We are not saviors. We are not rescuers. We get in. We get out. And we do not take deadweight.
All three pieces of deadweight groaned and swore.
Elysia stared at the shoveled path that led out of the forest. Lit with golden light, it was the fastest and clearest route out. She was barefoot, and she was afraid the girls wouldn’t make it through the knee-deep snow.
The sound of heavy footsteps and low voices rumbled closer, hastening her decision. Into the forest where hypothermia was likely, or onto the golden path where they’d be spotted and overtaken with swiftness.
Gage flitted through her mind one more time, but she pushed back the rush of shame threatening to slow her down. She was going to fail her mission and her mentor, but she saw no other path.
Elysia slipped back into a cool, detached headspace even as in her gut she knew they were neck-deep in shit. Security was already in sight, the dark shadows of weapon-clad men peppering the trees. And then the sky crackled, lighting up the darkness as the wind screamed and rain fell down in icy sheets.
Low growls carried to her ears past the wind and rain, and the hairs on her neck stood on end.Maspan was a shifter.She shoved at her friends, who were behaving like disoriented cats. “Onto the path, go, go, go! If they’re shifters, they’ll be able to see us anyway in the woods.”
A pair of feet landed solidly behind her, the crunch of snow reflexively making her whirl, blades out. Knife to artery, Elysia’s shoulders collapsed as a hysterical laugh won out.
“Going to kill me, Parker?”
“You’re a fucking asshole.” A wild surge ofhope flooded through her, never happier to see the man who had not so long ago left her for dead.
“Would you have me any other way?” The prince had found battle axes and was already pulling them out, his wet hair plastered to his skin and green eyes blazing unnaturally.
A half circle of wolves slowly crept in, forming around their group, but Elysia grinned, pressing her back against his.
She lifted her knives back up.
Chapter 19
The wind shriekedas the air around them began to vibrate, even the ground shaking as heavy snow and ice loosened. The whirling vibrations increased until the rumbles deafened everyone, the women clapping hands over their ears and wolves whining at the sound. Picking up snow and ice, the cyclone grew and grew until, with a tree-shaking boom of thunder, it released, tunneling for the wolves and incoming men.
Shocked, Elysia’s gaze slid to Topp. Fingers gripping his axes so tight they were white, he furrowed his brow in concentration as he swept the cyclone along, tearing up snow, dirt, and trees. One by one the men who hadn’t shifted burst out of human skin, turning into wolves and bears, darting out of the cyclone’s path. Seconds after the first thunder, blinding lightning cracked through the trees, and a shifter yelped, diving and rolling out of its path.
Elysia stared at the burnt scorch of earth, overwhelmed with the terrible and unfamiliar feeling of being helpless in a fight.My magic is no good in combat, and I can’t fight a fucking bear.Topp’s chest heaved with exertion, and the remaining shifters were shaking out their fur, beginning to advance again. Slowly, they encroached, eyes yellow and snouts curled in permanent snarls.
Topp was raising his axes now, determined exhaustion lining his face. Elysia’s eyes darted between Topp and Jessa. They needed to act now, or they were going to be torn to shreds. Stomach sour, she barked out her order. “Rip them apart.”
Two pairs of green eyes locked on her, but she didn’t flinch. “I said,rip them apart.”
Jessa hardened in understanding, and then animals and trees exploded, both gore and wood splinters flying through the air. The shifters who didn’t explode dropped to the earth, rolling and crying out as their oxygen cut off until all at once they stopped, bodies still and eyes lifeless.
Topp’s bright eyes grew dim as he gazed down at the destruction they had wrought, and Elysia dropped to her knees, the snow soaking through her green dress. Something in her wanted to keel—to collapse and wordlessly scream into the now mundane winds. Topp’s large, calloused hand appeared in front of her face. Tiny drops of blood were splattered against his freckles. Placing her hand in his like she’d done a hundred times before, Elysia stood, allowing the brutal wind to whip her long dress around her.
The cold settled against her heart.Every step is one closer to the talisman.Elysia clung to this hope. And with that, she silently began to trudge along the golden-lit path out of the Endless Forest to claim her place in the Reyez Empire.
Bloody and mud-splattered,they arrived.
Remy was likely traumatized. Topp hadn’t stopped asking Elysia questions about herkidnappingsince they started walking, and Beatriz and Jessa were plotting something that she pretended she couldn’t hear.
The front door swung open. Emmellin grinned, letting out a loud whoop as she turned and jumped onto her husband, legswrapped around his middle. One arm thrust in the air, she yelled into the house. “Parker returns! Pay up, assholes!”
And with that, she directed her enormous husband to carry her to each and every person who had seemingly bet against Elysia’s success.
Elysia watched from beneath a lifted eyebrow. Nothing like knowing almost the entire room thought you were going to fail and die.
Her sister and Topp loomed over her shoulders, curiosity getting the better of them. With a ready sneer, Beatriz took in the handful of crew members eyeing her little sister with unveiled disdain. “No wonder Gage was willing to cut himself off from magic to get away from you all.” Cold and angry, Beatriz was past snippy and well into bitchy territory.
Topp gripped Elysia’s shoulder protectively, his eyes focused on the mixed reactions of their hosts. He murmured into her ear, “Let’s go before?—”
Emmellin hooted and slid off her husband in front of them. “Well, I’ll be—aprince.”Her gaze snagged on Elysia’s feet. “Fuck. Those are the ugliest feet I’ve ever seen. You should take care of that. Looks like frostbite over all those…scars.”
