Chapter 40 Serena
SERENA
“You just saw the dead witch queen inside that tree?” Kai sputters. “Are you sure you didn’t hit your head, precious?”
I smack his arm.
“What did she say?” Mar asks, ignoring Mr. Wise Guy over here.
“Did she tell you how to close the portal?” Eaton presses.
“No. Nothing she said made any sense. She told me Vod is not our enemy, that Kylian will be High King, and I’ll—”
“What?”
Be his queen.
The words lodge in my throat. My eyes link with Zadyn’s.
Tell me, he entreats.
Unable to voice it, I let him peer into the memory of my conversation with Arden and hear her message firsthand. He gives me a long look, his brows threading together.
“What?” Mar repeats.
I shake my head, at a loss. “I don’t know. I’m just as confused as you are.”
Kai’s face hardens, his posture going rigid. “We can’t let that happen. Kylian cannot be High King.”
As the words leave his mouth, I feel a twinge of panic latch onto my chest. “She said that if we fight against him, all of us will die.”
A tense silence falls.
“I think we can all agree that letting Kylian conquer the world would be a fate worse than death,” Dover says, his voice subdued.
“Which is why we are not going to let that happen.” Zadyn glances around at each of us, saving me for last. “Any of it.”
I know he’s talking about the part in the story where I marry our enemy. A shudder ripples through me as I force Arden’s warning from my mind.
She’s wrong. She just has to be.
“Come on. Let’s walk and talk. We need to find somewhere to camp before the sun sets. I don’t like being out in the open like this,” Zadyn says, scanning the expansive flat land.
“It’s all desert for miles,” Kai protests.
“I sent Furi off. She needed a break. We’ve been pushing her hard these last few days, and this place was making her edgy.”
“Let’s head north,” Eaton says. “There’s a small river there. We can make camp and start back in the morning.”
The walk is going smoothly until I hear Mar scream.
I turn to see Mal standing there, his fist clamped around her arm. Behind him are ten golden soldiers.
Where the hell did they come from?
I force my shock to wait as they charge at us, hurling out their magic before they get close enough to strike a blow.
Cowards.
The moment I feel the pain, I crumple to the ground.
Something sharp jabs at my chest over and over, leaving me breathless.
I scan myself for the arrow or dagger I’m certain has pierced my heart.
But there’s nothing there. That’s when I see one of the soldiers standing still, his arm cast out in my direction.
He’s using his affinity.
My magic kicks in, reflecting his power back at him in a jet stream of fury. He flies back, taken to the ground by the gift I’ve just deflected. The second he’s up, I hit him with a line of fire and watch him dance around, desperate to extinguish the flames.
A flash of white whizzes past my head. I turn to see Zadyn leap through the air in OrCat form to take off the arm of the soldier whose sword is arcing toward my neck.
Mal materializes behind me, landing a stunning blow to my cheek.
Can’t say I’ve missed his punches.
A metallic tang fills my mouth as he reaches for me again, but a tidal wave shoves him backward.
Kai bends to help me up.
“I don’t know what gutter you crawled out of,” he calls to Mal, “but in these parts, traitors are generally disliked.”
Mal laughs, getting to his feet. “You’re the only traitor I see here, Prince. Your mother is worried sick.”
“I think you have her confused with some other cunt, which is surprising given how much time you’ve spent plowing hers. Too soon to start calling you ‘Daddy’?”
That does it. The rage on Mal’s face causes me to take a physical step back, pulling Kai with me as he sends out another powerful rush of water. Mal tosses his hands out at the same time, his fingers trembling and glowing white.
Mal’s gift is lightning.
Fuck.
“Kai, no!”
I shove him out of the way the moment the water and lightning meet, absorbing the full weight of the fallout.
The electric current eats through me so fast and violently, I hit the ground, convulsing.
It’s too overwhelming to even deflect. My vision darkens as I jerk and writhe, eating dirt and spitting blood.
I decide then that I want Mal to die first. Ilspeth can watch. Kylian won’t give a shit about either of them, so where he falls on the list is not really important as long as he’s dead.
Then it stops. The pain, the seizing. All of it. I can see again. Kai is leaning over me, a horrified expression on his face.
“I can only hold them for a minute. Think fast, people.”
In my periphery, Mar staggers back a step, nose leaking blue. The soldiers around us are frozen, even Mal. Suspended mid-stride. She’s siphoning.
Zadyn shifts back into fae form to pull me into his lap. I don’t have the voice to ask how bad my damage is. Not yet.
I can feel Furi rioting in my head, her rage flaring as if she’d been scorched herself. I wish I could tell her I’m alright, but I’m struggling to breathe, and that sucks up all my focus.
“Kai, I need you to make a pool,” Zadyn directs, his eyes never leaving mine.
“What?”
“A pool!” he bellows. “A small body of water. Make one right now.”
“Fuck.” Dover and Eaton pop into view, blotting out the sun.
Kai gives Zadyn a confused look, but obeys. Water flows from his palms, creating a small pond inside the barren desert.
“Mar, get inside,” Zadyn snaps, murderously quiet.
“She can’t walk all of us, Zadyn,” Dover says. Zadyn whirls, snarling at him. “She can’t fucking do it!”
“Get inside,” Mar commands, sounding winded. “Now.”
My voice is still lost to me as Zadyn scoops me into his arms like a rag doll.
“Take a deep breath. You’re going to be okay,” he vows, gazing down at me. I think I nod.
Then I’m sucked into a whirlpool. My lungs start screaming.
I can’t help it. I open my mouth. Maybe my brain is fried from being electrocuted.
I’m still choking as I’m laid out on solid ground. My jacket and shirt are ripped open. Large, cool hands press against my chest, just below my neck. It isn’t until I feel them that I realize I’d been burning. I probably look like a charred steak from the outside.
I mumble something.
“What did she say?” Zadyn asks, his voice tight.
“I don’t know.”
“She doesn’t look so hot.”
“I think she’s in shock.”
“She’s not healing. Fuck.”
“She needs to drink.”
Then something smooth and cool touches my lips, and a coppery liquid slips onto my tongue.
Mar is giving me her blood.
I want to fight. I want to spit it out, but the moment it slides down my throat, a new feeling replaces the dread. My resistance fades as her blood erases my pain and replenishes me.
“How the fuck did they find us?” Eaton breathes.
“Do you think—”
“They’re tracking us,” Mar says. “They have to be.”
“How?”
“Either they’re tracking the dragon or Kylian must have a Hound.”
A Hound. Fancy speak for a magic tracker.
“But how did they just appear like that? I’ve never heard of High Fae being able to do that. Those beasts Kylian brought over did the same thing,” Dover says.
“Kylian’s mirrors. He can transport them anywhere,” Kai answers, a darkness shadowing his tone. “That’s how he’s been moving the Stryga.”
I finally open my eyes, my lashes fluttering up at Zadyn. His entire face transforms from deadly to relieved.
“Hi,” he says, flashing a brilliant smile down at me. It’s like another bolt of lightning, but this time it’s a good one, striking me right in the heart.
I mumble again as he cradles my face.
“What?”
“Ow,” I finally croak.
“I know.” Zadyn breathes a grateful laugh, tipping his head down to mine. “I know.”