Chapter 6 Kai
Kai
Each moment that passed without finding Hannah ripped something inside my chest open wider.
The ache kept growing until it felt as if my ribs could barely contain it.
I had never expected to care for that wretched woman as much as I did, yet the thought of a world without her made me see things brutally clearly for the first time in decades.
I shouldn’t have left her at the castle when I went to Silver City. Either Ashren should’ve done the meetings alone, or I should’ve brought her with us. And because of my irrationality and not wanting to be tempted to claim her, she was now facing death.
All I wanted was to reach her, to see that stubborn fire still burning in her eyes, and to place myself between her and anyone foolish enough to harm her.
I drove my heels into the flanks of the caribou and leaned low over its neck as it surged forward through the nearly chest-deep snow.
The beast’s muscles bunched beneath me, powerful and tireless, its wide hooves crushing through the drifts and sending white sprays into the air with every stride.
Wind tore across my face and dragged at my cloak while the cold air burned down my throat and into my lungs.
The enchantments woven into our cloaks, gloves, and armor strained against the biting cold, yet even their magic could not fully drive away the brutal chill of the mountain night.
Torches flared behind and beside me as my warriors rode hard through the darkness, their flames snapping wildly in the storm. I led the three-man-wide column, my caribou forcing a path through the deepening snow while the others followed in tight formation behind me.
Gavriel’s caribou ran alongside mine for a moment.
Snow clung to his hair and lashes, and the flakes caught in the pale strands and made his sharp blue eyes stand out all the more against the stormy darkness.
He scanned the ground and the surrounding trees before looking toward me with a deep frown.
“I don’t see a trace, and I can’t feel any magic. Are you sure they went this way?”
He tightened his grip on the reins as the terrain pitched upward, forcing the line of riders to slow while the beasts struggled over the incline.
Snow whipped across the mountain pass in long sweeping gusts that erased the path before us and buried the ground beneath a smooth, untouched sheet of white.
“Yes.” I kept my focus fixed on the narrowing trail ahead.
Gavriel wasn’t wrong. There were no tracks, no broken branches, and no sign that a group of armed men had dragged a bound woman through this pass only hours before.
The falling snow had buried whatever marks might have remained, and the wind had swept the mountainside clean.
Even without magic, it would have been difficult to track them through this storm.
But after what Ashren had told me, there was only one destination that made sense.
The Blood Basin.
If our contact’s investigations were true, then Bram hadn’t been hoarding the Aurora Fae he discovered.
The sick bastard had been sacrificing them, draining their blood and their magic at the basin and feeding that ancient, cursed place until nothing remained of them but corpses.
Their bodies were then cast over the cliffside below the ritual bowl, where the frozen ravine swallowed them whole.
At the thought, my grip tightened on the reins until the leather groaned beneath my gauntlets, and my jaw clenched as I scanned the ground while the caribou thundered up the rise. Fresh powder rolled beneath its hooves and scattered across the untouched drifts stretching ahead.
Bram’s betrayal had always stung, eating away at me even with the effectiveness of the lorn leaf to keep my mind clear and my temper controlled.
But this was something else entirely.
Butchering Aurora Fae for their magic and condemning the Aurora Court to rot forever in the shadows was a cruelty I had never imagined him capable of.
I had once trusted him and called him friend.
The realization that I had been blind to his true nature turned my heart colder than the freezing wind biting my face.
I knew one thing for certain. Whatever he did to Hannah, I would repay a thousandfold and make certain he understood every ounce of the suffering he had ever caused before death finally claimed him. Magic would be required to keep him alive long enough for that lesson.
My caribou lunged over a ridge of wind-packed snow and landed hard on the far side before driving forward without slowing. I leaned with the movement as my gaze lifted toward the mountains ahead.
Dark stone rose steeply on both sides of the narrow pass.
Pines bowed beneath the weight of fresh snow, causing their branches to sag over the trail while the wind dragged loose powder across the ground in swirling sheets.
