Chapter 30
Strong arms hold me from behind, restraining me in place. They drag me into the darkness of the living room, but I can still see the back porch. The cambions attack both Marik and Willa, their sharp claws slashing at them as soon as they get close.
Willa doesn’t move quickly enough, and her arm catches a sharp claw, blood erupting from her forearm.
She bites back a scream and slashes out with her own arm.
A sword of black fire erupts and slices the cambion in two.
Marik summons a spout of sand and sends it down a cambion’s throat, drowning its lungs. It drops almost instantly.
I tear my eyes away from the battle outside and focus on the battle that’s happening inside.
I look down. Claws are wrapped around my midsection.
I’m pressed against a tall figure—unlikely a cambion.
I can feel bones sticking from whatever I’m being held against. I have no fucking idea what I’m trapped inside with.
I suppress a shiver, but the thing must have somehow sensed it because it chuckles, deep vibrations coming from its chest.
“Your High King will find you, worry not,” it drawls behind me.
“What do you want?” I say through gritted teeth.
“I want to make you scream,” it whispers in my ear. My body tenses, and I freeze, panic overflowing my system. This thing doesn’t want to kill me. This thing wants to hurt me.
One of its clawed hands moves down my body, razor-sharp nails dragging against my thigh.
“What do you want?” I repeat.
It chuckles again and says, “I already told you.”
I feel for my power, but it’s not responding to my call. Maybe this thing is a cambion if it’s muting my powers.
“Tell me, what will make you scream the loudest?” It wraps its arm tighter around me, my arms strapped to my sides within the hold. Its free arm moves upward, revealing a thin and pale humanoid arm. Although it resembles something human, it’s abnormally long, gangly, and ends in fucking claws.
The arm stops, and I feel its claws scraping along my antlers. Tears of anger and fear prick at my eyes. It digs a sharp claw into my antler and waves of pain cascade through me. A scream rips from my throat. I writhe against it, desperate to escape him.
No, fuck this. I’d rather face the cambions outside than deal with this demented fucker.
I need to get away from this thing and access my magic.
But it digs its claw into my antlers again, and all I can do is scream at the feeling, pure white pain being sent in lightning bolts through my body.
Its hand covers my mouth to quiet my screams. Finally, it removes its claw from my antler, and my agony subsides.
I’m panting in its arms, ready for another wave of pain to take over.
“What do you think would happen if I took a dagger to your antlers?” Its voice is a whisper, but it’s the loudest thing I’ve ever heard.
My eyes dart around the room, desperate for anything to get me away from this thing. Its hand is still covering my mouth, and I want to kick myself for just now realizing it.
Quickly, I open my mouth and chomp down on the hand. It jerks away, it yanks its hand away from my mouth. I throw myself from its grasp, ready for my magic to flare up, and then blast its ass away, but I don’t manage to get fully away before I’m yanked backward.
“This is for your insolence,” it growls into my ear. My leg jerks as its claws drag up my thighs, shredding my skin with one fluid movement.
I scream, fully and utterly terrified now. I scream for help, I scream Marik’s name, but nobody comes. I can’t even see them anymore. I’m alone, and I have no idea how to save myself. Sobs erupt from my chest.
“He can’t save you,” the thing whispers in my ear.
I can’t think, I can’t breathe.
“Are you going to behave now?” it asks me, pressing its claws into the open wound on my thigh. I’ve never felt pain like this. Tears stream down my face.
I shut down, letting my body go limp, distancing myself from whatever is about to happen to me when I hear a crash inside the room.
Pure darkness overtakes the room, and I lose all sense of vision. This darkness is made of magic. This darkness is oblivion. Behind me, the creature grips me tighter.
Across the room, I hear a commanding but familiar voice order, “Get the fuck away from her. Right. Now.”
The creature behind me shifts.
“I said now,” the voice says, his voice low.
Asmo.
My knees threaten to give from the sheer relief I feel at hearing his voice.
Suddenly, I hear a whoosh, and I’m standing by myself. Just like that, he’s gone. That’s all it took. I want to collapse, but I stand on shaky legs.
I quickly pull my dress down and look around the room, but I still can’t see anything.
Suddenly, arms are around me again, but I can feel my magic this time.
I kick and fight the arms holding me, ready to fucking explode myself or set myself on fire with my magic if I have to, but then the arms release me, and the darkness recedes.
Asmo stands in front of me, holding his hands up like I’m a scared animal, and he’s just trying to keep me from taking off.
