26. Chapter 26
Chapter 26
A urelia kept her head low, cold sweat slicking her palms.
There was no room for mistakes now. Not when they were so close.
Valea had become the king’s daughter once more, squaring her shoulders, a swaggering stride that seemed to transform her back into the female that had delivered them before her king just weeks ago. A look on her beautiful face that brooked no question of her authority here—her stare enough to send anyone who glanced their way back into the shadows of the halls.
“Leah, was it?” Karro drawled from where he kept pace beside her.
“Va-lay-uh,” she bit off in irritation, eyes scanning the main artery of the mountain keep. “Too many syllables for you?”
Even from beneath the heavy hood, Aurelia caught a glimpse of the bottom half of Karro’s rugged face, his lips lifting into a grin at the prospect of a battle.
“A beautiful name,” he murmured. “The name of a queen of old.”
The fierce female didn’t have a cutting reply to that, but Aurelia could have sworn the slightest shade of pink stained her alabaster skin.
“Shit—” Valea hissed.
A silver-haired male and a handful of others appeared at the other end of the hall, walking toward them.
The Captain jerked her sharp chin toward the tunnel branching off at their left, but it was too late—ducking into the shadows now would damn them.
The male approached, putting a fist to his chest. “Captain—I thought you’d be with your sentries on patrol by now.” He glanced at the hooded Wraiths behind her, eyes lingering on Ven’s lowered head.
Valea squared her shoulders, the mask of the king’s justice back in place. Imperious and cold, calculating and cruel as she answered, “I have my orders and my sentries have theirs—neither of which concerns you, Cassis.”
But her bravado didn’t seem to sway the male as he studied them, suspicion narrowing his eyes.
One of the males behind him took a step closer to Karro, nostrils flaring as if he scented the lie.
Aurelia's pulse hammered as the male leaned closer—too close. In a swift movement, the male ripped the hood from Karro’s head, revealing the jet-black hair and bronze skin beneath.
Karro’s hand went to the hilt of his broadsword as the male took a step back, reaching for his own.
Ven's crimson eyes lifted to Cassis.
“What is this?” Cassis asked, drawing his blade and leveling it at Ven's chest.
“That would be ill-advised, Cassis.” Valea cautioned, removing her own blade. “You saw what happened to your father for plotting against the king—I can guess what your fate will be if you kill the heir to the blood crown.”
This must have been Roheer’s son. And now that Aurelia looked closer at the male, she could see the similarities in the set of his shoulders. The resolve in the hard line of his jaw.
Cassis turned toward his men, hand bursting into flame as a cruel grin curved his mouth. “Fate has smiled upon me—offering up both of the king’s children in payment for my father’s death.”
Two of the males closed in on Valea as flame twirled from her fingertips, scorching their finely made clothing and filling the tunnel with the scent of burning flesh.
“You bitch,” Cassis roared. “King’s favored bastard or not, I will take pleasure in killing you for what you did to my father.”
“Your father brought about his own death with his carelessness,” Valea spat as her fire battled against his. She was clearly the stronger of the two, her magick engulfing Cassis’ as the male grimaced from the effort of pushing her back.
Karro’s blade slid free with a metallic hiss as he gutted the male in front of him in a single, graceful movement, but soon the others were upon them.
Ven lashed out with shadows, coiling around the throats of a male and female nearby, forcing them to drop their weapons and claw helplessly at their necks.
Two others had cornered Aurelia. She couldn’t control her magick in such a confined space—it was too much of a risk. She ducked, sweeping the legs out from one of the males. The strike swept the legs out from one of the males, but the other came forward, pinning her to the floor.
Reaching for the dagger at her side, she grasped blindly as the male pinned down her other arm. Hooking a booted foot around his hip, she threw him off, finally sliding the blade free. She struck wildly, plunging it into his chest, his arm, his leg—until finally his movements slowed.
She whipped around, finding her feet again. Cassis’ back was toward her, one hand holding a dagger to Ven's throat, the other engulfed in flames that licked close enough to Ven's face to make a bead of sweat roll from his brow.
Karro and Valea dropped their weapons, hands raised in surrender. The others were dead at their feet—but echoing footsteps and raised voices told her more had been drawn by the commotion.
“A new era will begin this night,” Cassis uttered. Fire flared around his hand, singeing the side of Ven's face.
