A HELPING HAND
27
- ALANIS -
“ W hat makes you think I’m the key this prophecy is talking about? It could be absolutely anyone.”
Iclas tilts his head in a creepy manner, letting his sharp-toothed smile take over his face. “I have been around for hundreds of years, researching, biding my time until given a sign. The Hell Gods warned me I would have to be patient. Then I found myself in the Rorane Mountains two decades ago and overheard a bitter conversation between their beloved matriarch and her daughter. Turns out lovely, perfect Odessa fell in love with a Fae warrior. I felt it then, this gravitational pull. Like a whisper in my ear telling me that the power I seek was within reach.”
Iclas turns his back to me, lost in his story. “I planned to grab Odessa. If it was the matriarch I needed, I was definitely going to need a better plan, but I could manage Odessa. But then the little bitch disappeared. I must have gotten sloppy with my stalking, gotten too close. I’d had men follow her at a distance for decades. I ordered them to grab her, and everything went wrong. I thought I lost my only chance, so imagine my surprise when that feeling returned about a year ago.”
His smile is a slimy, despicable thing on the face of a man who has nothing left to lose. “I searched everywhere, but could only leave this Isle for short periods. I started sending the ghouls to do my bidding, but they are quite stupid. But then one of my smarter men tells me they found someone who resembles Odessa. I had to see for myself, of course, and wouldn’t you know it, that fateful little tug showed up as I watched you walking through Percius. Then, as if guided by the Gods, this human falls into my lap with all the answers I seek.” He points to Elion, making him flinch. “Now I have everything I need.”
Elion growls, which only makes Iclas laugh.
“What do you plan to do with me?” My voice shakes, no matter how hard I try to keep it steady.
He licks his lips, which makes the hair on the nape of my neck stand on end. Is that blood coating his tongue? What the hell is he?
“I plan to fulfill the prophecy,” he says, like it’s obvious. “From my understanding, I must claim you under the crescent moon. If I bond with you, then sacrifice my blood to you before drinking yours, it should break this damned curse. The details are still a bit fuzzy, but I have someone helping with that.”
The blood freezes in my veins.
“You can’t,” I all but whisper, my voice unable to go any louder.
He leans down, getting in my face, and traces one long, dirty fingernail over my jugular. “Oh, I assure you I can.”
“It won’t work. I have a mate.”
I see Elion jerk back in surprise.
With a hiss, Iclas peels away and paces the floor. “No worries. I’ll find whoever your mate is and kill them. There is nothing good about mates, anyway.”
Before I can get a word out, he leaves us in this Godsforsaken room, slamming the lock into place.
Shit. What have I done?
- KAILU -
Malakai and I exchange a look. We need help.
I turn to Jensen. “I need a favor.”
He stands at attention—or, at least, how straight he can when injured. “Anything.”
“I need you two to return to the palace. Tell whoever greets you that the crown prince sent you to deliver a message to Siveral: he’s needed here.”
When they both nod, Malakai says, “Take my horse and get back to the castle as soon as you can,” and leads them to where Atlas waits.
As soon as the two soldiers are out of sight, I inhale deeply and step onto the edge of the well. “Well, here goes nothing.” I hover my foot over thin air and, with one last breath, take the plunge through the portal.
I slam into the ground, and grunt as Mal lands on top of me before I can even gather my breath. Shoving him off, I scan the chamber and grimace at the skeletons. Malakai sighs, as if disappointed, and I only need to glance at him to know he hasn’t felt Alanis again.
Panic blooms in my chest.
I might not be able to feel her, but I can smell her—the hallway to the right carries her smell, but it’s very faint. Her scent lingers a bit heavier in the middle passageway, as if she was only here minutes before. Just as I go to step through the passage, footsteps coming our way catch my attention. I turn, quickly guiding Malakai into the archway that, by the smell, must lead to the sewers and the portal back to the meadow. We stand silent in the darkness, waiting to see who emerges.
It’s by the skin of my teeth that I manage to hold in a gasp at who emerges: Iclas himself. I’ve seen his portrait in many books, though none depicted him with a facial tattoo. It takes up the whole right side of his face and looks to be a sun and a moon to represent the Gods and Goddesses, but a sword of flame stabs them through the center. The only time I’ve seen the sword of flame was when a book referenced Ames, the God of Hell and Shadows.
Iclas stops, sniffing the air.
Anger overtakes his face, and the chill in the air isn’t the only thing causing shivers to rack through my body. He storms down the far right hallway. The silence is interrupted by a massive roar that shakes the foundation of whatever building we’ve found ourselves in. The stone walls are cracked and showing their age, but without more to go by I am at a loss. When he reemerges moments later, there’s nothing but pure, undiluted rage in his eyes. He marches back down the center passage.
Malakai and I wait.
A bloodcurdling scream splits the air, sending Malakai to his knees. I grip his shoulders, concern and fear battling for my attention.
