Chapter 1
“You must calm down,” Raine urged as Ava paced in front of the campfire, her hands clenched, nails digging into her palms with the fae strength she was still adjusting to. “We’ll be there tomorrow.”
They’d been traveling for days. But even pushing themselves as hard as they could manage, it was taking much too long.
Ava needed to get to the daemon camp now.
Had to free Casimir. He was still alive, she was sure of it.
Once they’d accepted and completed the soulbond, they were tied to one another, as if they could feel each other’s pain and sorrow.
But he was gravely injured, and every so often there was a tug deep within her soul, as if urging her to hurry before he succumbed to his wounds. To the torture she tried not to picture, but knew he was being put through. Like what she’d gone through herself.
Ava wanted to peel off her skin and scream until her lungs were raw. To rage and destroy and wreck everything around her. To raze the forest and rip the moon from the sky, bathing the world in darkness. Because her light was missing. Her light was hurt and scared and barely hanging on.
She turned to her friend, trying to contain her tears. “I can’t calm down.” Her voice came out in hardly a whisper.
It was all she could do to control her magic.
A wild and feral beast, urging to be released.
But she was going to save it. She was going to preserve every last drop so when she unleashed herself on their enemies—when she sought her vengeance for what they’d put her love through—she could savor their screams as she freed the monster within.
The monster she wouldn’t hesitate to become if that was what it took to save him.
Because he had saved her too. In so many ways.
Raine approached, his platinum hair shimmering in the moonlight. He grasped her face and forced her to look at him, blinking back his own tears. “We will get him back. I promise you.”
Raine hadn’t cracked one joke since learning of Casimir’s capture. No teasing, no quips. He’d gone into his own dark place of anger, of deadly calm. Of fear for his childhood best friend’s fate.
They’d left their kingdom with a significant company of soldiers. Pax, Quinn and Jorrar had come along, though they were currently asleep in their tents. Even Maeryn, the general of Igneothenia’s armies, had joined, insisting she wanted to help. To aid in the rescue of the earth kingdom’s general.
Their camp was set up in a grove of white-barked trees, less than a day’s journey from the daemon army.
Tents sat in a circle around the leftover embers of their campfire.
Luna dozed beneath a nearby tree next to Raine’s wolf, Sabriel, and Quinn’s ebony panther, Bastien.
Jorrar’s owl hooted in the boughs as their sentry, watching for danger.
Ava met Raine’s eyes and couldn’t hold it in any longer.
Letting the tears fall in earnest, her shoulders shook as sobs racked her body.
Raine pulled her into a hug, wrapped his arms around her, and placed a kiss on the top of her head.
She let herself be steadied by his strength as they held each other, silently crying for their friend.
For her love.
“You need to get some rest,” Raine whispered, rubbing her back.
“I won’t be able to sleep.” She pulled away and wiped her cheeks.
Raine tugged her down to sit, leaning against a log as they stared at the fire.
In silence, he put his arm around her and she laid her head on his shoulder, relieved to have her best friend by her side.
Ava lost herself in the glow of the coals, the oranges and yellows rippling in the night as she tried not to picture what they were doing to Casimir in this very moment.
Shoving away her own traumas that had occurred within that same camp, she prepared herself for what they would have to do tomorrow.
Allowing the cool breeze to caress her skin, she took a steadying breath.
They didn’t move for the rest of the night.
The moment dawn broke over the horizon, their camp was a bustle of activity. An air of grimness hovered around them as they tore down the tents and prepared to journey the last few hours to begin their rescue.
“Do you remember what we talked about?” Quinn asked, approaching Ava as she readied her horse.
“Yes.”
They had spent the last several days reviewing their plans, memorizing each step.
There were three goals: rescue Casimir, retrieve the book needed to defeat the daemon queen, and rescue Isolde, Jorrar and Kai’s daughter.
She was a healer trapped at the camp, who had been captured and forced to heal the prisoners Deidamia and Andras tortured.
She had also been the one to help Ava escape, saving her and Remy’s life.
But she had refused to leave with them, mentioning something about her own plans, though Ava had tried to convince her to come. The guilt of not trying harder still sat in her gut like a shameful lead weight.
