Chapter 32
Zara
I awoke to a still-dark room, my head on Talon’s firm chest. At some point in the night, he had returned and relieved Zamir of guard duty. I vaguely remembered inviting him into bed with me, but I had slept like the dead we would soon face.
“I’m sorry to wake you,” Talon said quietly, his voice a pleasant rumble beneath my ear. “It’s just before dawn.”
I stretched my legs out where they had been tucked close to him for warmth, and when I looked at him again, his gaze was full of heat.
He turned to his side, propping himself up on one arm, bicep bulging.
With his other arm, he pulled me closer so I was practically underneath him.
I let out a sigh of desire as he captured my mouth with his, his tongue stroking over mine expertly.
He ran his hand from my hip to my thigh with gentle pressure, building a fire within me.
I tilted my head back to give him access to my neck and throat, and he rewarded me by trailing kisses on the sensitive skin, his thumb brushing over my nipple. I let out a groan and pulled him closer to me, kissing him again until we were both becoming increasingly desperate.
A knock sounded at the door, and we broke apart, panting.
“Who is it?” Talon called.
“Zamir, Commander,” she said quietly from the other side of the thick door. “It’s nearly dawn.”
“We will join you in a moment,” he said.
I looked around in surprise. While we had become distracted by each other, the sun began its ascent, lightening the room. Reality hit me hard. Soon, we would face the Devourer.
Talon seemed to be thinking the same. “As much as I would like to keep doing that—and more—we must go now,” he said, his expression pained. “The others are waiting.”
Reluctantly, we both got out of bed, and I hurried to my dressing room to change.
I chose the same clothing as yesterday because it was easy to move in: leather leggings and boots, a formfitting leather bodice, and my wool cloak for warmth.
Fingers moving quickly, I braided my hair out of my face and kept the rest long.
Last, I fastened my sword around my waist.
Talon gave me an appreciative look when I came back into the room. “You look far too sexy to be going into battle. Maybe you should stay here.”
“Nice try,” I said with a scoff.
He shot me a shameless grin before nodding toward the blade at my hip. “How is your swordplay?”
“I’m better with a bow,” I admitted.
“I will stay close,” he said with a worried frown.
“Just keep the undead off me when we find the Devourer so I can concentrate on summoning the wind.”
“I will guard you with my life,” he said, moving closer to me. His gaze never left mine.
It lit a fire in my lower abdomen again, and I couldn’t help but grab hold of his shoulders and press my lips to his. He deepened the kiss immediately, holding me against him like he never wanted to let me go. I held on just as tightly.
When we finally managed to break apart, I remembered why he had come to my room late last night. “Did you speak with Emperor Altair?”
“Yes,” he said, mouth tightening. “He remained much the same as when we last saw him.”
“Does he suspect anything—like that we’re about to defy him and attack this creature he formed a dangerous alliance with?”
“He is too lost within himself to notice right now—he could barely answer me, and he remained in bed. I don’t foresee him searching for us this early in the morning. Also I noted that Lord Heron, for once, was absent from his side.”
“I suppose that’s good for us in this case, but what about…” I swallowed hard, my mouth suddenly dry. “What about the wedding?”
Talon’s face may have remained the impassive soldier’s mask he had honed through years of discipline, but behind those captivating blue eyes, a storm raged. “He still expects it to take place soon.”
I pushed down the clawing desperation within—I knew very soon I would have to make a terrible choice, and the fate of my people hung in the balance. That was if I made it out of this battle with the Devourer alive.
“Ready to go?” he asked, when it was clear that I couldn’t bring myself to respond about the wedding.
When I nodded, he pulled open the door, where Zamir waited on the other side.
She saluted us both. “Falcon arrived in the pasture to guard Shazeera as you ordered, Commander,” she said. “Baz and Kestrel are waiting for us in the armory.”
“Good,” Talon said. “Lead the way.”
The hallways were quiet as we headed toward the armory, located just off the aerie. It became obvious why Talon had chosen dawn, as most of the palace still slept soundly in their beds.
While I stood guard, Talon and the others changed quickly into leather armor.
But instead of the dusky gold outfitted with eagle-feather pauldrons, they all wore black leather.
