With a cry, I slammed my dagger through the sternum of a demon who’d grabbed me by the hair and watched it dissipate into a cloud of black mist. Only one of Semphrys’s foot soldiers stood between the princess and the royal guard.
I whirled to face my next opponent and looked back in time to see her pull Adriel to his feet.
Even injured and clutching his middle, he towered over the princess. His face was pale, his copper hair darkened with sweat, but when he gazed down at Sorsha, I saw none of the tension that usually crackled between them.
He looked . . . sinister.
But before I had any time to consider his expression, Sorsha pushed up onto her toes and planted a kiss on his stunned mouth.
My jaw dropped, and I was so distracted that I nearly caught a claw to the face from an encroaching demon. I threw up an arm to shield myself, and agony raked down my arm as he sliced clean through my leathers.
“Shit,” I hissed, blocking his next strike and lunging with my witchwood blade. But the demon snatched my wrist midair, holding it immobile with one of his many appendages.
My muscles quivered as I fought to break free, but the demon only sneered.
I dragged in a breath, fighting against the stitch in my side. Blood dripped down my arm, which seemed to haveits own heartbeat. The demon twisted my other arm, and I cried out in pain, but then Kaden swooped in out of nowhere, decapitating my opponent in one graceful swipe.
My breath left me in a whoosh as the demon released me, and I threw my mate a grateful look before delving back into the fray.
Sorsha and Adriel had broken apart, and Sorsha was fending off two demons at once. I stabbed one of them from behind, and she sliced the second from his neck to his belt in a spray of thick black blood.
I took another step, and my foot slipped on something smooth and round that had lodged beneath my boot. Bending down, I scooped up a familiar stone about the size of my palm.
I stared. An ominous, sticky power seemed to leach from the stone, and a thick, grayish smoke swirled beneath its polished surface.
My heart punched against my ribs in a violent rhythm.
Itcouldn’tbe.
The injured demon collapsed at my feet, a pool of blood spreading beneath my boot. Sorsha’s nostrils flared with satisfaction, and with her beautiful face speckled with blood, she looked every bit the warrior queen.
“Hey,” I huffed. “I need a favor.”
“Sure, I’m not busy,” she panted, swiping her wrist across her brow to wipe away the sweat and gore.
Another demon lunged for her, but I pulled the princess behind a wall made of gleaming obsidian.
“I need you to glamour me,” I said in a rush, tucking the stone into my pocket and hissing as it greedily sucked up my magic. “And keep Kaden from following me.”
Sorsha’s face scrunched in confusion, glancing from myface to the pocket where the stone had just vanished. “Youwhat?”
“Just . . . trust me,” I managed between gasps. The stitch in my side was absolute murder, and I could scarcely draw a full breath. Already I could feel that my body had weakened, the stone sapping me of my hunter strength.
“I do trust you, but . . .” Sorsha paused, her brows knitting in concern. “Something is wrong.”
“Yeah. We’re losing. Badly. And Adriel’s wounded.”
But the princess gave an impatient shake of her head. “That’s not what I meant.” She cast a quick glance over her shoulder, and when she looked back at me, her eyes were wide with panic. “That’s not Adriel.”
Chapter
Thirty-Two
LYRA
My heart was in my throat as I descended a staircase that reeked of death and decay. Low moans punctuated by animalistic shrieks echoed through the tower, raising goosebumps along the pale, waxy flesh that covered my unnaturally long arms.
I stood more than a head taller than my natural height, cloaked in dark robes that smelled like incense and mildew.
