Chapter 8
CHAPTER EIGHT
Cold iron burns against my palms. I gasp as it blocks the connection to my magic and drains the strength right out of my body in a matter of moments. Panic clangs inside my skull when I try to push myself up but my body simply refuses to obey me.
The unexpectedness of it all stuns me so much that my mind can’t process what just happened.
For a few seconds, all I can do is to lie there on my stomach, with my cheek resting against my upper arm, while iron burns against my bare palms like cold fire.
I don’t even have enough strength to lift them off that awful iron.
My head is ringing and panic screams inside me.
What the hell just happened?
The ground underneath me shakes as two huge silver dragons land right in front of us. I can’t even muster enough strength to lift my head, so I desperately flick my gaze back and forth.
Around me, all of my friends are suffering a similar fate. All five of us are lying on the ground, completely limp.
In the distance, Draven roars.
I flick my gaze in his direction, but black smoke is covering the ground before us.
And out of it stride the Wings of Freedom and the Forger of Worlds.
My mouth dries out as Jessina and Bane stalk towards us in their half-shift forms, their silver wings rustling as they spread them out wide.
Every nerve inside my body is screaming at me to get up and fight.
But because of the iron, I can’t move a single muscle.
Whatever this iron is that we’re lying on, it must be huge if it can drain our energy this thoroughly and this quickly.
“It worked,” Bane says, sounding faintly surprised.
Jessina’s lips curl in a smug smile. “Told you it would.”
“And you’re always right, my love. Now, let’s finish this before Draven—”
A raw screech of utter agony splits the air. Bane and Jessina whirl around. I snap my gaze from the Icehearts and towards the sound as well, my heart beating out of control.
The smoke from their transformation at last blows clear, once again letting us see the sky beyond.
Hope surges inside me at the sight I find.
Draven has his jaws clamped around Kander’s neck.
The green dragon throws his head back and screams in agony while trying to fend Draven off with his claws, but Draven’s own claws are buried deep in Kander’s body as they spin around and around while falling through the sky.
Blood rains down and splatters the ground in huge red drops.
Then Draven jerks his head back.
And rips Kander’s throat out.
If I had any strength left, I would’ve screamed in relief.
On the ground before us, Jessina gasps.
It’s the first time I’ve heard such an emotion from her.
“Bane,” she blurts out, sounding utterly stunned.
“Hurry!” he snaps back.
A jolt goes through Jessina, and she spins back towards us at the same time as Bane. From my place on the ground, I try to flash them a victorious smirk. Kander is dead. They can no longer wipe our memories with magic. We finally have a chance to win this war.
If I can survive the next twenty seconds or so, that is.
Draven releases Kander. The green dragon’s body falls down towards the ground, his wings fluttering uselessly above him. But Draven is already moving.
With a roar of pure rage, he shoots through the sky and straight towards us.
Jessina rushes up to me while Bane sprints over to Isera. I suck in a sharp breath as she yanks me up, which finally makes the iron disappear from underneath my palms. But my relief is short-lived as she immediately snaps an iron collar shut around my neck.
Across the metal ground, Bane does the same thing to Isera.
Draven speeds towards us.
Jessina whips her head around and looks to her mate. “We’re not going to—”
A furious roar echoes through the melted buildings as Draven dives towards us. Jessina’s hand tightens around my arm, and she yanks out an elegant knife that she presses against my throat right as Draven reaches us. His massive wings slam down, and storm winds howl in his wake.
It’s forceful enough to make Jessina and Bane stagger backwards, but they manage to keep their grip on me and Isera. Orion, Grey, and Hana, however, slide away like limp dolls.
They gasp in relief as they end up on stone ground instead of the metal they were lying on previously, but the sound is drowned out a moment later when Draven slams down into the ground. Black smoke explodes across the desolate street as he shifts out of his dragon form.
Jessina’s hand around my upper arm tightens until I wince from the pain, and she keeps me on my knees. But because my naked skin is no longer touching the massive iron underneath us, strength slowly starts returning to me. My magic is still blocked by the iron collar, however.
“Get your fucking hands off her!” Draven bellows as he strides out of the smoke like a shadow of death.
Lightning flashes in his eyes and crackles down along his arms, and his massive black wings are spread wide in challenge. Dark storm clouds trail him like a billowing cloak.
“Take one more step and I’ll slit her throat,” Jessina snarls back at him.
Fury to rival the demons in hell flashes across his face. But when his gaze settles on the knife at my throat, he immediately stops walking. He keeps his wings wide and the lightning crackling down his arms, though.
“You killed Kander!” Jessina screams at him, sounding more unhinged than I have ever heard. Then she flicks a glance at her mate. “Bane, he killed Kander!”
“I know,” Bane replies, sounding a lot more composed.
He doesn’t have a knife to Isera’s throat the way Jessina does to me.
Instead, he looks to have shoved her back down on the iron ground after he collared her.
Lying on her side, she has the naked skin of her right cheek pressed to the ground.
Her chest rises and falls with short, panicked breaths, and her gaze darts between me, Draven, and where Orion and the others disappeared to.
The smoke from Draven’s transformation finally blows clear, revealing Orion, Grey, and Hana lying on the stone ground to my left and halfway between me and where Draven is standing.
All three of them are gasping in deep breaths, but since they’re no longer touching the iron, their strength should start building back up again.
“This wasn’t part of the plan!” Jessina yells, still sounding hysterical. “Kander was just supposed to distract Draven while we forced the fae to the melted iron building.”
And that’s when it finally clicks.
Of course. There are melted heaps of stone and metal all over this city.
