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I gasp when his hand snaps out, gripping my arm. “I tried to give you a choice, but if you want to paint me as the bad guy, then so be it. I’ll be your captor, just like the king. Maybe he was right.”
My eyes widen as horror winds through me, and then I feel the ground hum with movement. I snap my head around to see more hunters pouring from the trees, all draped in weapons and encircling Cora and our monsters.
It’s an ambush.
Merryl’s hand tightens on my arm, making me look back at him even as shadows race across the ground and up my legs. My mates growl as they split their attention between the threatbehind them and the one touching their mate, but my entire focus is on Merryl and the hate I see in his eyes.
I see his need for violence so he can control me, own me, just like every man before him.
“You think they are beasts? Then what am I?” I snarl, and I let go, releasing the powers that are crying to be let out and join the fight, sensing the threat to myself and my mates.
My skin begins to glow and my eyes light up. Even my hair illuminates as I watch Merryl’s stand on edge from where he touches me before he cries out in pain and lets go.
My power does not attack my mates, but it does attack him, sensing the threat.
Eyes wide, he stumbles back, looking at me in horror.
“What have they done? They’ve ruined you. You’re a monster,” he whispers.
We are both oblivious to everything else going on around us. I’m caught in this moment, one I knew we were destined to experience, even from the beginning.
Love changes to hate, and desire morphs to disgust.
“You are corrupt. You are no better than them. Look at you! Look at what they’ve done to you, Kai! You should have come with me and trusted me to protect you—”
“You never protected me! You never could. You are weak, Merryl. When the king came for me, you did nothing. Yet here you are, pretending this is all for me. They didn’t ruin me; the king did. No, these monsters, these beasts as you call them, saved me.” I step closer, feeling my power mix with Rook’s shadows as they hold back the other hunters.
“You have to stop this, Merryl. This is my last warning to you. I know somewhere deep inside, you are still the man I loved—a gentle man. You must see this is wrong.”
He watches me, swallowing hard. “That’s where you’re wrong, Kai. We have both changed,” he whispers. “If you arewith them, then you are against us. We won’t stop. It is too late. Don’t you see?”
Frowning in confusion, I follow his eyes and gasp in horror.
Flames burn through the woods, eating the land and trees in the Dead Lands as they burn a path to us.
The Dead Lands burn, and so do we.
Chapter
Fifty-Six
KAI
The fire spreads rapidly, consuming the land at a pace it shouldn’t. The Dead Lands have only just begun to come back to life, the green within the trees a symbol of hope in the darkness, but the new growth is still young, and so the dryness of the Dead Lands aids the fire’s spread. I stare in horror as we’re surrounded on all sides and screams rip through the air from the monsters in the forest. We came to this neutral ground to seek peace, and instead, the humans took all attempts of peace off the table.
They are destroying our home.
“Come,” Rook growls as he lifts me into his arms. “We must go.”
“The Dead Lands!” I cry. “The monsters!”
I’m not dressed for running, but even if I’d been able to, I would stumble under the sight of the forest. This place that has become my home means more to me than the Shadow Lands ever could. I healed here, loved here, and found my sister again. This place is home, and they lit it on fire like it means nothing.
Anger fills me, anger that drags my power from my heart with my bitterness. Our choices are always stolen from us. Theywere stolen from us in the Shadow Lands, and they were stolen from us now. Beside me, Cora screams for her home. This should not be happening. This never should have been possible.
I’m thrown over Rook’s shoulder, and he bursts into a sprint. Beside him, Grim runs with Cora over his shoulder. We’re both dressed as queens, not in clothing suitable for fighting—a mistake we will never make again. We wanted to appear nonthreatening, like we were there to bring peace, and they betrayed the grounds of neutrality. For that and burning this realm, they will pay.
I reach for Cora in my anguish, my arm outstretched despite our mad dash toward the Shadow Lands to escape the flames that consume our home. She clasps her fingers in mine, and my power burns brighter. Lightning flashes from me as she glows, and together, we begin to scream.
