“Did they hurt you? Did they rape you?”
“No, thankfully. Every time they came near, I burst into flames, but only enough to make them back off. I really,reallyneed sleep, though.”
“Okay, I'm sending you back.” I pulled her into the hall. “Do you see that portal?”
“Yeah, I'm tired, not blind,” she said snottily.
It was difficult not to slap the brat.She’s been through a lot. Go easy.“Go through it and tell the council lead, Alexander, what's happened. He'll take care of you. He's weird, but he'll make sure you have a safe place to rest and recuperate.”
She pulled me into a hug. “Thank you for saving me again, Riley. I have no doubt if I'd slept, they would've raped me. They hinted at it, but I wouldn't let them get close.”
“I'm actually surprised they didn't drug you.”
“They did when they kidnapped me, but I think I would've known if I'd had sex.”
“Of course,” I said. “Now go.”
She went. I waited until I saw her pass into the amphitheater before nodding at my little posse so we could continue on. A host of faces tried to look through the portal at us, to see what was happening.
Waving at them before turning back to the business at hand, I pulled out my gun, unsure if it would help, but I was trained to fight with it. I felt secure holding it in my hand.
Elias looked to me to lead, waiting until I nodded before he kicked in the door. Somehow, I'd shifted myself into the managerial position of our posse. Me, who had never been in an Unseen war, who had never truly battled anyone except Peter, and he never stood a chance.
You did fight those thugs on the road last year.My inner confidence thought I was a badass, but she was used to being told to shut up. I let her whisper encouraging thoughts in my ear today. I needed her bolstering.
The door flew into the room, ripped off its hinges. Elias did his job well. That Supay strength, which I rarely had cause to see, impressed me.
Nobody inside.Dang it.
Three more doors went down the same way, and at the fourth, we found another Sárkány woman, unconscious. One of the witches carried her out and quickly returned.
Axoular's eyes were red. Not a good sign for whoever stood to fight us. “She appeared to be unhurt,” I said. “Hopefully they just recently brought her here and hadn't had time to do anything harmful.”
His only response was sparks shooting out of his nose as his chest heaved.Okay then, let's use that rage.
I moved forward, not willing to waste any more time. The only door left was at the end of the hall. Based on the structure's layout, I had to assume it was more stairs leading down. We were on the top floor.
We prepared ourselves the best we could. Axoular was a hair's breadth from shooting fire, I had my guns up and my fire wasn't far behind Axoular's. Anthony and Elias's fangs were out, and their hands looked remarkably claw-like.Something to explore later. I've never seen them like that.
The witches just sort of stood there behind us. I had no idea what their idea of defensiveness was.
I nodded and Elias kicked the door in. Nothing happened. I inched forward, but Axoular put his hand on my back. “Let me,” he growled.
He stepped forward a few feet and his body clenched. I watched his muscles ripple under his tight fireproof shirt. Scales erupted across his body. I could see the ridges of them under the material of the shirt. He leaned forward and fire shot from his mouth.
The structure was made of stone, so no real damage was done, but the door ignited.
“We have to wait for that to go out,” Elias said.
Axoular grunted and strode forward, checking first to make sure nobody was hiding on the stairs. He must not have seen anyone, because he grabbed the door and ripped it from its hinges. My mouth dropped.
“I didn't know we could do that,” I hissed at him as he walked past us to leave the door out of harm's way. The rest of our party crowded against the opposite wall as he walked by. To them, the flames were intense and burned hotter than any they might’ve been near like a bonfire or fireplace.
Once the door was gone the rest of the flames rapidly burned themselves out while we waited on Leo to close the portal at the other end of the hall.
When the coast was clear and the portal down, I advanced us down the stairs. We were in a strange position at the bottom, exposed once the door was opened. Axoular and I hadn't been on that side of the temple before, not that we could remember. We had no idea what we were in store for.
“Quietly or quickly?” I asked.