Despite the imminent danger, when Talon walked toward me with his sword at his hip and black armor setting off his dark hair and blue eyes, I froze, lips parted as I drank him in.
The armor accentuated his leanly muscular body and broad shoulders.
He walked over to me and leaned close to my ear. “Don’t look at me like that,” he murmured as he handed me a light sword with ornate filigree on the hilt. My gaze flicked up and met his, only to find them burning with desire.
I was the first to tear my eyes away, a blush sneaking up my neck.
“Everyone said their goodbyes?” Kestrel said, destroying the mood in an instant as only he could.
Talon gave him a withering look. “Let’s go.”
We snuck through the back passageways that servants usually took, and just like the day before when we went to find Caelen, we encountered very few servants. Clearly, they were keeping themselves hidden.
As we moved steadily to the west, we crossed an interior bridge with a mountain stream running beneath it. It seemed to separate the eastern side of the palace, where we stayed, with the west wing, which now housed a monster.
It was as if I could sense it, though I knew I lacked such skill. I could almost hear something on the other side, like the slow thumping of a heart, the scrape of a claw, the eerie whisper of a voice in the dark. Every hair on my body was standing on end.
Our death waited there beyond the door, lingering in the darkness.
The sound of metal sliding against metal rang out as Talon and the others drew their swords, while Zamir kept her daggers drawn. I gripped my sword as Talon kept me behind him. With a nod, he signaled for Baz and Kestrel to pull open the heavy door.
Walking through that doorway was like wandering in a shadowy wood, knowing something watched from the darkness.
It was a long, dark hallway with only every other wall sconce lit.
The shadows were deep and impenetrable. Enormous windows were covered with tapestries, so only weak light shone through from the bottom.
A sickly-sweet smell wafted from farther down the hallway, so rotten I covered my nose with my hand. The scent of decay.
Of death.
Talon stepped toward the windows and tore down the tapestries. Light flooded the space, drawing our attention to the rust-colored stains all over the floor. Grim-faced, we all looked at each other as we wordlessly acknowledged what the substance was.
Old blood.
As we moved deeper into the room, the smell grew stronger. And then, in the light of a single sconce, I saw the pale, unmoving flesh of an arm on the ground. My organs felt like they were twisting in knots inside me, like every part of me was trying to flee this place.
We continued, and the eerie silence was worse than constant screaming. But then I heard something.
My whole body froze like a deer that has scented a hunter. The others stopped, too, weapons at the ready. Beside me, Talon moved closer, his warmth radiating against my side.
And then something stepped forward out of the darkness.
A waif of a girl, dressed in servant’s gray, moved toward us, shambling like a puppet on a string.
She kept to the shadows, the dim lamps barely illuminating her.
My arms broke out in goose bumps as we waited for her to move closer.
She lurched into the light, and Talon flinched beside me.
Her clothing was rumpled and torn and covered with dark stains.
Her eyes stared back at us, black as night, and she was missing her arm.
She grinned a terrible smile, unhinged and grotesque on her ashen face.
I froze as my heart hammered against my ribs, each beat sharp and punishing. A walking corpse, just like Raven. My grip on my own sword turned painful. The hair on my arms rose as a heavy feeling pressed on us from all sides, like it came from the shadows.
Before we could make an offensive move, another sound drew our attention, though I never took my eyes completely off the servant girl. That same shambling movement, and then there were five more, all dressed as servants, and as they drew closer, I took in a shuddering breath. They, too, were dead.
In an explosion of violence, the three Eagle Riders leaped forward and cut them down.
Zamir was a whirlwind of speed with her daggers, cutting through the walking corpses faster than I would have thought possible.
Baz swung his heavy sword and cleaved into two corpses at once.
Kestrel took on one after another with his sword.
When the dead servants fell to the floor, hope bloomed inside me.
Maybe we would get out of here easier than we thought.
The riders stepped away from the fallen servants, turning their attention to farther down the hallway. Somewhere down this passage were the former emperor’s quarters, which was where we expected to find Ozul.
“Let’s move,” Talon said, and we all moved forward, skirting around the macabre pile of rotting corpses.