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“I don’t like this,” Rai said from beside me.
A red palace of ivory, wood, and glass loomed ahead in the midst of an ocean that looked like dark, glinting glass. At a second glance, I’d seen through the ocean as a glamour. There was never an ocean, but a vast citadel melding into a forest.
My mates narrowed their eyes.
The assembly kept their soldiers’ faces. They couldn’t see through the illusion.
As one, we stopped at the edge of the lapping waves of the dark sea.
The wrongness I’d felt about Sihde since I’d entered the Forbidden Forest was thicker here. The forest was tainted, and here, pure evil dwelled beneath.
Unease and cold rage slithered up my spine.
Tianna’s dark rule would be over! I vowed.
“It’s a glamour,” I said. “We can pass.”
Zembyr and two Fae warriors stepped forward, but a wave repelled them and sent them flying back. They crashed into the wall of warriors.
Iokul moved to the front, his ice magic probing but met no resistance from the ward. He stepped forward and passed through. It looked like he was riding a wave.
Rosalinda followed him, and again, the ocean wave rose and tossed her out.
“What the actual fuck?” Blaze cursed. “Iokul, return!”
Iokul rushed to the edge of the wave toward us, but the wave swept him further toward the palace entrance. In a blink, he disappeared from our sight into the Red Palace.
“Iokul!” I cried, but he didn’t answer.
My blood turned cold as fear for my mate gripped me.
“Iokul, answer us!” Blaze and Rai shouted.
We traded a grim, anxious look.
“We won’t lose him,” Blaze said.
“Let’s go after him.” Rai said exactly what was in my mind.
“First let us try again, my queen,” a Fae soldier said.
One by one, the Fae warriors tried to cross, but none of them could get through, and Iokul couldn’t return to us.
I’d seen through the glamour, but I had missed the ward.
The power that warded the palace was ancient and alien. I was out of my depth.
“The message is clear,” I said. “It looks like only me and my mates can pass.”
“We go together,” Blaze said, grabbing my hand just as I reached for Rai’s.
“What if we all hold hands and you bring us through?” Rosalinda suggested.
I nodded, and our entire force gripped hands and stepped onto the water.
Violent, dark wind rose and tore my mates and me apart from the army.
Sybil and Henry couldn’t pass, either.
