“Fourteen Shriekers at the entrance,” Voss reported. While Cassius was the spymaster, Voss had led the scout team for a decade.
“Then they’re already dead,” Rock said.
The shadow beasts darted past us, flowing across the dead ground and hitting the Shriekers with the force of battering rams. Mechanical parts scattered. Black oil that served as blood splattered the bone walls. While our supernatural army needed special blades dipped in spells and mixed with Barbie’s bloodto kill the Shriekers, the shadow beasts could simply tear the abominations apart!
My men charged after them, their blood blades held tight, violence humming in the air.
Rock wielded Deathsong with disturbing fondness. He’d inherited it from Barbie, and now he barely let that evil blade out of his sight. When he thought no one was watching, he even talked to it. Once, I’d overheard him telling it a joke, and the evil blade had giggled.
We carved through the entrance guards in minutes. No finesse, no mercy. Just brutal efficiency and hatred.
Inside, the palace was even more grotesque. Corridors lined with bones. Chandeliers of skulls. Carpets that might have been woven from hair. My men didn’t flinch, didn’t slow down. They stormed the place of horrors after me, hell-bent on rescuing their queen.
“Archer, hold the entrance with the shadow beasts,” I ordered. “Nothing gets in behind us.”
“Yes, my king.” He took position, his blade dripping black blood.
The rest of us ventured deeper into the bone palace.
“Where should we go, sir?” Theron asked as we reached the end of the corridor, which split into three others.
We were inside a maze of bones.
I raised a fist, and my men halted. I concentrated on the mating bond pulsing inside me like a second heartbeat. Then Barbie’s scream tore through the space.
She’s down! Our mate is hundreds of feet down!my dragon roared.Get to her now! NOW!
“She’s deep underground!” I hissed, fighting to keep icy panic at bay and rage from clouding my mind. “That motherfucker is torturing her.”
“Stairs will take too long,” Cassius said, already knowing what I would do.
Dragon fire erupted from me, making the air steam and melting the palace floor like wax—bone, stone, and the void god’s wards. I burned through level after level, each one revealing new horrors before dissolving into ash.
The hole I carved plunged so deep it seemed bottomless. Spatial magic made the interior vast, far larger than the outside—more room for atrocities.
Without hesitation, I leaped into the abyss.
My men followed without question. My shadow wind caught us, turning our rapid freefall into a controlled descent through a darkness that had weight.
Then I heard the voice of the unholy god that haunted my mate in her nightmares.
“Daughter of mine,” he said, his voice like poisoned honey. “Did you really think eons of existence left me without contingencies? I am void, older than the stars. I can shed this mortal shell like a snakeskin. No being or god can cage me. I’ll be free in moments.”
I hit the ground running, following our bond, his vile voice, and the copper scent of her blood. My men were still landing when I burst through the final doorway.
Into the feeding chamber.
Stone tables were darkened with layers of blood. Surgical tools lay arranged with sadistic care. A blood fountain rose in the center of the room. Walls made of skulls and spells illuminated the horror within.
At the far end, on a sacrificial altar, my mate lay splayed like a specimen for dissection.
My dragon roared and thrashed, so enraged I could barely rein him in. I bit my tongue, my own rage meeting his, and tasted blood, lightning, dragon fire, and ash.
The evil motherfucker had opened her up—her chest cavity exposed, organs visible. Blood pooled beneath her in a dark, spreading stain. Her left leg was dismantled and shattered. The void fucker hunched over her like a carrion bird. He’d been feeding on her. Feasting on her.
No words could describe the grief, rage, and hatred I felt. I would repay him tenfold for every torture he inflicted on my mate, my love, my queen—and even that would not be enough, not even close.
“Tell me where the last drop of old magic is,” Ruin hissed, reaching for a bone saw, “or let us see how much more of you I can take?—”