In some places, the snow had to be four feet deep already, and if the storm continued, it would bury the valley entirely before dawn.
The air shifted, and a warning sensation shot through my body.
I drew a deep breath, and the sting traveled through my lungs.
Cold flooded my chest, carrying the scents of pine, stone, and ice.
Beneath it all, a prickling sensation brushed my senses, setting my nerves on edge.
The wind tore across the pass again and sent a cascade of snow falling from the branches above.
Gavriel rode up beside me again. “See anything?” he called over the wind.
I shook my head. “Nothing. But they’ll be there.”
My gaze swept the mountainside. The pass stretched forward before curving sharply and climbing toward the peak that overshadowed the Blood Basin.
From this vantage point, the basin itself was hidden beyond the ridge, but I knew what waited on the other side.
I’d seen it once before and wished I hadn’t.
In my mind, I pictured the cavern carved into the mountainside, a massive hollow chamber open on the side that curved toward the sky, with a twisted elder tree growing at its center.
The tree had been ancient even when the first courts had formed, its roots tangled deep in the stone that formed the ritual bowl beneath it.
For centuries, it had been used in violent rites meant to placate Fate or steal magic from one fae and grant it to another.
Reaching it was the challenge.
The main path curved along the mountainside on a trail so narrow that even caribou with experienced riders struggled to navigate it at any speed.
Bram would certainly have guards positioned along the route.
Archers placed high along the cliffs would have the advantage there and could pick us off before we ever reached the basin.
But there was another way.
A back entrance cut into the mountain itself, a narrow winding path that tunneled through the crystal caves before climbing to the cavern.
The route was dangerous even in good weather, and the recent earth tremors had likely weakened the passages.
I didn’t like the idea of leading my warriors through tunnels that might collapse, but it was still safer than riding straight into a line of Night Court archers.
A twinge of grim amusement passed through me.
If Hannah managed to free herself, she would likely run for that path without hesitation. The woman had a talent for choosing dangerous solutions that still somehow made sense. She was reckless, stubborn, and far too brave for her own survival.
Ashren believed there could not be more than two dozen Night Court warriors guarding the basin. If he was correct, we could overwhelm them quickly, especially if we struck from an unexpected direction.
And if there was one thing I knew about Hannah, it was that she would run the moment an opening appeared.
I needed only to create that opening.
I needed to find a way to signal my presence to her so she knew which direction offered safety. Charging straight into my arms wouldn’t be her first choice, but I’d make sure she ended up there regardless. My heart warmed, and I urged the caribou to move faster.
As we climbed higher along the ridge, the snowfall eased.
Our torches cast shifting circles of gold across the snowbanks, but my gaze cut through the darkness as I searched the terrain ahead.
If she had somehow escaped and fled into the mountains, any tracks she’d left would be concealed by wind and falling snow.
A deep and rhythmic sound cut through the wind, followed by a rush of air powerful enough to shove snow outward in sudden bursts that rippled across the ground around us.
I jerked my head upward, and my hand dropped to the hilt of my sword.
The sound was unmistakable. Massive wings beat the air with crushing force, each powerful stroke sending waves through the storm.
Beyond the reach of the torchlight, something enormous passed overhead and blotted out the faint starlight above the clouds.
My breath caught as the shape resolved in the darkness.
A solumbra eagle.
Fate save us. Her herald was here.
The creature banked through the night sky, its wingspan easily ninety feet from tip to tip.
Its feathers shifted between deep black and burnished silver, the colors rippling with every beat of its wings like liquid shadow and moonlight braided together.
Even through the storm, its presence was unmistakable, ancient and terrifying in its power.
My caribou tossed her head and let out a deep, throaty grunt as her hooves stamped in the snow.
The other caribou reacted in kind, snorting and shifting uneasily while their riders fought to steady them.
Every beast in our line recognized the predator that ruled the high skies.
Not even wyverns tangled with solumbra eagles unless they were in a pack.
A chill ran down my spine, and every muscle in my body went rigid.
I hadn’t seen one in decades.