Chapter 35
Something warm pressed into my face, jolting me awake. My eyes flew open, and the first thing I saw was a pair of bright golden eyes, one of them scarred and milkier than the other.
With a yelp, I scrambled backward, thinking it was some unseelie beast come to finish me off.
Then I realized it was Mal. Aurelia’s dragon.
My heart still seizing from panic, I stared at him, uncomprehending. His wings were outstretched, as if he had just landed, his eyes wide, his ears pulled backward in distress.
“Mal,” I breathed, rubbing my chest. “What the hell are you doing here?”
He nudged my arm with his nose, then growled low in his throat.
I looked around, surveying the empty woods before me. When the memories came back to me, my stomach hollowed, and my blood ran cold.
Aurelia. The ogres had taken her.
I jumped to my feet, then swayed, my head still fuzzy. Mal stepped in my path, catching me with his head before I fell.
“You can tell she’s in danger,” I said, massaging my temples.
Mal huffed. I took that as a yes.
“Do you know where she is?”
Another huff.
A pulsing urgency filled my veins. Was I too late? Had the ogres already drained Aurelia’s blood?
I looked into Mal’s frightened eyes. She had to still be alive. If Mal knew where she was, that had to mean she wasn’t dead.
“Can I get on?” I asked.
Mal answered by kneeling to the forest floor and bowing his head. I quickly slid atop him, wincing from the sharpness of his scales. There was no saddle, so I had no guarantee that I would survive this flight. My arms wrapped around his neck, ignoring the scales digging into my skin as I held on tightly.
Mal gave no warning before he took off, his great wings beating. Each motion made his torso shift, and I slid, practically falling off. I tightened my hold on him, and once he was in the air, his wings went still, remaining outstretched as he arced through the sky. The stars surrounded us, and under different circumstances, I might have marveled at how close and bright they seemed. Flying during the daytime was one thing, but this… This was incredible.
Aurelia would have loved it.
The thought sobered me, and I leaned forward, trying to make out the details below. To the right, the glittering castle of the Court of Twilight was barely visible. We hadn’t been too far before the ogres attacked. I thought of my friend Marek, who was the Twilight King, and his wife, Adira.
Gods, we had been so close. So close to refuge and safety.
Mal veered west, away from the castle and toward the Wilds. My people always stayed clear of this forest, as it was densely populated with all manner of unseelie.
No one who ventured there came out alive.
I swallowed hard, terror threatening to seize in my chest. Instead, I focused on my rage, my determination.
I would get her back. Even if it killed me, I would save her from this terrible fate.
Mal swooped low, descending gracefully until he landed just outside the forest. I moved to dismount, but he growled, his wing twitching as if to hold me in place.
“What?” I asked, confused.
He merely shook his head slowly, then took off at a gallop, his claws digging into the soil with each stride.
I cried out, grabbing his neck once more as he headed into the forest. The branches obscured the stars from view, plunging us into darkness. My breathing came in short spurts as I struggled to maintain my grip on the dragon. The forest passed by in a blur, and I vaguely wondered if Mal’s pace was as fast as an ogre’s. Hope bloomed in my chest. Perhaps we could reach Aurelia in time.
When Mal slowed, I frowned, glancing around. This particular spot in the forest looked like everything else. Nothing but trees and bushes, and a massive boulder off to one side.
“Mal, she’s not here.”
He growled again.
“ Nothing is here. Why did you stop?”
He jostled me until I fell from his back with an ungraceful yelp, my body collapsing to the ground in a heap.
“Dammit, Mal,” I hissed, staggering to my feet. “Why are we here? How are we supposed to find her?”
Mal only stared at me, his gold eyes glinting. One of his ears twitched, and I took a moment to look around, wondering if Mal could see or hear something that I could not.
An eerie silence pressed in around us. I should have been more careful. My voice had likely alerted every unseelie creature within a two-mile radius.
Excellent.
I ran a hand through my hair with a heavy exhale, resisting the urge to throttle this dragon. I wished I could communicate with him like Aurelia could. She would know in a heartbeat what Mal was trying to convey.
Frowning, I stepped forward, inspecting the forest with further scrutiny. The air smelled different. The familiar spruce and sage scent filled my nose, but it mingled with something else, something that burned my nostrils.
Ogre. I was certain of it.
But not just that. Other scents were mixed in as well. Something that smelled like charcoal.
My brow furrowed. Charcoal? I inhaled deeply. Yes, it definitely smelled like something was burning.
