Chapter 29
Amos and Rainer kept in contact through their familiars. His cousin had insisted on meeting him in the East Oasis, but Amos assured him that by the time he arrived, Amos and Sariah would already be on their way back with Jennifer in tow.
Amos and Sariah didn’t know what kind of dwelling they would find at the address. Hopefully, something easy to break into so Amos could sneak in and search the premises while Sariah kept watch outside. As a royal, he could glamour far, and he’d be able to keep Sariah hidden, even from a distance.
Amos glamoured himself and Sariah to look like different people as they entered the oasis so they could tie their horses to a hitching post. Unfortunately, glamour didn’t mask sounds, so it would be strange to hear neighing sounds from the air. It would be a dead giveaway that a royal was near.
They slipped into a side alley to check their map before Amos glamoured them invisible and started toward the address on the note. “This is where Jennifer grew up.” His brows dipped, and he looked at the map again. “Her father’s property is not that far from here.”
“Do you think it’s a coincidence?”
“I don’t believe in coincidences,” he said gravely. “I killed her father a few years ago, so it’s not him.” He’d also killed the man her father had tried to marry her off to.
Amos and Sariah stopped in front of an iron gate that protected a small estate. The once-grand house looked dilapidated. The lush, overgrown yard looked wild, and Amos bit back a groan. He hadn’t planned on having to fight his way through vegetation.
“If you’re going to murder someone, this would be the place to do it,” Sariah muttered so low Amos almost didn’t hear it.
Amos lifted the lock on the iron bars. “We need to check the back for another gate.” He could bend the bars enough to get through, but it would be loud.
After an hour of testing the gate, Amos gave up. “I’ll have to bend them, but it’s going to be loud,” he whispered.
Sariah looked at him sideways. “You can bend iron?”
“Normal fae don’t realize just how much stronger royals are. I’m surprised Rainer hasn’t bragged about it.”
Sariah rolled her lips together to keep in a laugh. “It would be best to do it on the north side. It’s farthest from the house.” The house sat closer to the main gate on the south side, leaving a large open area in the back.
“We’re going to get bitten by a snake walking through that jungle,” he sighed. “Let’s go.”
“If I get trapped, tell my wife to come save me,” Amos said, only half-joking.
“Nothing is going to happen to you,” Sariah hissed. “Why would you tempt the gods like that?”
He ignored her and lifted himself through an open window, careful not to tumble to the ground once inside.
They had given little thought to the old house creaking as he walked, but he considered it now.
He dug into the pack strapped to his bag and retrieved a lantern and flint, lighting it, then extending his glamour so others couldn’t see it.
The house wasn’t that different from his estate in Dragon Village, other than the size. To let a house like this fall into disrepair was a waste. It easily could have been turned into an orphanage or a boarding house.
Another thing to add to their list of things to address. He listened closely for any indication that Jennifer was there. Nothing.
Amos cleared each room on the ground floor, then the upper level, then slowly made his way to the lower level.
Once he’d descended the winding staircase, he halted, looking around the massive room.
It wasn’t servants’ quarters and storage like he’d expected.
It presented as a large meeting hall or ballroom, but instead of lavish marble floors and crystal chandeliers, the walls and floor were unfinished stone and a giant iron corona with melted wax where candles used to be.
The light from his lantern bounced off the floor, revealing a drain and dark staining surrounding it.
What the fuck did they do down here? Murder people? Something eerie slithered up Amos’ spine.
Amos walked farther into the room until his light illuminated someone huddled in the far corner of the room. A shock of red hair had him running across the room as quietly as possible.
He set his lantern down and kneeled beside her. “Jennifer,” he whispered. Her head jerked upright, and she pushed herself farther into the wall. He couldn’t reveal himself to her without revealing himself to everyone. Glamour was all or nothing. “It’s Amos. I’m going to get you out of here.”
“Amos?” her voice shook, and she reached out a hand, bumping his shoulder. She looked at her arm and screamed.
He clamped a hand over her mouth. “I glamoured you. You can’t see yourself, but neither can anyone else. I’m going to let you go.”
She nodded, and when he released her, she sneezed. He hoped being down here didn’t make her sick. Grabbing her arm, he led her through the massive room and up the stairs. They neared the top of the stairwell, and just before they stepped onto the landing, Jennifer sneezed three times in a row.
Amos thought too late that they sounded fake because as soon as he topped the stairs, a cloth covered his nose and everything went black.
