“Hey, are you alright, Lyra? Look at me,” he urges.
I glance over as she blinks up at Colton, the inky black slowly fading from her eyes. Noticing the back of her head is bleeding, I can’t tell how much of it is her blood versus the stain from the viscous red water of the lake.
“It looks like she hit the back of her head on a rock when she landed,” I inform Colton, trying to piece together the sequence of events.
He stands, lifting Lyra gently into his arms, but she protests. “I’m alright, Colton. It’s me.”
Her hand reaching up to touch his face. I swallow my disgust and look away, only to notice that the creatures have vanished.
“They’ve retreated,” I announce in disbelief, my eyes shifting back to Lyra and Colton.
“Good. I’m taking Lyra inside to assess her wounds. Tell Drew we’ll find her after,” Colton says firmly and disappears with Lyra into the safety of the hive.
I bristle at his tone — when did he start giving orders to me? I’m only his fucking king. I run my hand through my hair and let out a long breath. It’s been a long night, so I swallow mypride. In this moment, he is better equipped to care for her than I am. He’s always been adept with healing magic. With a heavy heart, I trudge through the carnage strewn across the forest floor, the decay of the battle lingering in the air, as I go in search of Drew.
Chapter 5
Lyra
“Colton, I’m fine, really,”I insist as he fusses over me, spreading his healing magic across my skin to be sure.
With a casual wave of his hand, he dries me off instantly, for which I’m grateful. Falling into that lake was the last thing I needed, especially considering what lurks beneath its surface. The memory of the shadow fish that Soren once showed me flashes through my mind, its teeth making me shiver. Then I remember—Soren!
“Did Nyx take Soren to the infirmary?” I ask, turning to face Colton, whose lips flatten at the mention of his name.
“He went to find Drew,” he replies.
“Well, where is Soren? I need to make sure he’s alright. He’s the one you should be fussing over right now and using your healing magic on,” I exclaim, already heading toward the door to search for him. But before I reach it, the door swings open, and Drew walks in, clad in black leather pants and a dark-red bodice that matches the color of her long hair. She always looks so put together, even after a battle.
In contrast, I look down at my own appearance, my hair atangled mess of clumpy waves. I shake my head—this isn’t important, yet how does she always manage to look so elegant?
“Drew,” I say, coming to a stop.
“We need to talk. Alone,” she states then glances at Colton, nodding toward the door for him to leave. I smile and wave him off, reassuring him as he reluctantly exits the room.
“I don’t need any prying ears hearing what I have to say. Follow me to my chambers,” Drew says as we step out into the hall, where unsurprisingly Colton and Nyx are both waiting. I have to pinch my lips together to keep from laughing at their not-so-subtle eavesdropping. I follow Drew to the staircase, casting a disapproving glance back at them.
Nyx is still coated in black blood from the battle, shirtless, his broad chest catching my eye for a moment before I look over at Colton, who’s even larger.Gods, what am I going to do with these men in my life?I think to myself as I turn down the staircase, noticing that neither of them makes a move to follow us.
Once alone in Drew’s room, she gestures for me to take a seat. I walk past her bed, eyeing the horrific creatures carved into the bedposts and wondering who carved them and how many other monsters exist like the Monstrauths and Sarrols.
“Is Soren alright?” I ask as I settle into one of the chairs, crossing my feet.
“He will be okay. We lost a few tonight, but none who you’ve met. They were all from the town,” she replies, sinking gracefully into the chair beside me.
“I’m sorry for your loss,” I tell her, looking into my lap, unsure of what else to say. So much has happened since we last spoke, and though it wasn’t long ago, it feels like a whirlwind, my mind still racing to catch up. “The Luminary Council—”
Drew cuts me off. “The council members were idiots. They attacked you, they didn’t listen to reason, and I’m done trying to appease a council that’s been hanging on by a threadfor years. You need to fill me in on what happened in Zomea. What did Euric say? And before you begin, I already know he’s dead. Nyx mentioned that,” she states, unfazed as usual, calm and collected.
I do my best to recount everything that transpired after I fled the council meeting for Zomea. I explain about the heart and Euric’s plan to ascend to godhood, the gates, the other continents that exist, and the other hearts, including one already destroyed by Euric. Drew’s red eyes stay locked on me, giving a quiet “hmm,” every now and then to prompt me to continue, but none of this information seems to shock her. I’m left wondering how much Drew actually knows, considering all of this was quite a revelation to me.
Breathless by the time I finish recounting the events, Drew finally speaks up. “Do you know what’s beyond the gate?” she asks.
“No, and I’m not sure I want to find out. Maybe my midnight mind will take me there like my father said, or maybe it won’t, but I get the strong feeling that maybe I should leave it alone for now. Find a way to close the bridge and pretend Zomea doesn’t exist and get on with my life,” I tell her a bit more frantically than I’d like.
“Pretending something doesn’t exist doesn’t make it go away. Have you made a decision about which one of these men you’re going to commit to?” Drew says, shifting the conversation in a direction I hadn’t expected. After all I had told her, she brings it back to my tangled love life.
“No, I haven’t,” I reply, taken aback by her question. “But if there’s any truth to this prophecy, and if Nyx is indeed my light, then…I’m not sure.”
