Chapter 55 – Neve
Chapter 55
NEVE
I blinked, taking in Roar’s animal form, the glowing white fur patterned with brownish-red spots, his long tail flicking behind him. As lovely as he was deadly and so incredibly large. Much larger than I’d imagined. Or perhaps it was just Roar’s shifted form, and the regular felines were smaller. Blindingly white and lovely, in this form, Roar had to be as large as the golden snow leopard statues flanking his throne room. Twice, maybe three times, Roar’s already impressive size.
How to defeat such a creature?
“Caelo, out here.” Vale rushed forward.
I suspected he was intending to go for Roar, but two of the faerie guards sprinted ahead of their lord to meet Vale. The others came at Sir Caelo, who raced past me a second later. Their swords clanged, the sound of metal-on-metal echoing in the chamber. Near the portal, the human women shrieked .
I risked taking my eyes off Roar and found that the faerie who’d lured the humans to this world was nowhere in sight. No doubt he’d escaped—slipped back through the portal to safety. The coward.
“Neve!” Vale shouted above the din of swords. “Arm yourself!”
I swallowed and called my powers. Roar had slipped around the fighting and had had his sights set on me, his pace slow, his gait as graceful as a true feline. Though his expression should have been unreadable, I thought I caught a smirk there.
We’ll see who is smirking at the end. I unsheathed my sword.
Roar faltered, almost as if he’d recognized the blade. I took that opportunity to seize the upper hand, rushing forward, my free hand outstretched and magic flowing through me. A blast of frost momentarily blinded Roar and a hiss sang through the mine when my blade met fur. Blood sprayed across my face as I retreated before he lashed out with claws and teeth.
Would he kill me? I wasn’t sure. Knowing my secret opened up many avenues of possibility for him. But one thing I was sure of was that the others weren’t safe.
My throat burned to warn Anna and the miner to run, but I swallowed my words. Roar did not know they were there, and Anna could not feel the cold of shackles of slavery around her again. It might break her. If Vale, Caelo, and I did not survive this, I hoped they ran far, far away .
With protecting my best friend in mind, I sized up Roar. He was not approaching, and I detected a familiar curious look in his eyes.
I realized that he wanted to see my magic in all its glory.
It was time I showed him.
Vale and Caelo were still fighting, both with magic and steel. Positioned behind Roar, it would be easy for me to strike them on accident. I could not risk it.
I cut a quick glance into the dark part of the cavern, the place where no torchlight reached. Where no one else could get hurt. Somewhere in there, along the wall we’d entered by, lurked a shaft. A large, deep one.
And Roar’s wings are non-functional.
Was the shaft large enough for an oversized shapeshifter to tumble down? Did Roar know about it?
Before I questioned my own sanity, I raced into the darkness, banking sharply for the wall. A roar sounded, followed by the soft, padded footsteps.
My vision adjusted quickly, though the darkness was so complete, I couldn’t see too far ahead of me. Just far enough that I didn’t slam right into the wall when it suddenly appeared out of nowhere. Pivoting directions, I stuck my sword-less hand out, allowing it to graze the wall every few seconds, so as not to lose my way.
Keep going, I told myself when the darkness seemed to shrink in, raising the hair on my arms. Stars, it was terrifying back here. Eventually, you’ll find the mine shaft.
In the darkness, Roar growled, and I realized that leaving my back unattended might soon spell disaster. So I whirled, listening for the direction that Roar followed, which turned out to be right behind me. He’d likely been scenting me. I called upon my powers and sent a storm of snow his way.
A hiss told me I’d struck true, and my heart leapt as his emerald eyes flashed in the darkness. My mouth went parchment dry. He was so much closer than I’d imagined. Leaping forward, I closed the distance between us, swiped my sword, and struck the snow leopard in the cheek.
He loosed a mighty roar, and lashed out with his claws, each one as long as my fingers. Before I moved out of the way, one caught on my shoulder and tore it open. Shrieking, my wings lifted me into the air as I struck again, this time right where his front limb met his torso.
Hot blood spurted across my neck, and before Roar so much as spun, I flipped in the air and sliced across his massive back quarter. More blood sprayed, invisible in the darkness, though I was sure that by now I was covered in it. Still, I’d won an advantage. Those injuries should slow him. They?—
Roar reared back and a giant paw batted me out of the air against the stone wall. I groaned and slid to the floor. My skin burned from the scrapes and my heart raced, but fear was a greater motivator and somehow, with the help of the stars, I’d managed to keep hold of my sword. I shoved myself off the ground and took to the air again and delved deeper into the unnerving darkness.
“Neve!” Roar growled, telling me that he’d shifted. In true shifters, that act would speed his healing. I wasn’t sure it worked that way with fae shapeshifters but suspected that might be why he’d done so. “I would have spared you. But now . . .”
“You’ll have to catch me to do anything to me,” I shot back, hoping to enrage him, to blind him in his fury. “And a snow leopard can’t fly as fast or far as a hawk!”
Furious, fast footsteps hit the stone as the shifter-fae raced after me, and for the first time, I allowed myself to feel my shoulder. The cut wasn’t large, only about as long and wide as my finger. The scrapes from the wall felt worse, though I supposed that with how hard I’d hit the stone, I should have been thankful I could see straight.
“Someone’s been training,” Roar growled into the darkness.
I ignored him and focused on the darkness. Where in the world was the shaft? How far back did this cavern go?
I scanned the ground, safe knowing that Roar would not touch me, even if he caught up with me, for I could fly away.
I was still searching for the cavern when his next attack came, a surge of frost. I shuddered as it struck, and dropped a bit in the air, which Roar must have expected, for he sent another shower of icicles my way.
I gasped as one ripped across the top border of my wing, and I fell from the air, my sword dropping from my hands and skittering across the stone. I rolled as I hit the ground, crying out from the pain in my shoulder.
And stopped right at the edge of a mine shaft. My heart thundered. I’d almost fallen right into that vast darkness. Almost gave away my plan. Trembling, I pushed myself up.
A low rumble of a laugh rang out. “There you are.”
He sounded conceited, but also tired. Vale claimed that Roar did not have much winter magic. Had he already spent that talent?
“Here I am,” I retorted, smothering any fear I might feel in my voice.
“You’ve always had a feisty heart, haven’t you?” Roar replied, his tone softer, taunting. “Even when dropped at the floor of my throne room, you scowled up at me like you might scare me away. Broken slave that you were.”
My blood boiled. “I was not broken. Nor am I now."
“For now,” he replied, his voice distorted. Vibrations filled the air. I guessed that Roar was shifting again.
When emerald eyes gleamed at me through the darkness, they were larger than normal. More feral too. Yes, he’d returned to his feline form, the more deadly form.
And still, I stood firm on the edge of the massive hole in the ground, waiting. Using myself as bait.
“Do I terrify you, Roar? A female who knows her true worth? One who sees you for what you are too?”
A hiss sounded and then those green eyes moved up, up, up. Roar was pouncing.
Though I envisioned sharp extended claws, I waited. Waited until those gleaming eyes got terrifyingly close, before dropping and flattening myself to the cold stone.
The snow leopard hit the side of the gaping shaft. Rocks tumbled, and claws scraped against stone, fumbling for a grip, before a feline wail shook me in my soul.
The seconds ticked on, and the sound grew fainter and fainter. My heart skipped a beat, barely daring to believe that my plan had worked. Roar had taken the bait and was now descending into the deepest pits of the mountain. I rose and stood at the edge of the shaft in time to hear a distant crunch.
Then nothing.