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I didn’t remember being born, but it had to be like this.
As if my soul was being remade—newer, better, stronger.
This was fucking amazing.
And the soldier’s warning…was bullshite. This magic wasn’t killing me, I felt more alive than ever before.
When I burst through the other side, the rich earthy scent of Bloodwood Forest was replaced by a dry, desolate nothingness, as if everything over here was so long dead, all that was left was dust.
One look around revealed…that was true.
Skeletons of a once-great forest surrounded me, not so much as a green leaf or blade of grass in sight. And no sign of Solok, the Mistress, or Ember.
Fear bloomed in my chest. What if a Fae’s word was only good on the other side of the wall? What if Solok’s promises meant nothing here, and I’d handed Ember over to her doom?
And why was everything dead?
Had I ended up in the wrong place? Had I done something wrong?
“Ember.” I screamed into the wood. “Ember.”I might have heard something, but the sound cut off. As if a hand had been clapped over her mouth.
I headed that direction when guards emerged from the opening, their eyes flaring in surprise when they caught sight of me, intact and alive. In seconds, they surrounded me with a circle of spears, illustrating I had, indeed, made a grave mistake.
Just not how I’d imagined.
“The Axe gave me final instructions, before he left.” The leader drew his enormous sword, as long as I was tall. “Your blood will seal the portal shut for another decade, and your little friend will be given to the king as a gift, instead of you.”
I kept my eyes on the point of the sword he raised with both hands, the gold ring on his thumb shining. He meant to kill me. Fear flooded through me as I fell into a crouch, my shoulders tense, ready to dodge away the moment he swung that immense sword.
The guard never got the chance.
Power shattered me into a million pieces.
Ripped the breath from my lungs, the sight from my eyes, every thought from my head. For one glorious second, Ibecamethe magic and when I could finally focus my eyes, the entirety of the Fae force—all one hundred of them—lay around me, dead.
The sound of hollow clapping echoed through the skeletal trees before Solok stepped into sight, boots coated in dust from the dry, desiccated ground.
“You do surprise, little thief.” Solok murmured. His sister appeared behind him, dragging a white-faced Ember. “Now I see why the king wants you so badly.”
By the gods, I’d killed a hundred males.A hundred armed, full blooded Fae males.
A hundred males that belonged to the Fae King of Caladrius.
The air still shimmered with white, starry power, the blackened tree trunks around us smoking from the force of the blast.
I touched my face, my cheeks hot to the touch. When I spread out my fingers, phantom bursts of light danced up and down my hand, crawled up my arm. My feet were completely healed—the lashes on my back, too—if the lack of pain could be trusted.
There was something different about my skin. It was smoother, with a faint glow, and my body was stronger, my muscles more supple.
But I couldn’t unsee the bodies piled around us, the cunning expression on Solok’s face while he studied me, like some priceless treasure he’d discovered.
One thing was for sure. If Ember had gone through the portal with me, she’d be dead now. So why had Solok bothered to save her? It would have been far easier to let her die, which meant he was planning to use her…against me, somehow.
Fear shone in Ember’s eyes. “By the gods, Anaria, you’re a…”
The Mistress cuffed her ear, sent her sprawling and the next second, I was on her, pinning her arm behind her back, bending her backwards, like Solok had done to the duke. “Touch her again and I willbreak you in half.”
My primal growl sounded…like an animal.
