Chapter 28
Chapter
Twenty-Eight
LYRA
Blood pounded in my ears as I stormed up the stairs.
I was going to kill Kaden myself for hiding something so important from me. Again.
I was going to grow claws and use them to rip his fucking heart out.
I was going to —
The ground shook as I reached the landing, bits of bark and dirt raining down as the impact threw me back. My shoulder hit the inside of the tree trunk, and Adriel stumbled beside me.
“What was that?” I cried, eyes struggling to adjust to the near total darkness.
“No idea,” the royal guard mumbled, his face tight with wariness.
“Kaden!” I called, pounding on the outline of the entrance scored into the bark.
As if in answer, a terrible roar rumbled from the other side, followed by a low growl.
Horror sank into my bones.
Something was out there with Kaden and Sorsha, and we were trapped in here.
“Fuck,” Adriel barked, ramming against the spot where the entrance had been as if he might blaze right through. But he only managed to rattle more bark loose and send it raining down on our heads.
“Kaden! Sorsha!” I yelled, beating my fist against the inside of the trunk.
No answer.
We had to find another way out.
“What are the odds that a half-huntress, half-witch, and demigod Morkahlf represent three courts?” I asked.
Adriel shook his head. “Not good. For starters, there is no witch court. Or Morkahlf court, for that matter. Hunters and witches are not of this realm.”
“We have to try!”
Adriel’s brow creased as he glared at the outline of the opening, which remained stubbornly closed. “I have another idea.”
Before I could ask, the royal guard looped an arm around my waist, and the ground beneath me shook. I stumbled as a crater opened beneath my feet, roots and bark cracking as the earth yawned wide.
I barely had a chance to draw in a breath before Adriel yanked us into the dirt.
Darkness engulfed me. Thick, fragrant soil filled my nose and mouth, making it impossible to scream. The weight of the earth was immense — pressing down on me with enough force to shatter bone.
My lungs screamed for air. I couldn’t see. Couldn’t move.
Panic thrummed in my veins as Adriel dragged me through the earth, but a second later, my head broke the surface, and cool air stung my face.
We were out.
Spitting dirt, I choked and clawed my way out of the tunnel he’d made. Fresh air spilled into my lungs as raindrops pelted my face, but the relief I’d felt at escaping the tree was immediately doused by what I found.
Darkness had descended upon the forest — thick, billowing shadows that swallowed all light and seemed to cling to the trees. Rain poured from the sky in cold sheets, chilling me to the bone as chaos raged.
I clambered out of the tunnel Adriel had forged through the earth only to be tossed to the ground again. My knees hit the mud as a ferocious tremor shook the world, but then a familiar hand reached down to help me up.
Kaden.
His twin blades were still sheathed at his back, but he was wielding his demon power. Shadows billowed all around him, and the whites of his eyes had turned black. Tendrils of midnight unfurled from his hands, ensnaring the winged figures and choking them mid-flight.
Demons.
They shrieked and hissed, thrashing against his hold, as Sorsha’s blades moved in streaks of silver.
They attacked in waves — a dozen at a time — and I could tell from the hard set of Kaden’s shoulders that they were already overwhelmed. There were so many more demons than we had fought at Dorthus, scores of them shooting from the sky.
Blood pounded in my ears. Semphrys had sent his demons for their prince, intent on dragging him back to Dorthus. But they couldn’t have my mate. I was too angry with Kaden to lose him again.
Gripping his hand, I pulled myself up and drew my witchwood blade.
A grotesque, horned demon with eyes like shimmering drops of oil arrowed toward me, its sharp claws outstretched.
I didn’t hesitate. I aimed my dagger at the center of its chest, ripping through a body that felt like wet paper as the enchanted blade did its work.
A horrendous shriek made my ears ring as the demon disintegrated. I watched as its body shattered into a million particles of shadow and mist before floating away on the wind.
But the sound had attracted the attention of the other demons. Horrible faces whipped in my direction, black eyes glinting with a ferocious glee that made my stomach drop.
Wings and talons filled my vision, cackles ringing in my ears as they swarmed. My body froze as I felt one clawing at the edges of my consciousness, but I shored up the thorny hedge around my mind, ensnaring the intruder.
Another demon wrapped me in a blanket of fire, and I fell to my knees. A scream tore from my mouth as I thrashed on the ground, flames lapping at my skin.
A low growl sounded through the roar of the blaze, and I felt a tremor of fury down the bond.
