Chapter 37
Leo
This wasn’t good. We’d been chasing Vael’s men in our stolen boat, keeping low, keeping fast—until an armada of red-sailed ships intercepted us.
At the helm of the lead vessel stood a familiar bastard.
Vasquez.
“Fuck. What is he doing?” Maddie muttered beside me.
We watched as Vasquez’s ships pulled up alongside the Shattered Crown vessels. Boarding them. Searching them.
“He’s looking for Elle,” I said. “That must’ve been the deal—to work with Vael.”
“Only Vael never handed her over,” Maddie muttered, voice tight. “So Vasquez came himself.”
“And if Vael has her…” My jaw clenched. “She’s in real trouble.”
One by one, Vasquez’s landing parties tore through the ships. Then he pointed—right at us—and started heading our way.
“Turn us around. Now.” I snapped.
“Already working on it!” Maddie shouted, spinning the wheel hard. The boat lurched. From behind us, a voice rose above the spray.
“There! Stop them!”
“Okay, time to go faster, Mads!”
“What the hell do you think I’m trying to do?” she snapped.
“How can I help? What can I do?” I yelled over the wind.
“Shift the sail! See if we can catch more wind!”
“Brilliant! Which rope does what, exactly?!”
“Godsdamned useless lion,” she muttered, shoving past me like I was made of fluff. “You steer. I’ll get the sail.”
She thrust the wheel into my hands.
“Who taught you how to sail?” I barked after her, wrestling the wheel straight.
“My parents,” she called over her shoulder. “They wanted me to be a water mage like them. Taught me to sail in hopes I’d magically rewrite my entire godsdamned genetic makeup.”
She tapped the scar on her cheek. “I got this from my father—the first time I summoned vines.”
“Mads…” My stomach twisted.
“Commiserate with me later. We need to ditch these bastards now.”
I glanced behind us—and there he was. Vasquez. Standing on the helm of the boat giving chase. His coat snapped in the wind, his eyes locked on me like a blade.
I raised my hand. Gave him the finger.
Suck on that, bitch.
More boats began to charge us. I could see a couple readying cannons.
“They’re gonna fire!”
“Aim for the beach!” she shouted, jabbing toward the Wilds.
The sails caught wind—just barely—and the boat jolted forward, skimming faster across the waves. But it wasn’t enough. The red-sailed ships closed in, faster, heavier, deadlier.
“Land’s coming up!” Maddie shouted. “Brace yourself!”
“I don’t see—”
And then I did.
A jagged line of rocks. Dense trees beyond. The Wilds.
She veered us hard. The hull scraped, groaned, and then—we hit.
We were thrown forward as the boat slammed into the shallows, skidding halfway up a rocky shore. I hit the deck hard. Maddie landed beside me, breathless, face scraped.
“Go!” she yelled, already scrambling to her feet.
We ran.
Behind us, Vasquez’s ship didn’t stop. His men disembarked fast, armoured boots hitting water and sand. They shouted orders. Crossbows lifted. A bolt snapped past my ear.
“Run faster,” Maddie panted.
We plunged into the trees.
She flung her hands up—thick vines shot from the ground, sealing the path behind us.
“That won’t hold them long!” I called.
I scanned the terrain—wild, tangled, treacherous. Roots snaked across the earth, rocks jutted from the soil like broken teeth. It would take hours to hack our way through.
“I’m shifting—get on!”
Maddie nodded, already pale from the strain of her magic. She reached into her satchel and tossed two amulets over her shoulder.
My shift was clean. I hit the ground on four paws, muscles bunching beneath my skin.
She clambered on, clutching my mane.
“Get ready to sprint, brother,” she muttered.
Then she raised her hands and shouted—
“Terros!”
The amulets detonated behind us.
Light flared. Trees shuddered. Sentinel soldiers went flying.
But they kept coming.
There were no paths in the Wilds—only thorns, roots, and chaos. We ducked under branches, vaulted rocks, crashed through brush. And still—
They followed.
Firebolts streaked past. Arrows hissed through the air.
We broke into a clearing at the base of a mountain range.
And I knew.
We were screwed.
The ascent ahead was brutal—steep, sheer, exposed. If we climbed, we’d be sitting ducks.
And Vasquez knew it.
We’d run ourselves into a trap.
I skidded along the edge, scanning for any opening. Maddie jumped off my back, frantic, searching for some way through.
Then a voice—
Low. Mocking. Cruel.
