Chapter 20
Zera
A gust of wind whipped through Zera’s brown hair, and her pixie wings shimmered with iridescent colors as they held her at the edge of the stone wall. Her heart raced wildly, determination coursing through her veins like fiery lava. She narrowed her lavender eyes, scanning the scene below.
“Damn it,” she muttered under her breath, her hands balling into fists. The sight of the troll and elves capturing Maverick’s team—her team that would help her finally put an end to Gareth’s miserable existence—sent shivers down her spine, her blood running cold with horror and urgency.
She had to think. Her mind raced with possible plans of action.
As she hovered, she focused on the intricate details of her surroundings.
Her keen observation skills kicked in, her pixie senses heightened now that the weight of fear had been taken from her.
As if the river itself had washed it away.
She searched for any weak spots or opportunities.
A door in the side of the jagged mountain appeared far below the fortress, and three guards emerged while the troll and seven armed elves made a show of shoving Maverick and the others through it.
She glanced at the wall behind her. Guards patrolled every inch of it, and when she counted, even more appeared out of the stonework.
Entering through the roof would be suicide.
She would have to find a way through that invisible door in the mountain.
Maverick’s eyes slid to hers, and she shuddered. His eyes widened at the sight of her wings, but he quickly jerked his gaze downward and winced with pain at the crack of the whip that ripped down his back. The troll followed his gaze, and she darted out of view.
She held her breath. Another smack of the whip made her flinch. She peeked around the corner of the wall again as everyone disappeared behind the huge door into the belly of the stronghold. She had to follow them, somehow slip in behind them before that door closed.
Her pulse raced. She made quick work of flying close to the wall, making sure she didn’t cast a shadow on the guards below. The steel door that appeared in the stonework began to fade. She had to move faster.
Zera’s heart thundered in her chest, adrenaline fueling her every move as she darted toward the fading entrance.
She was right on top of the entrance that was now nearly invisible.
With a burst of speed, she stabilized herself in midair then halted the flap of her wings.
Wind rushed up, blowing her hair and clothes upward as she went into a free fall.
She bit her cheek to keep from crying out at the sensation of her stomach flipping as she fell.
The ground flew toward her, and she released her wings once again with a whoosh.
She halted in the air, just above the entrance and behind the three guards.
They whipped around when they felt the air move.
“Stop right there!” one of them shouted. Zera didn’t have time to give him any attention before she slipped through the entrance as it closed and vanished. She had barely avoided being trapped outside.
The door slid closed, shutting out the setting sunlight.
Darkness drenched all around her, save for the red glow of the wings orbiting around her team, trapping their magic.
The elves and troll guided them around the corner.
She had to keep up. Her feet trod lightly as she raced after them, making sure to keep a healthy distance.
The last thing she wanted was to be trapped without her magic.
Then their mission would really be dead.
She followed the group down another long tunnel and then a winding stone staircase, deeper and deeper into the mountain.
It felt like heat never reached this part of the stronghold.
Zera made note of each turn they made, counting her steps so that she could find her way out again. After she killed Gareth, of course.
“Lock them up in here,” hissed one of the elves with a deep baritone voice. “He’ll want to know we’ve got company.”
Zera’s back stiffened against the edge of the doorway.
She only spared a glance around the corner to see that the elves and troll had stopped the procession in front of a row of cells made of iron that glowed faintly purple.
She shuddered. Pixie dust would keep prisoners in the cells and trap pixies who dared enter the area.
Kill them, the Whisper’s staff called to her, itching to be held.
Soon enough.
Her wings fluttered with anticipation, her body aching to spring into action, but she had to strike at the right moment. Otherwise, she’d risk everything.
The cell door clanged open, and grunts echoed as each of her team members was shoved inside the cell. The door squealed shut, followed by a click of a lock. Zera held her breath, waiting for the troll and elves to pass her on their way out.
“Well, look who we have here,” a cold voice said, much too close to her face.
She jumped, and fear claimed her heart and iced over every nerve. Gareth, preening, looked down at her, baring his teeth in a grin that didn’t reach his eyes.
