Lunara tossed the pan back onto the counter and rushed across the cottage, muttering under her breath. Light gathered on her fingertips as she reached the front door and pressed herself against it. Closing her eyes, she searched for her courage, chest heaving and body buzzing.
She would’ve sworn she’d been so careful, had hidden herself and her abilities well, but she must have slipped. Must have?—
“Lunara! Are you here, lass?”
Her eyes snapped open at the rolling richness ofthatvoice shouting from a distance. Dizzying relief suffused her veins in an instant and she nearly crumpled to the floor before whirling around to grab the knob.
From the porch, she scanned the luminescent landscape. Birds called and insects buzzed, the twin moons hanging heavy in their river of stars overhead. No one was there, and the path to the portal that disappeared around the side of the cottage was undisturbed.
“Thaddeus?” she called, suddenly unsure she’d heard him.
He tore around the bend in a dead sprint a second later, kicking up sparkling turquoise dust, not stopping until he practically slammed into the column holding the roof above her. “Aye. It’s me,” he said, hands on his knees.
Lunara hadn’t thought to ever lay eyes on the young Wolflord again. It had been a dreadful day the last time she’d seen him—one she’d rather forget.
As would he, she’d imagine.
“I’m sorry to come barging in like this, but you’re needed. Right away.”
She blinked at his words. “Needed?”
“Aye. Urgently.”
Her first thought was for his father, and worry seized her. “Is it Caius? Did something happen?”
Thaddeus waved that away. “Ach, no. He’s well. I’m to bring you back with me to Straelon, sent by the Demon King himself.”
“TheDemon King?”she shrieked, voice too loud as a hysterical laugh escaped her.
It had to be some kind of prank.
The Thaddeus that had shown up on her doorstep last year, demanding admittance to see his ailing mother, had turned out to be a wonderful nuisance. He’d gotten up to all sorts of tricks to make everyone smile.
Lunara crossed her arms and raised a brow, sure she’d caught him. “You want me to drop everything and go to the Montrealm with youright now?”
Thad straightened, throwing his shoulders back. “Thatiswhere Lyriat resides,” he answered, voice rumbling low.
There was no quirk of the lip, no dancing amusement in his eyes. He just stood there, still as stone and staring.
Stars above, he was dead serious.
A cloud of terror descended over her as she retreated a step. “Oh. No,” she rasped. “You don’t understand. I’ve never… I can’t…”
There was a reason she’d stayed holed up in her cottage, lost in the midnight wilds. Why she did everything she could to avoidrumors and prying eyes, and had never set a foot outside of Nachthelliae.
“A person’s been tortured, Lunara. Torn to pieces. He’ll not last the day without you.”
She snapped her gaze up, unable to deny the spark of purpose that flared within her.
“What happened?”
Stars and arses. You’ve lost your bleeding mind.
Thaddeus exhaled, gripping his nape. “A Demon returned this morning missing half of his flesh. Horns gone, no tongue. I’m honestly not sure how he managed to get himself through the portal. He was still alive when I left, but unconscious and fading fast.”
Duty called out to her but?—
No. Someone will see. Someone will tell them.