But what? The forest was clear. Not an ember in sight.
I closed my eyes, trusting my Night Fae senses to guide me. The smoky smell swelled around me, as if guiding me forward. My feet moved, the leaves crunching underfoot as I followed the smell .
Then, I heard it. Faint, almost imperceptible. But it was there.
A scream in the distance.
But it wasn’t coming from ahead. It came from below me.
I glanced down at my feet, finding nothing but soil and leaves. I stepped forward, then back, then hopped once.
A hollow thump echoed.
I gasped, glancing up at Mal, who stared at me, deadpan, as if wondering why it had taken me so long to discover this.
“You could have done something to show me, you great brute,” I muttered, crouching to the ground and swiping leaves away. It appeared to be nothing but soil underneath, but as I cleared the area, I made out a faint rectangular groove etched into the ground.
It was a trapdoor.
“Holy shit,” I muttered. “These ogres are craftier than I gave them credit for.”
I could have sworn Mal snorted in agreement.
Drawing my sword, I wedged the blade in the groove and pushed hard. With a soft groan, the leverage released the latch holding the door in place, and it swung open, revealing a dark staircase below. The gap was huge—big enough to fit even the most massive of ogres. After sharing an uncertain glance with Mal, we both descended.
Despite the broad width of the staircase, Mal had to fold in his wings completely to fit. I had to trust my fae sight to guide us, as no torches or lanterns lit the passageway. Our footsteps echoed, and Mal’s claws kept scraping on rock. I was certain someone would hear us. My pulse throbbed in anticipation, and I kept a steady grip on the pommel of my sword, prepared for an ogre to jump out and attack us.
When we reached the bottom, lanterns lit the way, revealing a wide-mouthed tunnel within a cave. The air smelled of blood and ogre.
And in the distance, Aurelia’s scream echoed again.
I lunged, prepared to sprint down the hall toward her voice, but Mal growled and snatched my tunic with his teeth, halting me. The fabric ripped, but the restraint gave me pause, my steps faltering. Gasping for breath, I stared down the tunnel, red creeping into my vision .
They were hurting her. Torturing her. Killing her. How could I stand by and do nothing?
Mal’s golden eyes glinted, his uninjured eye narrowing with intensity. Be smart about this, his expression seemed to say.
Still panting, I nodded, but the rage continued to simmer in my blood.
Those beasts would pay. I would slaughter them all.
Mal and I crept forward, our steps slow and careful as we made our way down the passage. In the distance, low chanting echoed, and I frowned. Were those the ogres? I strained to hear what they were saying, but it was in a language I didn’t understand.
I didn’t know the ogres could speak at all. They were so feral, so animalistic, that I assumed they were nothing more than wild beasts.
I had underestimated them. And now, Aurelia was suffering for it.
Swallowing around the lump in my throat, I focused on the chanting, concentrating on the voices of each ogre to try to estimate how many were there.
It had to be more than a dozen. Perhaps two.
Unease curled within me, but I focused on my fury, letting it fuel me as I continued down the tunnel. Beside me, Mal huffed, his large nostrils flaring as his sharp white teeth flashed in the lantern light.
He was enraged, too. I knew without a doubt he would show the ogres no mercy. We would destroy them together.
When we reached the end of the passage, I raised a hand to signal Mal should stop. I leaned forward, peering around the corner. Aurelia’s muffled protests filled the air—the ogres must have gagged her. Meanwhile, the chanting continued. I made out the shapes of more than twenty ogres surrounding a slab of concrete on which Aurelia was tied, thrashing against the ropes tethering her.
My blood ran cold. Oh, gods. They were going to sacrifice her.
I’d heard rumors of dark ogre rituals, but I had assumed they were merely tall tales meant to frighten us, to keep us out of the woods .
But this meant ogres possessed magic. And that changed everything.
My palm was slick with sweat as I gripped my sword, steeling my nerves with my sharp breaths. I could do this. Sure, I was still weak, and I only had one weapon. And I was severely outnumbered.
But I had a dragon at my side. And once Aurelia was freed, she could help, too.
We could do this.
And even if the odds were against us, I would die before leaving Aurelia to this fate. The knowledge pulsed through me with quivering intensity. The conviction, the truth of my feelings for her, startled me.
I was in love with her. Desperately and hopelessly. I would do anything for her.
My grip on my sword tightened. I nodded once at Mal, who inclined his head, his golden eyes glittering with malice.
Together, we stepped into the room.