“Alanis,” he breathes out.
My blood runs cold.
The footsteps return, but only for a moment before they veer off and disappear down the hallway to the left.
I waste no time sprinting down the center corridor that I know will lead me to her. Two iron doors greet me, but only one is propped open. Malakai checks inside. His whispered curse tells me all I need to know.
I walk to the other door and examine the lock. A magic pattern lock. I turn to Malakai, who looks just as clueless.
“Alanis?” I whisper, scared to talk too loudly for fear my voice will carry to Iclas or the ghouls I’m sure roam about.
Just as I go to say her name again, a figure approaches from the antechamber, catching my attention. Malakai and I brace for the attack, drawing our swords.
“Banshee,” Mal whispers, fear widening his eyes.
Her teeth are frighteningly long and deadly sharp. Tilting her head, she examines us. She takes a step closer and I lift my hands in a placating way.
“Please, I just came for my mate,” Malakai says.
The Banshee continues to stare. She takes a few more steps, running her killer nails across the stone wall, the sound setting my teeth on edge. I don’t dare move for fear of making her think I’m attacking. And then I recognize her.
“It’s the same Banshee who went after Alanis,” I whisper, taking another step away from the creature.
Malakai’s head snaps up. “Please, Alanis told me about you. She wants to set you free. But she can’t do that if she is held prisoner here. Please, I beg you. Let us save her.”
The creature’s eyes clear, brightening at the sound of my mate’s name.
“Alanis is your mate?” she whispers in her wintry voice.
He nods, unwilling to say anything further.
I watch in awe as the disturbing creature before me turns into a normal female: black hair, dark brown eyes, red lips. There’s a dimple in her chin. Something about her seems familiar, but I’m not sure why.
She quickly looks around, and then pulls a key from around her neck. “This is the key to all the doors here. He uses the same pattern and key for all of them. You need to get her out as soon as possible. He won’t stop until he gets what he wants.”
Nodding, I take the key. “I didn’t think he would. Does he keep any of the other captives here?”
“Many. He’s been collecting humans, Fae, Elves, and all manner of creatures for decades to create an army that only he can control. He’s made so many sacrifices to the Hell Gods that he has no soul left.”
I think for a minute. “Can those he has taken be saved?”
She stares into my eyes, though I’m not sure what she’s looking for. “Yes,” she says all the same. “There is a way.”
I swallow hard. “Is there a way to do this without the sacrifice the prophecy talks about?”
“No.”
- MALAKAI -
Rage consumes me. How am I to choose between saving my people and saving my mate? I look to Kailu, and his eyes are a reflection of my own feelings. Everything else went out the window when we met Alanis. She changed everything. I will not give her up now.
There has to be another way.
A sound from above makes the Banshee flinch. “Hurry. You need to get her out. Now .”
Before I can thank her, she fades into nothing.
A man with long brown hair and deep brown eyes snaps his head up as we enter the room. He bares his teeth at me. If it weren’t for the lack of sharp canines and pointed ears, I would assume he was Fae with the growl he lets loose as I approach Alanis. He fights against his chains as I kneel in front of her. She is out of it. Knocked unconscious by whatever that monster did to her.
Kailu heads to the man and begins working on the shackles.
“You Elion?” he asks.
The man glares at him. “Depends who’s asking.”
Despite the circumstances, I laugh. “He is definitely her brother. Can’t you tell by the matching sass?”
Elion grunts, but I catch the quirk of his lips. I manage to get Alanis free of her shackles and push her hair back behind her shoulders.
The tension that has been overtaking me instantly calms.
I trace my finger softly over her jaw and collarbone, praying she’ll wake. My finger runs over something and my eyes are drawn to a red welt on both sides of her chest.
The air in my lungs evaporates. My ears ring. I didn’t feel it when she was injured.
“You must be the mate she mentioned,” Elion says.
I look at him when he stops beside me, heavily favoring the leg soaked in blood. He must read the confusion and anger radiating behind my eyes, for he nods.
“Why isn’t she waking up?” Kailu asks, concern evident in his tone.
Elion is silent, but the truth is there. I see it in his expression.
“He fucking used electrokinesis on her.”
Kailu curses and Elion’s eyes tighten in pain. Pain for his sister. She might not share his blood, but the love they share is no less powerful.
Alanis was wrong about one thing. Even though she never felt loved or wanted, it’s clear as day that her brother loves her, and likely always has.
Alanis is a force to be reckoned with, and I know without a doubt that I’m in love with her. Not just because of the mating bond, but because of who she is. She is impossible not to love, and anyone who has not chosen her didn’t deserve her in the first place.
I cradle her in my arms, my soul finding peace now that she has come back to me.
I will spend the rest of my days making her see that she is worth more than anything in this Godsforsaken world. And anyone who tries to take her from me will die a slow, painful death. This world can try to take her, but I will burn the fucking thing to the ground before I let that happen.