“And yet he has not protected the realm,” the faerie retorted. “The Ravaging spreads across our lands like aplague. Even if the prince’s intentions are as honorable as you claim, he cannot stop what has already begun.”
Sorsha glared at the female, fists balled at her sides, but the fae directed her words at me. “I sympathize with your plight, Blade of Death. I know what it is to have loved and lost. But I will not help you as long as you align yourself with the Dark Prince. Nor will I endanger my people by drawing the demon king’s ire.”
Chapter
Eleven
LYRA
Ahot, sulfur-scented breeze wafted over me as we perched along the rim of Mount Dorthus. Deep within the volcano lay the Dark Palace, hovering above the pool of molten lava like a foreboding island.
The last time we’d been here, Adriel had leveled the upper stories of an entire wing with his earth-wielding abilities, though the rest of the fortress remained intact. Demons flew in low circles around the palace, guarding the entrance and swooping up every so often to patrol the barren landscape surrounding the volcano.
“Do you think he took the bait?” Adriel asked in a low tone.
“Yes,” I said, though my answer was born out of desperation more than anything. “I’m the one he wants.”
In truth, it didn’t matter if Semphrys had believed the vision I’d sent Kaden through the bond. I would infiltrate the palace with or without my friends’ help. I would cut down whatever demons stood between me and Kadenandface his father if I must.
I wasn’t leaving here without my mate.
“We can’t fly in,” Adriel said with a quick glance at Sorsha. “I can’t carry both of you, and we’d be seen. We’ll have to go in from below.”
My stomach churned at the prospect of traveling through the earth with Adriel. My body still remembered that horrible feeling of being buried alive, not to mention that the strain of the journey had made Adriel violently ill. But with the demons guarding the palace and the bubbling lava below, I could see no alternative.
Reluctantly, I edged closer to the royal guard, and he hooked an arm around my waist. His other hand twined around Sorsha’s waist as the rim of the volcano shuddered.
Layers of black rock crumbled as a chasm appeared beneath our feet. My knees wobbled and then gave way as Adriel’s magic drew us into Mount Dorthus itself.
Darkness swallowed me whole, and my lungs seized with panic as the sulfuric scent of volcanic gases and ash filled my airways.
I couldn’t breathe. Couldn’tthink. Small fragments of rock tore at my skin, and a crushing pressure heaved against me from all sides. My bones groaned and creaked, and still that unstoppable force continued to draw me deeper beneath the earth’s surface.
Panic formed a vise around my chest. My lungs screamed for air, but there was none. I felt as if I would suffocate buried under this wretched volcano as Kaden died a slow death somewhere above me.
But then the pressure on my skull abated, though it took me a moment to realize we’d broken the surface. I gasped in a lungful of dusty, fetid air, whipping my head from side to side to identify where we were.
There was only darkness.
My legs shook as I climbed out of the rocky tunnel Adriel had dragged us through. I could sense him and Sorsha moving nearby, though I couldn’t see them.
A tiny ball of faelight winked into existence, casting a warm glow over the space where we’d landed. We were standing in a stone chamber that seemed to have been carved out of the volcano itself. It was stiflingly hot, and I realized we were below the chamber of lava.
Did Semphrys’s fortress truly go this deep?
Brushing dirt from my clothes, I drew my witchwood blade and checked my bandolier to be sure I hadn’t lost the Death Bringer’s hands. They were still swathed in the crude canvas sack Sorsha had fashioned, though the bag looked a bit worse for the wear.
“Are you all right?” I asked Adriel, studying him in the dim glow of Sorsha’s faelight. He’d magicked away his wings for the journey through the volcano, and for a moment, he looked almost human.
“I’ll survive,” he croaked, pushing off the wall and shoving the hair out of his eyes. “We didn’t travel very far. Just a few miles underground.”
“A fewmiles?” I repeated. I hadn’t realized we’d gone that deep below the surface.
Adriel nodded. “These tunnels shouldn’t be habitable, but Semphrys’s power makes them so.”
I swallowed, trying not to think what it would be like to be trapped down here.
Praying Adriel hadn’t inadvertently earth-wielded us into a locked cell, I tried the door handle.