“Well, well, well. Look who it is. The traitor... and the dirt witch.”
Vasquez stepped from the shadows like a spider from its web, every movement soaked in satisfaction. The glee on his face was nauseating. He had us. And he knew it.
A growl rumbled from my chest—low, guttural. I stayed in lion form, muscles coiled.
Beside me, Maddie didn’t flinch. Violet light flickered across her skin like wildfire. Her eyes burned.
Sentinels in violent, blood-red armour fanned out behind him—soulless shadows with steel in their hands and murder in their eyes. One word. That’s all it would take.
Vasquez stepped forward, smug and slow.
“Leo Knight. My, how far you’ve fallen.”
He looked me over like I was something distasteful.
“You could’ve been great. But instead, you chose betrayal. You chose to leave us.”
He raised his hand.
Maddie vibrated with power, her fingers twitching at her sides, light pulsing beneath her skin.
“Back off, old man,” she growled. “Or you’ll regret it.”
“You think your little flower tricks frighten me girl?” he snarled. “I have an army at my back!”
“I won’t warn you again.” Her voice was low, sharp—almost vibrating with something wild beneath it.
I braced myself, claws digging into the dirt. If this was it—if this was how it ended—I’d go down fighting.
I growled again, deep and guttural.
And that’s when the earth answered.
It started low—a hum in the ground, barely a whisper. Then it grew.
The soil beneath us shuddered. Trees swayed. Branches groaned. A few soldiers flinched, weapons lifting instinctively.
Maddie didn’t move. Or maybe she did—but it was like the earth moved with her.
Power pulsed from her skin, rippling in waves. Her feet hovered just off the ground. Her eyes burned white-hot, wild and otherworldly. Her hands blazed with raw magic.
And then—she struck.
The earth split with a thunderous crack. From the shadowed wilds behind us, the forest erupted.
Bears. Boars. Wolves. Deer. Birds—hell, even goats. A whole storm of fur and feathers and teeth burst from the trees like they’d been summoned by a god.
They weren’t running from something.
They were running toward it—toward the Sentinels.
Screams tore through the clearing. Bodies scattered. Chaos erupted as soldiers were crushed beneath hooves, tusks, and talons. The stampede was merciless.
Maddie dropped to the ground, drained. I didn’t hesitate.
I shifted, scooped her onto my back, and ran.
She’d opened the door. I wasn’t wasting the chance.
“Stop them!” Vasquez howled, but even he was being swallowed by the wild.
By the time his voice faded behind us, the forest had claimed the battlefield.
We tore through the last stretch of wilds, Duskfall rising ahead—its dark towers catching the dusk light, banners of the Crown and Iron reach flapping from the parapets like bloodstained warnings.
Too close.
Too exposed.
Then I heard it.
Click.
Behind us, Vasquez and his soldiers broke through the treeline, weapons raised, boots pounding.
I spun, baring my teeth—
And the ground exploded.
Not magic. Traps. Dozens. Hidden beneath ash and rubble—pressure plates, tripwires, rune-carved chains that erupted with shrapnel and smoke.
Some Sentinels were flung into the air. Others vanished beneath nets strung between broken beams.
Vasquez himself was hurled sideways by a triggered blast, landing hard in a cage of falling iron bars.
He roared, furious, trying to stand—
But the bars had locked into place, triggered by something ancient and savage.
A shadow moved at the edge of the blast zone.
A woman emerged. Cloak drawn tight. Her face half-lost to shadow.
She didn’t flinch when Vasquez screamed, ropes lashing around him, yanking him down into a pit.
She didn’t blink when Sentinel blood sprayed across the forest floor.
She raised one arm and pressed a switch embedded into her bracer.
The last of the traps snapped shut with a sound like finality.
“You’ve led them far enough,” she said.
Her voice rasped like rust scraping steel—dry, low, deliberate.
She turned toward me. “Is the girl breathing?”
I lowered Maddie gently to the ground and shifted back, crouching beside her.
From where I stood, in the faint light, I caught a glimpse of the woman’s face.
It was marred with lightning-shaped scars—etched deep across her skin.
“She’s alive,” I said carefully, still tense.
“Good.” She didn’t move closer. “Then follow me. Duskfall is crawling with soldiers. This place won’t stay quiet for long.”
I hesitated, torn. “Who are you?”
A pause.
Then, calmly:
“A friend.”
And she vanished into the smoke.