Mara smiled a bitter smile. “We want the witches. We know you harbor two witches, and demand them in exchange for peace between our nations, as well as our restored relic and any other relics the witches wield. We also want the witch’s sister. The one in Latiah.”
Rylo’s typically indolent mask was gone, and his face was glowing in a harsh light. “That is not an option. King Savine will never willingly part with his soulmate, and I have already shared my personal attachment to my witch. Dare take her from me again, and my previous attack will pale in comparison to what I promise to do to you.”
A chilling laugh escaped Maglar. “Then so be it.”
Two tiny, thin women were pushed forward by fae guards. They wore nothing but thin rags, their pale skin and bare feet exposed to the cold. Both women squinted their unnaturally large eyes, so large they didn’t seem to fit their faces. One walked with her head low while the other thrashed and screamed like a beast on her chains.
Rylo’s wings stretched out, ready to take flight, but he didn’t. Instead, he whispered in Morgan’s ear, “They’re here. These are the witches.”
“Unleash the slaves,” Mara said to the fae holding the two women’s chains. The more subdued one didn’t move as the collar around her neck fell to the floor. Morgan could feel a power stirring around them that made her want to run and hide, to flee from the terror that was this tiny creature. The other sister grabbed onto the warrior at the end of her chains, thrashing as he tried to remove her collar. Once the collar was off, she grabbed onto his arm and sunk her teeth into him. The man screamed as he attacked her with his essence.
“Don’t harm her!” Mara hissed at the warrior. He stopped fighting the woman, even as she wrapped her hands around the man and squeezed, power penetrating her being and forcing itself into the man. He collapsed in a heap, his essence and his blood draining onto the wet ground.
“This is not how war talks are conducted!” a Nepheli warrior shouted.
“When one is attacked in their own home, war talks mean nothing,” Maglar spat out.
The little creature turned from her kill, her enormous eyes meeting Morgan’s before they rolled back in her head, becoming a hauntingly milky white. Another warrior walked forward, but there was something very wrong with how he moved. His gait was choppy, lacking that natural fae grace. Morgan gasped as the man looked at them. His rotting flesh clung to sinew and bone. The hollows where his eyes should be stared at her. The tattered grey feathers lay limp behind him.
“Elio!” Rylo shouted. His voice was filled with such pain, such grief it shook through Morgan like a laceration.
“I will not havehumansruling my northern borders! They are nothing more than slaves and by the end of this, you shall beg me to take them from you!” Maglar bellowed.
Rylo didn’t hesitate to spread his wings, taking flight toward the river. His grip on her was so tight it would bruise, but Morgan didn’t care. She looked over his shoulder far enough to see the other Nepheli warriors take flight, sending out their essence in a steady attack against the undead fae.
But it made no difference. Elio snapped his neck, looking at Morgan as wings exploded out from behind him and he took flight toward Rylo and Morgan.
Chapter 53
Rylo
The icy fog rushed past as Rylo broke through the thick blanket of clouds that ran across the river canyon. Morgan clung to him, crying out that she was so, so sorry. But Rylo didn’t have time to think about her apology. No, he could feel the cold, unnatural presence of the thing that followed close behind them.
Rylo dared to take a look back. The undead creature that had once been Elio was gaining on them. Tattered pieces of flesh slapped in the breeze as he drew closer. “Morgan, I need you to give us some cover.”
Morgan nodded as dark mist began to writhe and billow out of her, blowing around them and circling the sky into darkness.The mass of darkness grew and grew, the power of her shadows plunging not just them, but all of Nephel into night.
“Good girl,” he purred, drawing her against his chest. Her arm held tight to his neck, clinging to him. “Goddess damn me, I love your magic.”
She was looking behind them, past his wings to where the undead fae should be. “It’s gone. Elio—I don’t think he’s there anymore.” Light filtered through the darkness, Morgan’s concentration becoming distracted by their surroundings.
“Keep focused, pet. We need your shadows now.”
They flew forward, hearing the sounds of battle behind them. But Rylo didn’t stop, didn’t go back to the front. All that mattered now was getting Morgan away from the Goldoths. They wanted to take her from him, to punish him through her, and he’d never allow that. First, he needed to get her back to the Tower of the Moon—to safety. Then, he’d unleash the full power of his essence on those bastards.
Rylo screamed out in pain as something tore across his face, ripping the flesh from him. He loosened his grip on Morgan for one moment, just a second of hesitation, but it was enough. A keening screech filled the darkness and he felt Morgan being tugged from him, torn from his arms.
“Rylo!” her scream sent his senses scrambling as he grabbed onto her arms. Another terrifying scream filled the air as Morgan’s shadows thinned. Elio had hold of Morgan’s waist, his jerking movements didn’t stop him from yanking her away with unnatural strength.
This wasn’t actually Elio. It wasn’t his friend that he’d worked for so long to protect. It was just a shell of who he once was, and yet, it was him. His body was twisted into something that should never be possible. Filled with dark magic so unspeakable that Rylo growled in the face of the darkness. The undead fae plunged dagger sharp bones through Morgan’s leathers,stabbing her in her soft midsection. Rylo could smell the tang of Morgan’s blood in the air as she screamed in terror.
“Elio! Let her go!”
The creature hissed in response, beating his tattered wings in as he tried to fly away with Morgan’s lower half.
“Make it stop! Make it stop,” Morgan gritted out, tears streaming down her face.
Hearing her crying out in pain awakened something feral inside Rylo. His pet. Hispersonwas hurting. She was crying out for him to stop this threat. Her need for his protection, palpable in the air.
