Chapter 5 #2
He dropped like a stone before disintegrating into the ground.
She didn’t spare him another glance as she spun and darted toward Tobias.
Sylver had caught him as his knees buckled.
“Tibby!” Rune screamed, voice shaking. “Look at me.”
He blinked slowly, pupils blown, skin paling even more. Tourmalyke Type II spread fast.
“Everyone else, kill the rest of the humans now. Only keep the one with Zuko and Rhyse alive,” I commanded.
My enforcers and spies threw themselves into the fight with more enthusiasm than before, clashing with the humans.
“It’s okay,” Koa said, already sprinting toward them, hands glowing. “I’ve got him. I’ve got—”
“Wait,” Sylver cried, looking at Rune. “Your venom. Make him purge the toxins, please. Like you did for Cora!”
“Already on it.” Rune placed her hand on Tobias’s cheek, seeping purgegut venom into him.
Tobias gagged, eyes bulging as she and Sylver leaned him over to the side.
“Easy,” Koa said, helping them brace him. “It’s okay. Let it out.”
Tobias choked before he violently vomited, bile splattering the ground. His entire body convulsed with the force of it.
Rune latched onto one of his shoulders, Koa on the other, and Sylver wrapped her arms around his torso, steadying him.
“Breathe, Tibby. Come on,” Rune encouraged him.
“In. Out,” Sylver murmured in his ear.
After what felt like an eternity, he sagged, sweat plastering his hair to his forehead. His eyes were sunken, skin pale, but the poison had been aggressively torn from his body.
“He’s okay now,” Koa muttered, scanning him and using his healing power over his neck where the dart went in. “Type II is aggressive, but the purgegut venom took most of it. He’ll be wiped, maybe sore, but he’s out of danger.”
We dwindled the humans’ numbers to nothing in less than a minute. Some tried to run, but they didn’t get far.
When the fighting stopped, the silence pressed in.
Rune let out a shaky breath and smacked her brother’s back. “You scared the shit out of me!”
“Sorry,” Tobias rasped, attempting a weak grin. “Next time, I’ll dodge faster.”
“Yeah, you better,” she said, worry seeping down the bond.
Sylver kept her face pressed into his neck from behind, but her entire body was tense as she held her mate.
I stepped in, hand landing on his free shoulder. “You good?”
He nodded, still breathing hard. “I’ll live.”
“Good,” I said. “I don’t want to explain to my mate why I let her favorite brother die.”
“I’m her only brother.” He snorted before he winced. “Asshole.”
“Rest,” Koa scolded him. “Don’t get worked up. We need to get him to the wagon.”
“I’ve got him,” Sylver insisted.
“I’ll help,” Koa told her.
“Koa, come get me if he needs me. Sylver, take care of him,” Rune murmured, worry tight in her tone.
“Finish the mission, little vixen. Sylver’s Tobias’ mate. She’s got him, and I’ll come get you if we need you.” Koa kissed Rune’s forehead before he bent down to help Sylver get Tobias on his feet.
“I’ll take care of him, Rune,” Sylver promised her before they half-carried Tobias toward a sheltered spot near the edge of the square where the healers could monitor him.
“You did your part in making sure he’d be okay,” I assured her.
“I know.” She nodded, tearing her gaze from her brother and toward the carnage around us.
Bodies littered the streets.
The thick, coppery scent of blood hung heavy in the air, making each breath a struggle.
Rhyse and Zuko dragged their human captive into the center of where we stood.
“He says everyone was killed,” Zuko announced, voice flat. “No one was spared. Not even children.”
My jaw clenched at that.
Humans called us monsters.
Lysa’s tablet buzzed as she finished a sweep. “Thermal scan says all known residents are down,” she reported. “No living signatures above ground. We’ll still need to check under the structures, though.”
“I hear something,” I said, shushing them.
Everyone quieted.
A small cry reached my ears. It was faint and muffled, but it was there.
A baby’s cry.
“Is that a baby?” Jesse frowned.
“Where?” Rune asked, golden eyes widening.
I turned, orienting on the sound. It came from a collapsed section of what had once been a centaur family’s home. The stone and wood had collapsed haphazardly, like a wall had been blown in and then deliberately piled back.
I crossed the space in a few strides, Rune rushing behind me.
Up close, I could see that this wasn’t a random collapse. The rubble had been arranged. Someone had tried to hide something or someone.
The crying got louder as I approached.
“Help me,” I said, already digging my hands into the largest piece of rock.
Rune moved in on one side as I took the other.
“On three,” I ordered, feeling myself overcome with worry for the baby underneath it. “One, two…”
We heaved.
The chunk of stone came up with a groan as dust showered down, and we tossed it safely to the side. Underneath, nestled in a makeshift hollow lined with torn blankets, was a small bundle.
