire who looks no older than me greets Brynn with a nod, then takes something from a cupboard on the far wall and starts assembling it beside me.

She is holding a needle.

I swallow hard and wince as it pierces my skin.

So, this is it.