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She screamed at the pain. “He is my mate!”
He hovered over her, his wide head looking like a balloon ready to pop. “You have no mate.”
“I do. I have four,” she cried out, fighting her restraints. She could feel her skin melting onto the metal grate. The torture was so excruciating, she wanted to die another death. “Helius! Drakkon! Cadmus! Damon!” she called to her mates, praying at least one of them would save her, for she couldn’t withstand this pain much longer.
“They aren’t your mates.”
“They are!” She thrashed and thrashed, remembering that two of her mates were still under his spell. Though she couldn’t access her magic, she prayed they could hear her, that their love for her would somehow override the spell. “Helius! Drakkon! Help me!”
A roar shook the cavern, and Gorgo jerked back, dropping the poker. “You worthless mutts!” he hollered.
Was it working? “Helius! Drakkon!” she screamed again. “Help!”
A roar shook the cavern again. Dust and debris fell from the ceiling, pelting her face, though the pain was nothing compared to the searing fire beneath her. She thought she heard a howl, but she was blinded by the intensity of the pain as the fire roared around her once more. Coughing on smoke and fumes, she surrendered to the darkness that overwhelmed her.
* * *
JEZEBETH WAS TIREDof waiting for something to happen. Those foolish wolves had been pacing for too long. And now they were wandering in circles, their noses to the ground, their tails draped between their legs—all while her daughter was still in that vile demon’s clutches.
“Something’s wrong,” she whispered to Eilea.
The sorceress didn’t answer. Brow furrowed in concentration, she projected her celaris magic on the circling wolves. What good did her concealing magic do when the wolves were acting like their brains were made of moldy cheese?
When the wolves started dropping like tipped cows, Jezebeth had had enough. “They’ll never reach her.”
“Gorgo put an enchantment on the entrance,” Eilea answered, her gaze darting from the wolves back to the dragon behind them.
Tan’yi’nug gave his mistress a sympathetic look.I can smoke them out.
Jezebeth threw up her hands. “And suffocate my daughter?”
Eilea rubbed her chin, looking lost in thought. “We’ll have to try another way.”
“What other way?” Jezebeth didn’t bother masking the derision in her voice. She was losing faith in the sorceress.
An agonized scream rent the air.
Jezebeth’s blood turned cold as she gaped at that cavern. “He’s torturing her,” she breathed. He was torturing her baby! Magic crackled in her palms when Phoenix’s scream rent the air again.
Eilea grabbed her arm when she lurched forward. “He’s trying to draw us in.”
She shook off her grip, magic flooding her veins. “If it’s a war he wants, it’s a war he will get.” Jerking away from the sorceress, she ignored her when she called her back. “I’m coming, Phoenix,” she whispered when her daughter’s tortured cries sliced through her heart.
The irony wasn’t lost on Jezebeth that she hadn’t gotten the chance to enjoy her newfound freedom, and she was rushing to what could be her oblivion. Her trip across the wasteland felt like it took forever, the soft sand slowing down her movements. Her chest was heaving, and her lungs were burning by the time she jumped over the wolves, her focus on the dune in front of them that had be concealing the entrance. Had she still been tethered to her lamp, her spirt could’ve easily passed through, but now she was a demon in solid form. She had to get through. There was no other option when her child was being tortured. Sucking in a breath, she whispered an opening spell and then she dove head-first into the dune, surprising herself when she tumbled through, pain lancing up her shoulder when she slammed into the hard ground.
The first thing she noticed as she scrambled to her feet was the smell of her daughter’s burning flesh that hit her like a blow to the head and overshadowed any fear she had of obliteration. Rage infused her skull and her vision turned red. A dark roar shook the cavern so hard, she fell back down, wincing when she scraped her knees. She shielded her head when debris rained down on her. Was Tan’yi’nug trying to breach the opening?
She’d finally stumbled to her feet when another roar knocked her down. More debris pelted her, and she cursed when a rock sliced open her ear. By the time the shaking stopped, she was choking on grit and dust had clouded her vision. Her heart pounded a gong in her ears as she felt her way down the tunnel, following the hazy light in the distance. Her daughter had stopped screaming. Was she too late?
She passed through a dark, damp cavern with a row of rusty cells. Though it was lit with only one flickering wall sconce, she sensed movement beneath the piles of hay in each cell.
She followed the scent of her daughter’s burning flesh to the adjoining room, a small cavern with low ceilings. A creature in a dull brown robe had his back to her while he tortured two grotesque creatures chained to the wall.
“You dare defy me!” he screeched, long trails of black smoke pouring from his fingertips as he wrapped the bands around their necks. Jezebeth was prepared to help them until she saw her daughter, passed out on top of a grill, giant bloody welts all over her body, a fire roaring beneath her.
That’s when Jezebeth lost all control and a fury like she’d never known consumed her. Magic shot out of her fingertips, her feet, her head, her eye sockets. She lit up like a fireburst, striking the mage’s back. He fell to his knees with a keening wail, the magic that had floated out of his fingers retracting.
Those grotesque creatures slumped forward as Jezebeth advanced, keeping her magic focused on that one spot on the mage’s back. “You dare harm my daughter!”