SARIAH
Sariah watched as a group of men carried a long, rectangular iron box out of the crumbling house. It rested on their shoulders like a casket, and she knew Amos was inside.
There were too many men for her to take on her own—she outmatched most warriors, but even she couldn’t take on ten at one time.
She’d known something had happened when the glamour hiding her dropped.
When Amos glamoured her invisible, she couldn’t see herself, and when she reappeared, she lay in wait, ready to attack.
She hadn’t expected a small army, but she should have. When dealing with a royal, you could never have too many people.
Sariah didn’t recognize anyone other than the one man and two women in the back: Paul, Jennifer, and Jennifer’s mother, Jenaveve. Jennifer’s mother had visited her in Dragon Village a handful of times over the years. Jennifer held Paul’s elbow and looked up at him with stars in her eyes.
The puzzle came together quickly. As a highborn widow with no son and a daughter betrothed to the royal family, Jenaveve could keep her husband’s fortune. She was the one funding the rebel attacks. Sariah knew the why had something to do with Paul and the love-struck look on Jennifer’s face.
They opened the gates, and a horse-drawn cart pulled in for them to load Amos into. Sariah listened as they spoke, getting as much information as she could. They were taking Amos to the capital to execute him.
Once they were out of sight, Sariah ran as fast as she could, thankful for the cover of night, to get her horse. A little northeast of the oasis is an entrance to the den. It would take her an hour to get there on horseback, but it was the fastest way to get someone to Amos.
Sariah guided her horse to a stop and hopped off, thankful this den entrance was at the base of the mountain and not the top like some. She whistled for anyone nearby. The dragons could all speak to each other, and while they didn’t always understand everything the fae said, they understood enough.
Air whooshed with the sound of flapping wings, and Sariah backed up to give the dragon space. To her surprise, Sasha landed and folded her wings tight against her back.
None of the sacrifices had seen Sasha since the night Amos killed Phillip.
“Sasha,” Sariah greeted, bowing her head respectfully. The dragon didn’t move. Right. Sariah had no idea if that was her wild dragon name or not. The way the dragon looked at her told her no.
“I appreciate you coming,” she started, hoping like hell Sasha understood. “Can you deliver a message to Ember? It’s important.”
Sasha didn’t acknowledge her, only stared.
“If you aren’t okay with that, can you ask if another nearby dragon is available?” Shit, did that sound rude? Still, Sasha didn’t react. “Can you tell Ember that Paul has taken Amos? They plan to publicly execute him in the capital.”
Sasha turned without a nod, shake, or fuck-you flick of her tail, and disappeared into the den.
Sariah whistled again, praying another dragon would come. It wasn’t long before a large dragon with pitch-black scales showed up. Sariah went through the same thing, only more in-depth, confident in this dragon’s comprehension. By the end, the dragon nodded, nudged her goodbye, and flew away.
Now she had to get to the capital and alert the Hydra there.
War was coming.
“Something’s wrong,” Clover insisted, trying not to panic that she felt nothing in her chest where the bond should be. The only other time she’d felt that was when Amos slept, which wouldn’t have been a big deal had it not been mid-morning.
They’d told her last night, after one of the worst days of her life, that he’d gone on a rescue mission with Sariah. She’d felt their bond quiet but had assumed he’d fallen asleep.
“We’ll find Rainer,” Ruth said, nodding to her dad. Marcus pushed away from his kitchen table and started for the door.
As if summoned, Rainer burst through the door, nearly hitting Marcus in the face. “Paul took Amos. They’re going to execute him.”
The room erupted in chaos. “Stop,” Clover shouted, waiting for the room to quiet down. “Rainer, what did it feel like when your bond broke?” The question turned her stomach.
Rainer’s face paled. “It’s the worst pain imaginable.”
Clover fell into the nearest chair, relieved. “Then he’s alive, but the bond is quiet, like he’s sleeping or something.”
“It would make sense,” Rainer mused. “The only way to hold a royal in captivity is to render them unconscious.”
Rainer gave everyone a rundown of what Sariah said to the dragon.
Clover thought for a moment. “If she’s already alerting the capital Hydra, then we need to send word to the Hydras in the closest oases as well. North and East. They have the largest numbers, and we’ll need backup. We don’t know what kind of rebel battalion Paul has amassed.”
As they went over more details, Clover tried not to think about what would happen if they arrived too late.