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“Not mine. Kassian’s. He’s coming. Help is on the way, Rush,” I promised my fae, who had evidently been holding it together through nothing more than willpower and adrenaline. Now that we weren’t in the middle of a fight for our lives, he’d gone pale and listless, heavy in my arms as I dragged him carefully away from the mirror.
If any of the gobbelins had heard me, they wouldn’t take long to figure out how to solve the riddle and follow us through.
“Princess,” a voice shouted, and for the second time in an hour, I felt like crying in relief. Kas rushed toward me, followed closely by Luca and Blaise.
“I’m so fucking glad to see you guys,” I said, as Blaise immediately took my spot helping Rush, and Luca snatched me up into an enormous hug.
Kas hissed at him, and my wolf let me go just long enough for my vampire to wrap his arms around me. Then they were both pawing all over my clothes, checking me for injuries.
“Fucking hell, princess. We thought you’d really died,” Kas said, his voice tight with suppressed fear.
“Yeah, thank fuck for Nicolas. He came and told us what happened,” Luca added, and I slumped into both of them.
“Not to break up the party, but I think those gobbelins are still chasing you,” Blaise called, pointing at the cave, where the walls had begun to shake and crumble.
A rhythmic, thudding sound echoed through the corridors, and we all began to edge away from the wall.
They were going to bust through it, likely attracting the oso, too.
“Is there anywhere close that’s safe?” I asked, hoping they’d build some sort of stronghold nearby.
“Not close enough,” Blaise answered, shocking me by biting open her wrist and holding it to Rush’s lips. “You need blood, Saint Laurent. Or whatever your name is. You’re not going to make it.”
Rush coughed as the red liquid hit his lips, and a gobbelin roared, just on the other side of the cracking labyrinth wall. My fae swallowed some of her blood, looking a little nauseous at first.
Kas seemed to finally notice Rush’s injuries, and he scrambled for Blaise’s pack, yanking out a length of bandage and some medicinal cream. Rush gritted his teeth as Kas smeared the cream messily over the wounds and wrapped him tight, right over his ruined shirt.
It was all we had time for.
The first gobbelin came tumbling down the wall itself, and I was ready to pull out my hair when I saw several more had made the treacherous climb up to the top ledge.
Then the mirror dissolved, just as the rock around it broke inward, crumbling to a pile of rubble as more gobbelins roared. Several of them were clawing their way out of the rubble already.
“How many of the fuckers are there?” Blaise asked, sounding surprised for the first time in her life.
My head whipped around as an answering roar came from behind us, and I screamed for Luca to move. He was right in the path of a huge lilac oso.
My wolf lunged toward us, knocking everyone to the ground with his huge arms and nearly crushing me against the ground as the oso pounded past, rushing straight into the snarling mess of gobbelins.
“This is the time to move, wolf,” Kas hissed, struggling to crawl out from underneath Luca’s other arm.
Most of the gobbelins were distracted, trying to get down the wall without falling, getting bit by snakes, or disemboweled by the furious oso.
Luca rose, but he shoved me behind him as the five of us started to back slowly out of the area, trying not to attract any attention.
“This would be a good time for a new ice memory,” Rush rasped, gesturing to my stomach. My eyes widened. Ofcourse.
Blaise made a gagging noise as she watched me peel theBook of Iceaway from my skin, but it opened immediately to a new page. As I centered my thoughts and worked to focus on calling in anything helpful, the words floated to the surface of the page, clear as fresh ink.
I grinned at Rush, pressing the book back into my skin. “Thanks, prophet,” I whispered, dropping a kiss on his blood-crusted lips. “Can I get a ride, wolf?” I asked Luca, not bothering to listen for a response as I scaled his back and wrapped my legs around his thick neck.
His hands grabbed my thighs to steady me, and I began to recite the spell I’d just seen - justrememberedfrom my ancestors in the mist
As the ice magic swirled in my chest, I felt powerful.
Purposeful.
I’d been running and dodging for so long. This was offense, and I was so fucking ready.
