‘Shut up,’ I said, giving the wolf’s ear a gentle tug. ‘I know you’re warming to him, too.’
I couldn’t wipe the grin from my face as my heart raced. He was right. We’d be unbeatable; we’d have a priceless resource to bargain with. Everything we needed lay in this cavern. We’d halt Romero’s advance on the continent. There was more than enough Vyrium to persuade The Alliance to remain united andforce the empress to think twice before attacking. This was it. Our salvation.
‘The quicker we get out of here, the quicker we can get mining.’
With Pablo on one side, and the man I loved the other, we left the cavern with hope pounding in my chest.
Matthias led me away from where he’d left the three hunter corpses as the ribbons within jerked and writhed. I snorted. So much for hunter camaraderie. They’d left their fallen to be smothered by the fetid dust of Graig Du. I stared at my husband. He was strong, but strong enough to take on not just one, butthreediafol hunters? Matthias shrugged off my concerns about taking on such elite killers as we threaded through the decayed trees, merely kissing my wrist.
‘I swear, if anyone so much as threatens a hair on my wife’s head, I’ll eviscerate every trace of them from Eusis.’ He winked, and a little thrill shimmied up my spine. This man truly was amazing. How had he not only taken out the hunters, but then carried me into the ebony hills? Perhaps I could grow to like having someone looking out for me, cutting down my enemies and caring enough to ensure I didn’t trip over their bloodstained bodies.
I battled within, seeking the silver gift, and found Pumpkin still lost within the mass of trees. I called him, holding back Pablo, before he scared the little pony away. The gentle clop of his hooves came from the left.
‘Ahh, we saw him racing towards the hill, but we were too far away. Then that wolf of yours grabbed me and pulled me down. He’d already spotted those bastards tracking you. We went round the back, ambushed them.’
‘I heard,’ I said, running a hand down the pony’s neck as he turned his head, his eyes wide at Pablo. ‘I still don’t get how you killed three of them.’
A dark snarl rumbled through Pablo, and the pony whickered, tugging back on his halter.
‘Pablo,’ I hissed.
‘No,’ Matthias said, his voice barely a whisper, his hand flying to the hilt of the sword at his hip. Crouching, he stared between the trees. I squinted towards the blurry trunks, shadows darting in between each time I blinked.
‘What is it? Ifan?’ I whispered, but Matthias shook his head. The firm line of his jaw warned me he didn’t suspect our friends to be out there either.
I ran my fingers through the tangles on Pab’s shoulders, a growl vibrating through him as he took a few steps back. The pony whickered again, tugging on his halter, but still I couldn’t see anything other than the graveyard of decaying trees. The only movement from Matthias was his thumb’s constant tracing of my spiking pulse.
A twig crackled. A boot stamped. I whipped my head to the side. Pab took trembling steps to block me from whatever was approaching.
‘A diafol?’ I whispered, sweat beading on the back of my neck at the sight of the taut muscles in Matthias’s jaw as he shook his head, his eyes still staring ahead.
There it was. The unmistakable tramping of boots, the eerie creak of the dead branches, the occasional cough as an army encircled us.
My heart hammered as the hazy forms moved towards us, the way a hunter homes in on their prey: the glint of raised swords; the stretch of nocked arrows. I gripped Matthias’s hand with my trembling fingers.
‘I don’t suppose they’re ours?’
He shook his head slightly. ‘The’ – he swallowed thickly; his fear flooded me – ‘The Alliance. It’s The Alliance.’
He cleared his throat and turned to me, desperation sweeping across his features.
‘Asmar!’ The sound of his name being bellowed killed the light in his eyes, and I grasped his hand tighter.
‘It’s you,’ he whispered as I fought down a sob. ‘It’s always you, Sorrow Villente. Always has been. Always will be.’
Danté shouted his name again, and I wanted nothing more than to raise every beast and run the bastard through.
‘You got my name wrong,’ I whispered back, the words catching in my dry mouth. He raised a brow and, for a second, the ghost of a smile touched his face. ‘I’m Elmswood, Matthias. I’m yours.’
He clung to my fingers, as though I were an anchor tethering him from disappearing under the waves.
‘Drop that sword and call off the damned wolf.’
A shiver ran through me as I became aware of the extent of the battalion surrounding us.
‘I’ve got at least fifty of the former Alliance’s finest archers ready to let their arrows fly…unless you surrender.’
Matthias barked out a desperate laugh.
