AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Down here! He’s down here!” Lloren screeches behind me.
A fae appears in front of me. His silver eyes narrow on my face as he smiles. “Hello, new pet.”
With one swing of my blade, I send his head rolling to the side and grip Annie’s arm. Together, we race toward the kitchen.
“Put me down!” Bonny yells. “You can move faster if you just save Annie!”
“Hush, woman. I’m not putting you down.” My lungs burn as I run as fast as I can, the dark energy a subtle itching beneath my skin now as if it, too, realizes wielding it against these beings will be futile.
The kitchen door is just ahead, so I run faster, faster.
But not fast enough.
Bonnie lets out a cry, and Annie screams.
I yank the woman off my shoulder and into my arms. A dagger sticks from her eye socket, so I shift my gaze up as an ancient readies another. I manage to set her down just in time to slice my blade out, knocking the dagger off course.
Then, with guilt crushing on my shoulders, I rip Annie up from the ground and sprint outside.
Bea is there in an instant, and before I can even take my first full breath, we’re vanishing from in front of the castle.
“She’s dead!” Annie cries as soon as I set her down. “I cannot believe Bonny is gone.” She crumbles to the ground, and Bea kneels beside her, wrapping both arms around the sobbing woman.
“No Ember, then?” Thorish demands.
“I truly suggest you leave my company at once,” I warn him. “Otherwise, you may not live much longer.”
The dumb bastard pays my warning no heed, though, only continues to mutter beneath his breath as he sets a stack of firewood in the center of a small cavern.
I study the space where Bea brought us. From up here, we have a decent vantage point over the woods below, though it leaves us vulnerable given the single exit—should we be incapacitated at all and unable to dematerialize.
Still, it’s the best possible place for us to be, considering there’s an entire world of ancients likely hunting us.
“Bonny saved me,” Annie cries. “She took a beating because I served the wrong fruit.”
“Bonny was a good woman,” Bea coos. “A strong woman. And she would be grateful you survived.”
There’s no doubt in my mind, had I freed Lloren, our odds would have been far worse. She is a woman who aligns herself with power. And pitted up against the ancients—I am the lesser being. My best bet is that she would have sold us out for her own security.
Knowing that does not alleviate the guilt, though. Not in the slightest.
“Ember was not there?” Bea questions.
I shake my head. “They have not seen her. And Taranus was taken a week ago.”
“Fuck.” Bea shakes her head angrily.
“We knew it was likely not him who was seated on the throne anymore,” I remind her.
“Still, he was an enemy we knew. These ancients, they are capable of so much more. And if he is not the one leading them, who is?”
“I’ve no clue,” I tell her honestly. “But we’d damn well better find out. And in order to do so, we’re going to need help.”