Most of them are shaped like tall mounds, as if the building has simply collapsed in on itself.
But some of that iron must have run out onto the street as well.
And this is the Icehearts’ old homeland.
Probably their old capital city. Of course they would know exactly where a huge pool of iron has melted.
They were deliberately pushing us back towards it and then made us dive down so that we would have to catch ourselves on the ground while they used the winds from their wings to blow away the ash that was hiding the metal.
“Calm down, my love,” Bane says, his voice steady and reassuring.
“We have already gotten everything we need from Kander anyway. The location of the Gold Clan.” His black eyes glint, and a vicious smile spreads across his lips as he shifts his gaze to Orion.
“The real location. Which is not here, in case you still haven’t figured that out. ”
Cold dread sinks into my stomach like a block of ice.
“You really must get some better spies, Nightbane,” he continues, his eyes still locked on Orion. “You’re making this way too easy for us.”
Hana and Grey are still trying to drag air back into their lungs, but Orion, who is no doubt the strongest magic user in the entire Unseelie Court, manages to push himself up to his knees.
His long dark blue hair hangs around his beautiful face like curtains, and exhaustion clings to every inch of his body.
But he still raises his head and demands, “What?”
“Oh come now, Nightbane, this shouldn’t be a surprise,” Emperor Bane replies, a taunting smirk on his lips.
“We’ve known that you have a spy in Frostfell for some time now.
We might not know who, but we know you have one.
So all we had to do was to let slip to the right people that the Gold Clan was hiding here in a pocket reality, and then you rushed here and brought exactly the people we needed.
” He nods towards Grey and Hana before shifting his gaze back to Orion and shaking his head as if scolding a child.
“Your spy really needs to get better at verifying information.”
Nausea rolls through my stomach. It was a set-up. Goddess damn it, this was all an elaborate trap. Getting us to race here, pushing us to the melted iron, collaring us. Everything was part of their plan. Again.
A sudden hopelessness crashes over me. It’s so strong that I almost sob. How are we supposed to win this war when our enemies are two six-thousand-year-old strategic geniuses who always think five steps ahead?
“Now, we will get the Gold Clan,” Bane continues.
“One way or another. Draven can’t move, because if he does, my mate will slit Selena’s throat.
And you will never be able to recover enough magical energy to attack us before we can kill you and the little ice lady here.
” He places his boot down on the side of Isera’s head, shoving her cheek down harder against the iron.
Lightning flashes in Orion’s eyes, but he says nothing. Just remains there on his knees, drawing in steadying breaths in order to get back enough strength to stand.
“And once we have the Gold Clan,” Jessina picks up, a cruel smile on her face. “Your court is the first that we will burn to the ground, Nightbane.”
Dread flits across Orion’s gorgeous face for a second before he manages to hide it.
“But we’re not entirely unreasonable,” Bane continues.
“Instead of simply killing you and taking your people to do our bidding, we will offer you a choice. Surrender to us and order your people to obey our commands, and we will spare the Unseelie Court. After all, we bear you no ill will. You are not the ones who enslaved us.”
“Don’t listen to them,” Draven grinds out. Black clouds still billow behind him. “They will never honor that deal.”
“Says the traitor,” Bane replies, a cold smile full of threats on his face as he locks those black eyes of his on Draven.
Orion staggers to his feet.
“No,” I breathe.
Draven snaps his gaze to him. “Orion.”
But the Unseelie King does not look at him. Clenching his jaw, he drags his leg forward and takes a step towards the Icehearts. Draven starts to lurch forward.
“Ah, ah, ah,” Jessina warns, her knife pressing harder against my throat.
I wince as it splits the skin and a few drops of warm blood trickle down my neck. Fury and terror flood Draven’s features at the sight of it, and he immediately stops moving again.
Orion takes another step forward.
Draven snaps his gaze back to him. “Orion, don’t.”
“Please,” I add, since I know that Draven will never beg. “Please, Orion. Don’t do this.”
“I have to,” the Unseelie King presses out in a stoic voice. And he is still not making eye contact with us. “I told you back in my castle that I was only with you as long as you could help me achieve my goal. You are no longer in a position to do that.”
“Orion—” I begin.
“I told you that I could walk away at any time. This is me walking away.”
On the ground, Isera stares at him with eyes I can’t read. Bane has finally taken his boot off the side of her head, but she still can’t move due to the iron pressing into her skin.
“I’m telling you that you can’t trust them!” Draven yells.
“And I’m telling you that you cannot protect my court anymore,” Orion simply replies.
He still sways with exhaustion every time he takes a step forward, but he is making slow but steady progress across the ground.
My heart is beating so hard that it feels like my ribs are going to crack.
I flick my gaze desperately from side to side, trying to come up with some kind of plan.
Something that will save us. But Draven can’t attack because Jessina has a knife to my throat.
And Isera and I can’t attack because we’re wearing iron collars.
Grey and Hana still haven’t even recovered enough strength to sit up, let alone use magic.
A panicked whine threatens to spill from my lips when I don’t see anything that will help us.
Bane remains standing close to Isera while Orion staggers the final distance to me and Jessina.
Drawing in desperate breaths, I try to meet his eyes, but he still refuses to look at me.
Holding his head high, he at last comes to a halt in front of Jessina.
Her hand tightens even more around my arm, but she keeps me kneeling there beside her.
And the knife remains across my throat. Another few drops of blood trickle down my skin.
I once more search Orion’s face, trying to force him to look at me.
“Please, don’t do this,” I whisper.
He just draws in a bracing breath.
And then gets down on one knee in front of Jessina Iceheart and lowers his gaze to the ground in surrender.