SEVENTY-FOUR
CAZ
Something’s pounding.
The growls of wolves swell in the cabin, and I stir awake. Sitting up, I glance at Willow who is asleep right next to me.
The pounding sounds again.
The door.
“Willow, get up,” I whisper, shaking her awake.
She wakes up, disgruntled and confused. “What? What is it?”
“Someone’s here.” I march across the room, snatching my gun from the table. I check the chamber for bullets before slinking to the door.
Cerberus and Silvera bark at the door, and I sidle against the wall before stealing a look out of one of the windows.
“Who is it?” Willow whisper-hisses, her back pressed to the headboard.
When I spot tendrils of silvery hair billowing in the wind outside, I sigh and lower my gun to grip the doorknob.
“Why are you knocking?” I snap at Hassha when I swing the door open. “You could’ve just teleported your way inside.”
She stands on the other side, her head in a slight tilt. A short distance away are Milandra and another Kessel warrior.
“I didn’t want to interrupt the monarch and his mate. I know how wild and sexual you Tethered become when you are alone.”
Heat creeps up my neck, and I so badly want to fight the stupid embarrassment taking over me.
Willow climbs out of bed, laughing on her way to the door. “Hi, Hassha.”
The Regal smiles warmly. “Hello, Willow.”
“What are you doing here?” I ask.
“Need I remind you that there is a war happening in two days and you have yet to harness Yuri’s power?” Hassha takes a grand step back. “The distractions have come to an end. Everyone is practicing and preparing. There is a meadow not too far away, so let us go there. I will have you tapped in with Yuri and trained before Selah’s arrival.”
My eyes slide to Willow’s, and she hands me my shirt with a cheery smile. “Can I watch?” she asks, looking between us.
Hassha flashes a smile. “I insist.”
The sun is setting when we reach the meadow.
Trees with black tops surround us, and water trickles a short distance away. If I follow the sound of the water, it’ll take me to a bubbling creek.
I played there often as a child, balancing on wet stones and catching frogs while my mother washed clothes.
Hassha and I now stand in the middle of a meadow centered in the forest while her warriors stand under a shady tree a short distance away. Willow is with them, sitting on the grass with her legs crossed.
“Do you remember what I told you about your powers when we went to Vanora?” Hassha asks, circling me as she speaks. I don’t like the way she does it, walking around me like I’m prey. It doesn’t help that her eyes are burning bright blue and her hands are wrapped in flames.
“You told me a lot of things,” I mutter, watching her through the corner of my eye.
“Stop blocking Yuri and welcome him in.” Her voice is louder. “That fear you have of losing yourself in the process is useless and changes nothing about our fates.”
“Right. Look, Hassha, the way I see it?—”
Blue light hurtles my way, and I duck just before it can hit me. It slams into a tree and sends it up in flames.
“What the fuck?” I turn my attention to Hassha again, but she’s no longer standing on the ground. She’s levitating.
“Do you think Selah will give you the chance to explain the way you see things?” She sends another fireball my way.
I hardly miss it as I leap to the left. The flames consume the grass while I hop to my feet. “This is madness.”
“You’re right. Selah is madness.” This time, the fireball she shoots transforms to a dagger and grazes the upper arm of my shirt. I hiss, peering down at the blood accumulating on my arm.
“Now you’re just pissing me off,” I grumble.
“Good.” Hassha’s eyes flash with amusement. Then she glowers, landing on the ground and summoning a sword. “Now fight .”
She charges forward, swinging her blade at me when she’s near. On instinct, I dodge the first swing, but she catches me by the shoulder when she whirls around. I can’t fight the yell that escapes me.
“How is this fair?” I shout. “You have a fucking sword!”
“You can have one too.” She thrusts her sword forward, but I grip it. The blade slices through my palm and across my fingers. She jerks away, making the cut deeper.
“You’re trying to kill me,” I breathe.
“Not at all, Seed of Yuri.”
When she ducks and swings a leg, it connects with my ankles. I lose my footing and land on the ground with a thud.
“Fuck,” I groan, coughing as I stare up at the sky.
She stands above me with a deep frown. “Why are you not fighting back?”
“You aren’t giving me the chance to,” I grumble, attempting to sit up.
Her foot presses to my chest, forcing me back to the ground, and her eyes turn to ice as she glares at me. Then she picks up her head and looks across the meadow.
I follow her line of sight to where Willow and the warriors are.
No. She wouldn’t.
Oh, trust me. She would. Yuri’s voice has returned, echoing in the back of my mind.
With one more look at me, Hassha darts across the meadow. I roll onto my stomach, my bloody hand landing in thick grass, and watch as she brings Willow back with her.
“What are you doing?” I demand, staggering to my feet.
“I realize that you don’t care about your own life enough to fight for it. When it comes to you , Caspian, someone you love must be threatened in order for your true powers to make an appearance.” Hassha looks from me to Willow, whose eyes are drowning with worry. “I’m sorry about this, Willow.”
Willow frowns. “Sorry about wha?—”
Her question twists to a scream as Hassha launches to the sky with her, leaving behind a gust of wind. My heart sinks as I watch Hassha fly with my fiancée past the treetops, going so high they become specks in the distance.
Then, as if she’s standing right next to me, I hear Hassha’s voice in my ear saying, “I’m going to drop your mate, and she and your baby will die if you don’t catch her.”
“You’re out of your fucking mind!” I holler as I stare up. An intense heat brews inside me, and soon my blood is boiling.
“You feel it, don’t you?” Hassha asks.
I’m fuming now, clenching my first.
“You wouldn’t dare, Hassha!”
“Oh, but I would,” Hassha shouts back.
And then she lets Willow go.