“Marik. Willa. They’re still out there,” I say franticly, looking around the room, my eyes wide. I need to get to them. “We have to help them.”
He nods and says in a soft voice, “Elle and Ivan are with them.”
Elle and Ivan?
“What? What are they doing here? What are you doing here?” I fire each question at him.
His tone is calm as he stares at me and says, “The guard saw a group of cambions and was able to notify Ivan before they attacked him. We left the moment we got the alert.”
“Why are you here?” I repeat.
“I was with Elle when Ivan let her know. She was in the training room downstairs while I was working out in the training center. When she ran up the stairs and out the training center doors, I ran out to her, and she filled me in. I insisted on coming.” He’s still talking in that calming voice, and it’s freaking me out.
“Marik and Willa,” I say again, my voice urgent.
“They’re okay. When we got here, we went to them first. They’re okay.”
I look toward the door, but I can’t see anything outside. “How did you know I was in here?”
His eyes are still locked on me. “I’d find you anywhere.”
Somehow, I know that to be true.
Knowing Marik and Willa are safe, I slowly sink down, sitting on the first thing I can find, a leather ottoman.
“Thank you,” I whisper to Asmo, staring up at him. His eyes are currently locked on the open gashes on my thighs, eyes dark as night as they assess my injuries.
“I’m fine,” I say firmly, desperately trying to convince him and myself.
He slowly walks toward me and sinks to his knees in front of me. I put my head in my hands, holding back the tears. Asmo’s arm touches my knee, and I let out a sob. It feels like the adrenaline has left my body and has left a husk of myself. I want to collapse.
Asmo envelops me in his arms. His hands stroke my hair, and he whispers, “Sh, you’re okay. You’re okay.”
He holds me as I finally let the tears come. I sob into his chest as I consider what almost happened, at the pure terror I felt. My sobs subside and I take shaky breaths as I try to put myself back together.
Behind me, a crash resounds through the room.
My body jerks, and I pull back from Asmo, looking for the source of the sound.
The back doors have been thrown open and Marik stalks inside, blood smeared on his face, hair wild.
He looks fucking terrifying. He sees me in Asmo’s arms, and that look of pure death comes over him again.
Asmo shifts me behind him, shielding me in case Marik decides to go all alpha male on him.
“Where were you?” Asmo’s voice is back to that deadly tone.
Marik scoffs and says, “I don’t answer to you.” Asmo doesn’t respond, instead just waits for an answer. “I was clearly occupied, brother,” Marik finally says, motioning to the back porch.
“You left her alone in here,” Asmo says.
“She was fine!” Marik exclaims.
“I heard her screaming from the portal,” Asmo says, his voice rising. If his voice could spew venom, it would. Maybe it can.
“What?” Marik asks, looking at me. “What happened, Mae?”
Asmo interjects, “An osseris was in here torturing your High Queen.”
Marik’s face pales. “What? How? How did it get in?”
“Did you not think that the cambions were a distraction? You have to think, Marik. She’s the fucking High Queen, not just your girlfriend.”
“Mae, I’m so sorry. I thought you would be fine inside…” He trails off and runs to me, taking my head in his hands. “Are you okay?” He searches my eyes.
I nod quickly, trying to comfort him. This isn’t his fault.
Asmo says, “You were concerned with keeping Willa safe? Not the High Queen?”
“Fucking enough already, Asmo!” I yell at him. I look at Marik and say, “Is Willa hurt? I want to see her.”
He nods and takes my hand in his, leading me out of the living room. Willa sits on one of the outdoor couches on the back porch. Elle is there, wrapping Willa’s arm in a bandage. The corpses of a dozen cambions lay around the backyard and on the wooden decking of the porch.
Elle looks up when she hears Marik and me. She drops the bandage and runs to me, wrapping me in a hug. “Are you okay?” she asks, pulling back, her eyes searching my own.
I nod and force myself to swallow. “I’m fine. I’m so glad you guys came,” I say.
It looks like there’s so much more that she wants to say, but she swallows the words and steps away from me before returning to Willa and finishing wrapping her arm.
“Are you okay?” I ask Willa, eyes assessing her body for any signs of harm. The only noticeable injury is the scratch on her arm, which I saw happen.
She nods and says, “I’m fine.” Her eyes catch on something over my shoulder, and my entire body tenses again, ready for more danger. I whip my head around, but it’s just Asmo leaning against the open doorframe.
“Willa, this is Prince Asmo. Asmo, this is my aunt, Willa,” I say, gesturing to Willa.