Kaden was close, but I couldn’t see him — couldn’t see anything through the blinding haze of agony that held me in its grip.
And then the flames vanished. Cooling shadows wrapped around me, dousing the hellfire and soothing my scorched skin.
Shrieks of pain replaced my own cries, and I peeled my eyes open to see more tendrils of shadow lash out like whips. One twisted around the fire demon’s neck, yanking him back, while others shot out like arrows. They pierced demons’ wings and shredded their flesh, eliciting shrieks of agony.
Locking eyes with the fire demon, I surged toward him, still armored in Kaden’s shadows. I slashed with my blade, violence humming in my blood, but the demon disappeared on a wisp of smoke.
My momentum carried me forward, and I landed hard on a jagged rock. I hissed, and by the time I clambered to my feet, three more demons had me surrounded.
They attacked in spurts of fire and fury, hacking at Kaden’s protective shadows and my mental shield. I grew my vines thicker and more vicious, but the onslaught continued.
A tremor of fear rippled down the bond, and I whipped around in search of my mate.
Kaden stood in the center of a shadow storm, great plumes of darkness flowing from his outstretched hands. His eyes were black, face tense with concentration as he fought. At least a dozen demons had him surrounded, beating back his shadows as though they were nothing.
He couldn’t hold them off, I realized. Not while he was shielding me.
With a howl of fury, I summoned the same power I used to build a fortress around my mind and directed it outward. Kaden’s shadows peeled off me like a second skin, dissipating like smoke in the wind.
As if they sensed my sudden vulnerability, the demons turned and attacked.
My dagger became an extension of my body as I cut them down, ripping through the festering pits where their hearts should have been and snuffing out their existence. Demons vanished around me in wisps of smoke. Others shot back with an ear-splitting shriek before dive-bombing me once again.
I lost track of how many I killed. But for every demon I vanquished, two more took its place. Out of the corner of my eye, I spotted Sorsha twirling in a lethal dance, her blades moving too fast for my eyes to follow.
My muscles burned as I made another vicious slash, my dagger finding its home in the chest of one four-legged beast. The demon exploded in a shower of mist that was quickly doused by the rain.
As the darkness cleared, I realized there were suddenly fewer demons around me. I dispatched two more and looked around, thinking that perhaps they’d fled.
But then I saw where they’d all gone, circling a dark figure who moved like Death himself.
Kaden had drawn his twin swords, though he’d cloaked them in his shadows. With every movement, ribbons of darkness shot from the tips of the blades, strangling demons and ripping them from the sky as he hacked and slashed at his other attackers.
The demons weren’t here for me. They’d come for their prince.
Fury possessed me as I threw myself into the fray, dancing to the ancient song of all the hunters who’d come before me. It thrummed in my bones like a single note resonating in the air — the call to exterminate evil with cold, sharp steel.
Inhuman sounds surged out of me with each slash of my blade, scattering the demons that surrounded Kaden.
But then a dark cloud blotted out the trees, blocking the rain as they descended. Ten or more demons moved in formation, swooping down to replace those who had fallen.
A tremor of horror skated down my spine, and fatigue sank into my limbs.
We couldn’t fight them all.
Across the clearing, I met Kaden’s pitch-black gaze, and the look on his face stole the air from my lungs.
He was afraid.
In the next breath, my prince sheathed his swords at his back and spread his hands wide. The ground beneath me gave a violent shudder, and I hit the cold, hard mud.
Waves of shadow fanned out over the clearing, obliterating everything in their wake. The canopy shook. Bark sprayed. But Kaden’s shadows shielded me and Sorsha as they shredded demon wings and flesh.
A few took to the sky, their injured wings beating against the hurricane of debris.
Others fell, shrieking with pain as they plummeted into his web of shadow, which seemed to swallow them whole.
A few demons with mangled wings crawled through the mud on hands and hooves, their black eyes wide as they fought to escape his incredible wrath.
There was another ominous pulse of magic, and then Kaden’s shadows went still. The rain continued to fall as they hung like wisps of smoke.
The demons were gone.
As the adrenaline ebbed away, my exhaustion hit me full force. My muscles ached, my head swam, and the hand that still clutched my dagger was wet with burst blisters.
Lifting my head, I peered through the gloom, searching the dissipating shadows for my mate.
Through the veil of shadows and rain, I spotted a dark figure lying in the mud.
My heart nearly punched through my ribs. No.