My stomach churned as waves of pain rolled through the bond. I held Nyfain tightly within me, feeding him the warmth of my love and support, feeding him my assurance that we’d make it through this. I was coming.
“We can’t wait anymore. Govam can get us through the portals. We’ll have to fight our way in. With Weston’s help, we can do it. I know we can.”
When I reached Micah and Hannon, Hannon’s face showing a small scowl, I opened my mouth to deliver the news. But then someone gasped, and everyone on the docks turned to look out at the sea. Looking with them, unable to help it, I felt pure joy well up through me.
A lovely boat with fresh paint and clean sails was slowly making its way into the harbor. Painted on the white wood of the bow was the royal symbol for Narva.
Calia had arrived just in time.
THIRTY-ONE
NYFAIN
Dolion spoke through his teeth. “Where is she?”
I gritted my teeth against his hot, stinging magic slicing through me. The demon king had been at this for a little over two days, trying to force information out of me or maybe just abuse me for fun. I didn’t show any sign of its effects. I would endure the pain forever if I had to, waiting for Finley.
Except this time, he had me by the balls.
His demons had found Finley’s father and brother. Now Dolion was looking for Sable so that he could torture them all together while I watched. He thought that would spur my cooperation.
He was right.
We stood on the grounds, the moon showering us in its glow. My people watched from the windows of the castle, peering down at the grisly scene.
Demons held Finley’s father and youngest brother between them, knives at their throats, shallow wounds already gouged into their flesh. One of them shook Dash, and my blood curdled to watch it. Dash didn’t cry, though, just stared straight ahead stoically, refusing to fall to pieces.
“Please don’t hurt them,” their father wailed, reaching for his son. “Don’t hurt them! They are innocent.”
The whole kingdom was innocent. That wouldn’t save them.
Dolion flicked his hand, and one of the demons bashed Finley’s dad in the head.
The older man grunted and his knees buckled, dropping him down to the ground. The same guard kicked him in the stomach, rolled him over, and then kicked him once more to stop his struggling.
My chest squeezed. Tears leaked out of Dash’s eyes.
“Where is she?” Dolion asked again.
After I’d snuck Sable out of the castle, I’d stashed her in Finley’s favorite everlass field, near the birch. It was all I could think to do. The demons had focused their attention on the villages, and they weren’t watching that part of the wood closely. I’d left her with food and water and a means to keep warm, but that wouldn’t last her forever.
After Dolion gruesomely killed Finley’s family, he’d start on the rest of the kingdom. His patience, in as much as he’d ever had any, had run out.
Dolion’s power speared through me again, making it feel like my head was being cleaved in two. That I could resist. The pain was nothing. It was the knife at Dash’s throat that loosened my lips. The drop of blood running down his skin.
I gritted my teeth for a moment as my dragon crouched within me. It was time for him to say goodbye to Finley’s dragon, and he knew it. I couldn’t wait anymore. Not if it would spare her family and our people.
“She’s hidden,” I finally said, and Dash looked up at me like I’d betrayed him. Like he would’ve happily gone to the beyond rather than give up his sister’s whereabouts. “Let them go.”
A wicked smile crept up Dolion’s blue face. “Let them go? Why would I want to do that? No, I think I will still kill them slowly unless you tell me where the girl is. If you do that, I will do them the mercy of killing them swiftly.”
I didn’t believe him for a moment.
“Spare their lives, and I’ll make a deal with you,” I ground out.
“A deal? What do you have to offer? You are a prince of ruin. Conquered. I’ve taken all I want from this place. You have no other dragons left. No powerful shifters. Unless you can unlock the magic surrounding that gold, nothing you have could tempt me.”
The gold.
That was the reason I’d been able to stall for the last couple of days. Dolion had taken everything he could from the gold reserves, but some sort of magic protected the rest from his greedy hands. Mine too—he’d forced me down to the mines to see if I could unseal it.
I’d refused to try, of course, despite his attempts to beat and maim and torture me into submission.
As if that would work. Without the suppression, something he didn’t think to reapply for some reason, I had access to all of my magic. Even with the curse to help him control me, he wasn’t powerful enough to force my compliance.
But then Dash had tried to sneak out of hiding to find his sister, his dad running after him to haul him back, and they’d been found by the demons. So I’d tried to free up the gold and failed. Dolion was giving up on it, which meant he was ready to start his fuck you tour of the kingdom, starting with Finley’s family.
We’d run out of time.
“You can have me,” I said in a growl. “Me for them.”
Dolion’s eyes sparked with interest.
THIRTY-TWO
FINLEY
Heart in my throat, I stood in the wood just outside my kingdom, a sheet of leathery air cutting me off from what lay inside. The ships that had brought us to this point—large vessels with daring and curious captains—were anchored just off a sandy beach about three hundred yards away. The rowboats had likely finished shuttling the rest of the first wave to shore by now. The Wyverners and the most powerful wolves had been transported first. The rest of the dragons and wolves would arrive shortly. We’d been hurrying to catch up to the faeries, who’d reached the sandy shores ahead of us. Their ship was sleek and swift, always ahead of us.
Thank the goddess, because they’d clearly needed plenty of time to do their part.
Ten of them spanned out in a lazy arc with Calia at their head, each touching the shoulder of the one slightly ahead of him or her, until the last in line, whose hands rested on Calia’s shoulders. Her sister stood beside her, head bowed, eyes closed, and a man with a pleasing face stood on her other side in the same position. They hadn’t brought warriors, after all, just those who would boost Calia’s magic. The warriors were preparing for something bigger, she’d said. They were preparing to mount a larger attack on the demons, and it seemed like she hoped to ally with our kingdom to do it. We had Govam, after all, and the ruthlessness to kill him if he got out of line. With his knowledge and our combined strength, we stood a chance at doing what no one else had yet accomplished.
Calia stood with her hands raised and eyes shut, palms facing the leather wall of demon magic. Sweat coated her face and ran from her temples.
“I can’t work through all of this magic,” she said in a wispy voice. “It’s…too vast. I can’t pull all of it down.”
Fear and adrenaline beat a drum in my chest. Tumultuous emotions rolled through the bond from Nyfain, and I knew he was coming to a decision that might damn us all. I could feel it. I could feel his decision cutting through my gut like a hot knife. I knew if he went through with whatever he was currently doing, I’d lose him forever.