And rage, hot and acrid, burned its way up her spine as the male tightened his grip on Ven.
Hers.
The word came unbidden—raging through her thoughts and smothering all else. He was hers, and hers alone . Fate help anyone who got between them.
It felt as if time stood still.
Fury blistered across Aurelia's shoulders. She moved so quickly that one moment she was a dozen feet behind Cassis, and the next, she was at his throat—fangs ripping into his neck in a spray of blood that coated her face, her neck, drenching the white uniform she wore.
The taste of his blood was bitter with fear, saturated with the same incensed look that was on his face as he whirled toward her.
Outraged bubbled up from his torn throat, eyes wide as his arm went lax around Ven and he slumped to the floor between them.
Ven stepped over his body, a bloodied hand reaching up to grip the side of her face.
His eyes found hers, bringing the wild beast that still raged within her chest to a low murmur.
Shouts echoed down the tunnels, ripping her from the haze of bloodlust as Valea led them away from the gory scene.
The clamor chased after them like hounds on their scent as they sprinted past the block of prison cells.
Aurelia tried not to let her eyes linger. Vacant, haunted gazes stared off into the distance, unaware of the disturbance around them.
All but one.
Hazel eyes locked with hers through the rusted iron bars.
Aurelia turned abruptly at the contact, like a bolt of lightning through her heart at the life still glimmering there.
Despite the utter despair around her, watching day after day as the will slowly leaked out of the other captives, this young woman still vibrated with life. And she wasn't sure if it was a gift or a curse that somehow, after being surrounded by such darkness, the woman still held onto her light.
Dropping her head, she cursed herself for pretending not to hear the whisper of small hands gripping the bars of the cell behind her.
Even if she could manage to get this human and take her with them—the world beyond these walls was not one for something so fragile. But what kind of existence was she damning her to if she left her here . . .
Coward.
She was a fucking coward.
She stopped, turning back to meet those hazel eyes. Bursts of green and brown and gold-flecked throughout. So utterly beautiful. So utterly . . . human.
Placing her hands on the bars of the cell, she let the lightning in her blood wind and sing its way through her veins.
The woman stepped back, but there wasn’t any fear in her eyes as Aurelia unleashed her magick.
With great branching arcs above her head, white streaks of lightning shattered the heavy iron bars. Metal groaned as the locks on every door gave way, bursting open.
And the sheer pleasure of releasing her power, unfettered and unrestrained, was unlike any other.
Light poured through every tunnel, every dark corner. Blinding and infinite.
Heat seared her fingertips and her face as the blast left her ears ringing, bleaching everything from her vision.
And when the light finally dissipated, she reached through the rubble.
Slender brown fingers grasped hers, a beautiful heart-shaped face emerging through the haze left in the wake of her destruction.
“Your name?” Aurelia asked breathlessly.
“Tanis,” the woman answered, taking her hand.
She had damned them all with that one final act. But there was no condemnation in Ven’s eyes as they met hers. Only silent understanding, his hand outstretched, open and waiting.
Valea cast a wary look at Aurelia, realization dawning as her eyes narrowed. There was no hiding herself now, but the female's blistering gaze broke off as muffled shouts urged them forward again.
Mountveil's doors towered above them.
The only way out.
Ven and Karro scanned the cavern behind them as Valea peered up at the imposing iron doors.
Aurelia stepped beside her, turning toward the white-haired female. “You should know that if we leave this place, there are worse things that will hunt us on our journey back to Ravenstone.”
She couldn’t have said why she whispered the words of warning to the female. Valea had damned herself just as much as the rest of them this night, and there would be no turning back for her, either.
The Captain turned, red eyes sparkling with cunning. She’d known—even if she hadn’t known exactly the kind of power Aurelia wielded until now, she’d known that Aurelia was hiding what she truly was.
The female gave a small nod of understanding.
Valea took a single step back. She kicked the doors open with a booted foot, the elegant blade in her hand gripped tighter as she stared across the expanse of the bridge.
Lavender and rose illuminated the sky beyond the cliffs.
Dawn was breaking.
The female swallowed hard, the knot at her pale throat enough to tell Aurelia that she was fighting back her fear as much as the rest of them.
But she did not look back as she pulled her red hood over her face and ran into the bursting glow of morning.