“Don’t—” She backed away from him right into one of the elves.
“Don’t what?” Gareth tilted his head to the side, his clear irises roving over her, making her stomach clench. She wanted to punch the smug look right off his face.
“Oh, I thought I smelled a pixie.” One of them chuckled, as if he had a mouth full of saliva.
Zera cringed and pressed her back against the cold stone wall. She was surrounded by Gareth and a beady-eyed elf holding a key ring of glowing red rubies that resembled the orbs that restricted magic.
“Contain her, and put her with the others,” Gareth ordered.
The air rushed out of her lungs. A demon lunged for her from the shadows behind the elves.
Pixie dust surged through her, the heat of it shooting out from her palms, sending the demon flying back in a powder of purple dust. She reached for it again, but before she could slam Gareth or any of the elves with the same power, the elf with the key ring spat at her hands and feet.
Matching glowing red orbs locked into place around both her ankles and feet.
The pixie dust, though warm and within reach, froze inside her veins, as if the essence of her power had been caged.
Panic struck her as she lashed out, swinging at any elf close enough for her to land a punch as she tried to fight her way out of this.
Gareth’s taunting laughter chased her. “You think you could enter my stronghold without me knowing? Or even land near the vicinity of it and not realize I was already a hundred steps ahead of you?”
A punch to her face followed by a kick to her gut sent her stumbling back. Her head knocked against the stone wall behind her. She held her hands in front of her for protection, but the damage had already been done.
A ringing in her ears drowned out the elves and their sickening laughter as they yanked her forward.
She stumbled into the cell that had the scent of old blood mingled with fresh droplets from her cellmates.
She shook off a dizzy spell that threatened to take her under.
She felt searing pain in her jaw, and the skin at her side and stomach was tender where the elves had struck the bruises that were forming from her trip down the rapids.
“Zera!” Maverick rushed to her side.
“No talking,” Gareth barked.
They both jerked their gazes to the bald elf. A snide grin spread across his face, as if the sight of them together—bruised and battered—brought him some kind of sick pleasure.
“Now that you’re here, you should behave,” Gareth crooned, taking a cocky step closer to the cell bars.
If Zera had the energy, she would’ve reached through and strangled him.
“My investor will be so pleased that I now have my mare along with her offspring. With the pair of you, I shall be able to rebuild my empire—the one this wolf took from me.”
Maverick’s jaw dropped, but Zera could barely notice anything else as what Gareth said was still processing. Had he said her offspring?
“Oh, did you think I would forget?” Gareth chuckled, a dark sinister laugh that made Zera’s skin crawl. “Or just let you run around with my bounty without my spies knowing your every move?”
Then it finally clicked. Cole. Gareth had her baby.
“What have you done?” she rasped, choking on the words. “Where’s my son?”
“Your son?” Gareth taunted. “He’s no longer your son. He’s mine, and once my investor sees what I’m building, he will fund everything. I will be on top of the realm once again, no thanks to this wolf trash.”
He snapped his fingers, and suddenly Maverick’s wrists were bound and he was yanked against the wall at the back of the cell. He bellowed as silver liquid oozed from the ropes.
“Wolfsbane is hard to come by but so necessary when you’re expecting a traitorous wolf,” Gareth hissed before turning to her. “I won’t kill you. Not yet. Not until I’ve bred enough pixies out of you to fulfill my supply chain.”
She shook with a rage she’d never felt before and lunged for the bars. Fire and ice melted the skin of her palms on impact, and she cried out, stumbling backward. Gareth laughed at her shock as the skin on her palms bubbled with a heat that felt icy hot.
“You think I wouldn’t know how to keep a rat like you inside a cage?
” Gareth chuckled again, and Zera had every intention to smash his lips into his gums after plucking each tooth out of his mouth.
“You don’t survive in this business as long as I have without the one thing everyone pays for. Knowledge.”
“Where’s my son?” she repeated, her heart thundering at the thought of her baby being anywhere near his slimy hands.
“My property is being cared for until his pixie dust emerges, though him being a half-breed does make him significantly less profitable,” Gareth said, and Zera’s lip curled upward.