The crying broke off into hiccups as light hit the infant’s face.
It was a baby that was maybe two weeks old, at most. Warm, brown eyes squeezed shut against the brightness, and a thin wisp of blond hair plastered to his head with sweat. Tiny fists waved in the air, as if he were trying to find comfort.
Every protective instinct in me roared.
“Oh my Fates,” Rune whispered, hand flying to her mouth. “Jesper…”
I dropped to my knees and slid my arms under the bundle, lifting him as gently as I knew how. He fit in the bend of one arm, impossibly small, heartbreakingly so.
A faint plume of heat puffed against my forearm as he hiccuped.
He was a firedrake.
“They hid him,” I said quietly, throat tight. “His parents must’ve hid him. They put him under the rubble so the humans wouldn’t find him.”
The surrounding wreckage told the rest of the story. Centaur bodies lay near the house, thrown down like discarded dolls, their positions angled toward the rubble. Protecting it.
My chest squeezed.
“You’re right,” Rune murmured, picking up a note that was underneath him. “It says they hid him. Humans were attacking. They pleaded for whoever found him to give him a good home.”
“Then we must,” I whispered.
The baby squinted up at me, then let out a little squeak.
Rune stepped closer. “He’s beautiful.”
“He’s a miracle,” I corrected, my voice rough. “And he’s not going into council custody to be passed around like a case file.”
Her lips curved. “I know that look. You’ve already decided who to give him to, haven’t you?”
“I know exactly who would treat him right,” I agreed, thinking of my aunt who had been spending her days drowning in grief. “Someone who needs him as much as he needs them.”
Her eyes warmed as love shot down the bond. “You’re giving him to Maelis.”
Heat burned my cheeks as I nodded. “Well. I was going to phrase it more professionally, but yes.”
Rune’s smile turned soft and a little sad. “She’s been drowning in grief ever since Darian was executed.”
“I was just thinking that.” I looked down at the baby again. He blinked sleepily and wrapped his hand around my thumb with surprising strength. My instincts had calmed since finding him. “Feels like fate.”
Behind us, everyone slipped back into their roles.
“Koa,” I called, not taking my eyes off the baby. “How’s Tobias?”
“Stable,” Koa said. “We’ll take him back to HQ infirmary to monitor, but like I said, he’s out of danger.”
“Good,” I said. “You and Sylver escort him. He doesn’t leave your sight.”
“Got it,” he replied.
“Rhyse, Zuko,” I said. “Get information.”
Rhyse glanced up from their kneeling captive, shadows still flickering around his shoulders.
Zuko raised a brow. “Don’t worry, boss. We’re going to keep playing with this one. He knows something about where that facility is. We’ll get it.”
I nodded. “Don’t kill him until you wring him dry.”
“We know,” Rhyse chuckled.
Arban stepped forward, Eleanor at her shoulder.
“We’ll contact the Human Council,” Arban said. “They need to know what their opposing faction just did on our soil.”
“And what we’re going to do about it,” Eleanor added, eyes hard as she stared at the baby.
Corin and Slater were already moving through the wreckage, scanning bodies, pulling files from human devices, and collecting evidence of exactly what had been done here.
Lysa drifted after them, inputting every detail into her tablet.
Kane started a slow, methodical circuit of the village, documenting the dead, checking for survivors, and anchoring protection wards so nothing else tried to scavenge what was left.
Everyone knew what to do here.
The spies and the enforcers were looking for survivors as well, moving all the bodies into one place.
“I’m taking him,” I said quietly, looking at Rune. “Do you want to come?”
Her eyes glistened. “Like you have to ask.”
Rune said a quick goodbye to the rest of her mates before we walked toward the wayfaer teleporter near the fae portal, the baby tucked securely against my chest.
I pushed my intent for home through it as we stepped onto it.
Light flared around us, white and cold, swallowing us. We teleported away from the ruined village, the bodies, and the smell of blood.
When it cleared, I was standing in my aunt’s and mother’s living room.
“Jesper?” Mom asked from where her back was turned as she washed dishes in the sink. “Is that you?”
“It’s me,” I called. “And…I brought someone.”
Mom turned, wiping her hands on a towel. Her white hair was pinned up in its usual twist, brown eyes sharp and curious, before she saw the bundle in my arms.
“Oh my Fates,” she gasped. “Is that a baby?”
She crossed the room in four strides and scooped the infant out of my hold before I could answer.
“Mom—”
“Hush,” she said absently, cooing at the tiny firedrake. “Look at you, little one. Where did you come from, hm?”
The baby blinked at her, then let out a small coo, apparently deciding she was better than me.
Mom’s expression melted. “Jesper Wyvernheart, how in Kalista did you get a baby?”