“Rhogan? Can you come to the front of the cage? I can heal you if you can make it.”
He crawled. Inch by inch he dragged his broken, battered body across the dank cell until he was close enough to the door that I could reach for him. I healed him slowly and with great effort. His entire body had been broken in such a way that he was only on the cusp of life, left dangling.
He stretched, and as his pain subsided and his wings were restored, he stood slowly. He transformed before us from a shell of a fae into a massive, angry male with a giant score to settle.
“Release me,” he ordered.
“Do you know how? Where are the keys?” I asked.
He grabbed the bars and tried to pull them apart, they did not budge.
“How did you resist the king’s enchantment?” Ven asked.
He pointed to his tattooed arm. “The ink has metal shavings from the blacksmith.”
“Temir,” Rook called. I walked back to him, and he pointed. “She can free them,” he said. “She will use my jacket.”
I watched as she ripped a piece of the material and tied it around a bar. She kept herself as covered as she could and touched the fabric. Her magic rippled through it, and the bar cracked. She tied several more pieces. and I tore the bottom of my own shirt to assist her. Ven began tying pieces of his shirt to Rhogan’s cell. Once Megere had freed herself, she ran to Roghan’s cell and touched the fabric on the bars, cracking them as well. His large frame required a lot more space, which meant time. And as it was, time was precious.
The moment Rhogan was free of his cell, he stepped out and pulled the half-naked fae into his arms. “I told you we would get out of this together.” She shook with tears in his arms. “What’s the plan?”
“Well, it’s not great. We have to get back through the castle and down the tunnels without getting caught.”
“That’s not a plan, that’s a gods-damned death wish,” he said.
“It’s all we’ve got. If we get separated, take her to Bryer’s Keep.”
“Let’s go,” he said, keeping a tight grip on Megere’s shaking hand.
She held the jacket closed and looked back to Rook as they walked past him. He didn’t say a word as we fell into line, went back up the stairs, and into the hall with no issues. We used the same tactic as we had done before, keeping a distance between us, but hiding a giant winged fae and a half-naked female proved to be more difficult. Several fae watched us as we walked, and my heart raced. A cascade of worry drifted down the bond, and I knew Nadra was responding to my own emotions. I’d tried to shield them, but when they came so strong, it was hard to worry about that. Rook and Ven led the group at the front with a good gap, then Rhogan and Nadra’s mother with me trailing behind.
“Traitors,” someone called.
“Rebels in the castle,” another said.
And then fae were screaming and running, and while we tried to hide in the chaos, it didn’t work as we had planned. Ven and Rook disappeared down the hall, and as the soldiers came running, Rhogan roared, grabbed Megere and jumped out of an oversized window. I watched as they disappeared into the sky, leaving me alone as the soldiers surrounded me.
“Well, well, well. What do we have here?” Eadas jeered, joining his males.
“A rebel,” the king answered from behind me. “Cuff him.”
And suddenly Oleo’s vision had come to pass.
Chapter 43
ARA
Ihad to be careful not to splash a single drop on me as I rowed across the poisoned water to the other side. Though I tried, I couldn’t stop thinking about Fen and that shattered look on his beautiful face when I’d denied the mating bond. But he only felt the way he did about me because the universe had forced us together. It wasn’t me he was infatuated with. It was his own idea of me. And I’d never live up to those perfect expectations. I couldn’t handle the pressure. It was just too much.
I could nearly feel him standing on the outside of my mental shield, even now, begging me to come back for him. I wouldn’t. Couldn’t. This was about me, not him, not us. Just me. I moved the oars carefully through the water and watched the shore grow closer until I heard the bottom of the small boat slide over the small pebbles and gritty sand.
Stepping out of the boat, I pulled two knives and studied every detail. The moss-covered ground was a direct contrast to the endless winter I had left behind. The largest trees I’d ever seen in my life loomed high above me, and a small path of broken stone stairs invited me deeper into Nealla’s Island. As I walked, I kept my mind as clear as I could, listening to the deafening silence. There were no birds. No animals. There was not even wind.
Come.
The sound of Nealla’s voice filling every crevice of my mind was pure agony. Nothing else existed but her hypnotizing pull on me.
Come.
