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Had Malekai killed them?
My stomach roiled to imagine either scenario. Either he was out there, potentially gravely injured from making a narrow escape… Or he had killed them himself? Killing so many of them certainly wasn’t beyond his power… Some of these were soldiers we’d fought beside. Though a few of the ones I knew personally, like Galvor, were… Unsavoury, to say the least… They’d trusted them with his life.
Would he have really slaughtered them all merely because I’d told Pomona to tell him I wanted us to watch the world burn?
His deep, velvety voice echoed in my mind.
Katadamna kaza.
Damn the cost.
He had saved my life multiple times, and I trusted him wholly. Not to mention, finding an excuse to turn against Zurie wasn’t exactly a chore. It had only been days ago she’d fucking mutilated him out of nothing more than entertaining herself.
Guilt churned heavily in my gut. If he had done this because of me… It would be my fault they were dead. Though if I hadn’t, it would have been Uprising members…
Where was he?
Surely Malekai couldn’t have returned to the palace as the only survivor… Zurie wouldn’t accept that kind of failure…
My worry for him ratcheted higher, and I looked down to find those tendrils of magic pouring from my front.
Fuck.
With no small amount of effort, I heaved them back in, and my magic writhed indignantly against the barrier of my skin. I willed myself to take more deep, steadying breaths.
“Are you alright,lohane thili?”
Nakoa’s voice was barely a murmur against my hair.
“Yes… Just… I knew them.”
Not exactly a lie.
The leather of Pumpkin’s reins creaked in his grip.
“I’m sorry… Were you close with any of them?”
I shook my head, unable to force any more words out as my mind frantically whirled. Ineededto know that Malekai was safe.
How could I even find him?
If he had been responsible for the deaths of all those soldiers, how long would it take for Zurie to hunt him down?
I repeated my silent prayer toAkashlike a mantra.
Please, Akash. Please let Malekai be safe.
After the longest hour and a half of my life, we finally reached a small cabin, hidden deep in the woods, to meet with a lykos male named Val, apparently the most senior member of The Uprising beneath Nakoa and his chosen family.
Val stepped out onto the porch of his cabin, arms folded across his broad chest as an even broader grin split his thickly bearded face. Thick, wavy blond hair, shaved at the sides but long on top, laid in a thick braid over one shoulder. He looked like some kind of Viking from Terrania.
“Bout time ya showed up, ya big bastard,” he called out to Nakoa. The male’s gravelly voice was thick with an accent only found in the mountains ofBein Sith Mór.A small region renowned for having some of the most spectacular and magically rich lands. Also home to Atratus’ largest population of fairies, sprites, druids, witches, and shifters.
“Inconsiderate of you to live so far away, if you ask me. The three days ride to get here is a pain in my dick,” Nakoa shouted back with a grin on his face as he finally drew Pumpkin to a stop and slid off her side. Before I could attempt to dismount on my own, he tugged me down into his arms and set me on the ground beside him. V
Val had already descended the steps of his cabin when we turned to face him and closed the distance between us in merely a few long strides.
Nakoa opened his arms to embrace him, only to be promptly shoved aside. Val wrapped me up in his arms, pinning my own to my sides, and swung me around like I weighed nothing.
