Chapter 27
REDVYR
All the fucking hells in the underworld.
I was going to slit that piece of shit from throat to cock and then rip out his entrails.
I’d nearly charged out of hiding, but Bezaliel caught my arm. It was his smart decision to stay by my side for exactly this reason. Leifkyn, Haslek, and Brohm were in the boughs of the surrounding trees, waiting for my command.
My body was poised to leap, watching Jessamine stand right behind that fucker Selestos, while he weaved his magick upon the tree. I kept perfectly still, waiting to see if the naiad sisters in the well had been right.
Suddenly, Jessamine gasped, staring into the gargantuan hole in the trunk, now void of that black mucous.
“Bes!” she screamed.
With a deafening roar, I leaped out alongside Bezaliel. My other warriors did the same, a cacophony of snarls and roars descending upon the grimlocks.
Lunging between Jessamine and Selestos, I slashed my blade toward his throat. He was wily, leaping and flying over and behind me. I spun. He landed with a hiss, facing me.
A banshee scream filled the woods as Leifkyn stabbed one of the golems through the chest. There was nothing but grunts and growls, blades and claws swinging.
I launched myself at Selestos. This time, he didn’t move fast enough. My claws caught his shoulder. He growled and swiped back but I ducked in time.
He scrambled to his feet, crouched in a defensive stance. I shook my head.
“That won’t help you,” I told him with deadly intent. “I’m going to gut you and watch you bleed out with such great pleasure.”
He narrowed his eyes, his needle-like claws poised to gouge me. With a deft move, I charged and ducked at the same time, slicing across the top of his thigh as he stabbed my left shoulder with three claws.
He shrieked, sounding more like his weakling brethren. With a swift glance around, I saw that most of them were already dead on the ground, Leifkyn and Brohm corralling one of the last two between them.
Selestos pressed a palm to the deep gash I’d sliced across his thigh, black blood dripping down his leg. “You cut me!” he bellowed, as if in disbelief.
“Don’t fret, little golem. I actually missed.” I spun my blade by the hilt, crouching, ready to go again. “I was trying to cut off your cock.”
I wasn’t sure if it was the little golem comment or the fact I meant to cut him where it would really hurt that had him launching and flying at me, his claws reaching for my face.
“Good,” I growled, dropping my blades, ready for him.
Before he could gouge out my eyes, I grabbed his wrists and tumbled to the ground with him beneath me. I couldn’t let go of his wrists or he’d have those knife-like claws in my throat, so I bashed him with the only thing I could. My head.
I pounded him once, twice, a third time and was rearing back for a fourth, grinning at the blood pouring from his nostrils and forehead, his dazed expression, the red eyes rolling in the back of his head, when suddenly Jessamine screamed.
Across the clearing, she held Saralyn in her arms, Bes clinging to her waist. There were three other children and Tylok’s wife, Farla. For a moment, I was stunned to see her alive as she held the hands of her children.
Four more golems had flown in out of nowhere, another running in on foot and attacking Haslek before he could reach the women.
One of the grimlocks shrieked and dove for Tylok’s son, his shadow fae wings obviously broken, then Farla screamed and jumped in front of him, hauling back and hitting the golem.
“No!”
The golem spun with his claws, raking her across the neck.
“Momma!” yelled her daughter, falling on top of her.
Leifkyn and Brohm sprinted across the clearing as two more descended out of the skies. I had to help them, leaving the half conscious Selestos to launch over the dead golems to get to them. Another one dropped from the skies, shrieking like a ghost from the underworld.
“Where the fuck are they coming from!” yelled Leifkyn as he decapitated one and spun toward another.
Glancing to see that Jessamine was safely off to the side with the children, having pulled Tylok’s daughter away from her mother sprawled across the tree roots, I spun to kill the enemies that were descending on us like insects.
It was like they knew their brothers were in need and flocked to us, like a hive mind.
Lorelyn’s words returned to me. There are two voices. They must hear their master, guiding them where to go.