The group was to split into teams, utilizing the animal companions to create multiple distractions, while Jorrar searched for Isolde and Quinn located the book. That left Ava and Raine to free Casimir.
The distraction would have to last long enough for them to get in and out with as little casualties as possible.
Ava couldn’t bear losing another loved one.
They planned on setting fire to the far side of camp using Maeryn’s lava magic, and creating golems—animated beings made from mud or clay—to fight the daemon soldiers, keeping them focused on the chaos while the others snuck in for their rescues and retrievals.
Then they would meet at a pre-designated spot and make their trek home.
“Focus on your role and your role only,” ordered Quinn. “Don’t let yourself get distracted by anything else going on in the camp.”
“I know.”
The group rode in silence most of the way.
Ava’s hands tightened on the leather reins as she worried her lip through her teeth, trying to suppress the memories hovering at the back of her mind of her own experience at the enemy camp.
Where her whole journey had started when she’d gone through the portal on her farm and entered the realm of Eorhan.
And now she was going back.
Ignoring her fear, she focused on her task. It would do no good to get distracted by her anxiety. She’d get Casimir killed if she gave into panic.
After several hours of riding, they split up and proceeded the rest of the way on foot, leaving the horses at their rendezvous point with a small team to guard them.
Ava walked through the forest with Raine, stepping over moss-covered logs and ducking beneath low branches.
The sounds and smells of camp grew stronger.
A bark of laughter from a daemon soldier, the clang of a blacksmith hammering, the smell of meat roasting over a fire, the scent of iron… of blood.
They were close.
Luna hid nearby in the woods, making herself available for communication in between the teams while Raine’s wolf, Sabriel, had joined one of the groups creating a distraction.
After another ten minutes of walking, they arrived at the edge of the enemy base, hiding behind a group of moss-covered boulders in the forest to observe the daemon army and wait for their signal to enter.
Ava scanned the scene before her, searching for the tent where she’d been held during her own imprisonment.
“There.” She pointed when she spotted it. “That’s where they kept me.”
Nausea swirled in her stomach as she was brought back to her time spent inside the daemon stronghold.
Where she’d been tortured, starved and lost all hope.
She’d almost given up, had begged for death.
A scream echoed from somewhere within their base, and suddenly Ava was back there, tripping over her feet as she was led through the camp with shackled hands.
She had to get away, had to escape, had to run.
“Ava,” a voice called in the distance.
No. No. No. Please.
She couldn’t do it. Couldn’t survive the torture.
“Ava.” The voice was gentle. A hand on her cheek. “Ava, listen to me.”
Raine. She blinked, face to face with gray-blue eyes full of worry. Inhaling a shaky breath, she forced herself to focus on her friend. Real. He was real. She wasn’t being tortured, she wasn’t a prisoner. That was in the past.
“Take a deep breath,” he urged. “In through your nose and out through your mouth.” She did as he instructed. “Good. One more.”
Inhaling, she closed her eyes, urging herself to stay in the present as she felt the grass beneath her hand, focusing on the soft blades to ground herself. With one last deep breath she met Raine’s gaze again.
“Are you alright?”
She nodded, pushing past the flashback. “Yes. I wasn’t expecting…that.”
“It’s okay. It’s hard not to get pulled back into memories sometimes.
Now listen to me carefully. Remember…you are not the one trapped right now.
Focus on your task. Cas needs us.” Raine’s expression hardened.
“Be angry they took your soulbond. Be angry they hurt you. Let that fury fuel your mission.”
The reminder of Casimir’s imprisonment reignited the fire in her veins, the magic waiting to destroy. Minuscule flowers bloomed around her feet as she allowed her wrath to overtake her fears.
“There she is,” Raine said with pride. “Keep your magic under control. But when it’s time…unleash it and don’t hold back.”
Ava directed her attention back to the scene before them.
Smoke billowed from numerous campfires as daemon soldiers milled about, some in the midst of conversation while others wound their way between the canvas quarters, as if they had not a care in the world, confident in their strength and power.
The sun dipped below the horizon and she prepared herself, knowing it was almost time. All they had to do was get through the daemons and their terrifying creatures, get Casimir out, and escape before they were overrun.
It wouldn’t be easy.