65. Kian
KIAN
“Where the fuck are they?” Rhys’s rage-filled words echoed through the Demilune Castle’s cavernous halls.
Pax shifted, eyeing his King and likely wondering if he’d have to try to put him down. Rhys had already punched holes in two walls this morning. But I didn’t blame him. I would’ve torn the world apart if it meant having Rae back in my arms.
“We’re working on it,” Nyx said through gritted teeth.
Rayne whispered words into the radio at his ear, then listened. “I’m going to check the camera feeds.” He pulled out a handheld screen and began sifting through footage.
Numbness had made a home in me. Every part of me felt…dead. The only proof that I might still be alive was the ache inside my chest and the tugging there that told me Rae was still breathing, still existing.
“Cameras?” Calloway asked with disdain. “You utilize technology when you have magic?”
Nyx stalked toward him, Izzy paling at Cal’s side.
His lip peeled back in a snarl. “I would use the god of the underworld’s heart itself if it helped me find Rae.
And if I find out that you had anything to do with this, I will string you up by your toes and let my men feast on your bones.
But that’s only after I’ve carved up every last inch of you. ”
Izzy gasped. “You can’t say that to him. That’s treason. It could mean war.”
Nyx’s head snapped in her direction. “Let them come. I welcome it. I will slaughter every last one of you.”
“Nyx.” Rayne’s voice was low and calm, but somehow, I still felt the fury in it. “I’ve got something.”
Feeling. For the first time since we’d discovered Rae and Kyrie missing that morning, dastardly hope surged.
We were all around the device in a flash.
There was no sound, but it was clear that the camera was mounted in a tree, pointed at the border. It moved slowly back and forth, but as soon as it caught movement, it tracked that. I couldn’t make it out right away because the figure wore a thick coat.
But as she moved forward, her face came into view. Kyrie. But she wasn’t alone. A guard came out to talk to her, and then a second later, there was another blur of motion. It took me a second to confirm my suspicions, but Rae’s blond hair flew as she launched herself onto the guard’s back.
He fought her, getting increasingly violent. When his fist connected with her face, three furious growls lit the air.
Bandit bit the guard’s ankle, and then a second later, he went down. What followed was Rae on my damn horse and Kyrie on hers as they took off past the border.
Fury, fear, and agony all swept through me in equal measure. But my mind was stuck on one thing: Rae had left of her own free will. She’d left me. Even after everything we’d shared.
It felt like a sucker punch under the ribs, stealing my breath and lighting a burn in my gut.
Nyx sucked in an audible breath, his inhales and exhales ragged and jerky as if he were battling for control. “Take. Me. To. Him.”
Rayne didn’t wait; he didn’t question; he just started moving.
We stalked toward the front of the castle, none of us bothering to stop for jackets or anything else.
I didn’t even feel the cold as we hiked across the Demilune lands.
My numbness had become like a welcome blanket—I didn’t want to feel.
An opening in the thick trees appeared as we neared the border, and the guard didn’t miss our approach. He stepped out of his tiny guard house, swallowing hard. “My King.”
“You dare say those words to me with a straight face when you’ve stabbed me in the back?” There was no wildness in Nyx’s words. He was back to the calm Cruel King. No emotion in his heart, only vengeance.
The man paled. “I didn’t—I—”
“Don’t.” Nyx took two steps toward the man. “Did you or did you not let your future Queen slip past your guard?”
“I—”
“Did you or did you not lie to Rayne when he inquired if anyone had seen her?”
“Your Majesty—”
“And did you or did you not put your filthy hands on what is mine?” The emotion finally bled through. Fury.
The guard dropped to his knees. “I’m so sorry, my King. They tricked me. I thought it was just a little girl, and then the other one attacked—”
“If my fated wanted to rip you limb from limb, you should’ve smiled and said thank you,” Nyx growled.
“Gods,” Pax muttered. “He really is unhinged.”
But my blood called for vengeance, too. And it didn’t care if Nyx toyed with his food before he delivered it.
“Please,” the guard begged. “I’ll do anything.”
“Good,” Nyx clipped. He lifted his hand in the air, conjuring a sword. Before the guard could react, he swiped the blade clean through the man’s neck, severing his head completely.
Izzy cried out, burrowing her face in Cal’s shoulder. But me? I didn’t even blink. Not as the head rolled or the blood spilled out. There was no time for mercy. If we didn’t make an example of him, worse things might happen to Rae, and that couldn’t be.
Nyx made the blade disappear and turned to Rayne. “Show the others. Show them what happens when they betray me, when they harm their Queen.”
Rayne nodded, moving to collect the body.
“Where the hell is she?” Nyx snarled, letting loose a little more of that rage.
“I know.” Olympia stepped out from between the trees, a cape wrapped around her shoulders. “I scried for them. It took some time, but I know.”
“Where?” Rhys growled.
Olympia scanned our group. “They are in Blood Moon. Moving toward the castle.”
It felt as if all the blood had leached from my body. Rae on her own in a world that would drain her if they knew what she was? Rae in the clutches of a madman? Rae’s life in the hands of a Nocturnae that even the demons feared?
Fiery rage burned through me. “We ride. Now.”