If we killed them all, there would only be one left to deal with—the master who made them. And that fucker needed to die.
We assembled as one as we did in battle, corralling our enemies toward the center, giving them no way out.
I leaped into the air toward one of them, clawing out his throat before we fell to the ground.
We were making quick work of them when the children began to scream and cry, Jessamine yelling, “No! No!”
When I turned, all I saw was a fleeting glimpse of Jessamine, Saralyn held tightly against her chest, being grabbed around the waist by Selestos. He faced me and grinned right before he took a step back and disappeared into the earth with them.
JESSAMINE
Selestos spoke an ancient word as he gripped me from behind.
Suddenly, a giant hole opened in the earth, filled with unnaturally dark water sluicing over the edges as if it was alive.
Then Selestos leaped inside of it with me and Saralyn in his grasp.
Icy water swallowed us whole as he held me around the waist with one arm and swam deeper into the abyss with the other.
By the gods, we were descending into hell.
I had always been able to hold my breath longer as a skald fae, but Saralyn was a babe.
I covered her mouth and nose lightly, hoping with all that was in me that this underground channel he’d created with old magick opened up into a chamber of air.
She kicked her tiny legs, her eyes wide and frightened, and that was the last thing I saw clearly as we descended deeper into this subterranean channel of dark water.
And where was he leading us? Down into the chamber of hells of the afterworld?
The dim light above us grew distant.
I had not prayed to our goddess for many years, not since my parents had told me that the goddess had given me the gift of destroying and killing.
I had been furious with Nemia for bestowing on me this body that my family and the courtiers thought vulgar and good for only one purpose—to seduce others as a whore, to murder and kill.
I abandoned Nemia, but now, in this abyss leading farther into darkness, knowing Saralyn would die soon, I opened my heart and I prayed to her.
Nemia, I beg you, help us survive. Help me find a way.
As the light faded from above, I heard a regal, powerful voice clear as the bright light of day ricochet inside my head.
I’ve given you all that you need. Use it! Do not be a quivering coward. Use your gift. Save the child. Save yourself!
Saralyn bucked in my arms, then went limp.
No! She couldn’t die. I couldn’t allow it!
Selestos had a grip around my waist as he let our bodies fall into this watery pit in the earth he had opened with dark magick. My upper body began to drift to the side of him then he gripped me tight by the arm as we descended further into darkness.
I pressed my forehead to the babe and thought, ‘Please don’t die, Saralyn.’
Then I removed my hand from her nose and mouth, reached down with my claws and scraped a deep gash across Selestos’ cheek. A gargling scream bubbled up as he let go of my arm.
That brief instant was all I needed. Using my strength as a skald fae, I shoved him in the head with my foot, propelling myself upward, kicking my webbed feet and scooping the water with my free webbed hand.
My lungs squeezed, beginning to fail, the babe still and unmoving in my arm as I rocketed toward the surface with all my might.
Don’t die, Saralyn, sweetheart. Please, little love, don’t die.
I swam faster than I ever had, the gray light of the forest coming closer and closer, someone leaning over the ledge and reaching into the dark waters frantically.
There was muffled shouting, one of the voices was Redvyr for certain.
Two muscular arms and hands I recognized reached down.
He pulled me out before I breached the surface of water and laid me across his lap.
“Saralyn,” I croaked, spluttering out water.
Her tiny body was pale blue, her lips purple.
“Please,” I sobbed as Bezaliel jerked her from my trembling arms.
He wrapped her quickly in my cloak, which was already in his hands, whispering, “Hold on, my sweet girl.”
Then he was on his feet and sprinting off with Haslek and Leifkyn behind him, both with a child in their arms. Brohm held Bes and another child in his arms and hurried after the others.
Redvyr hauled me close, my naked body still trembling from the icy depths and the terrifying plunge toward death.
Wrapping my arms around his neck, I buried my face in the crook beneath his chin as he lifted me and bounded out of the clearing.
All I heard was the pounding of beast fae boots, the crunch of snow and the swiftly beating heart of my love as he carried me back to the clan.