Lucky for me, so have I. Grabbing him with my shadows, my eyessubmerge black, as I snap his neck, his body crumpling under my boots.
The second guard stands, ready to face me down as I raise my sword. My shadows wrap around me like an old hug.
Then, a sword plunges through his chest. A wet ripping sound rings through the dungeon as it’s removed with sure hands. The guard falls to his left, over the banister, to the stone floor with his friend.
Behind where he stood, Zeke glares lightly at me. “You’re late.”
I can’t help but roll my eyes. “I found the information we needed.” I help Baris up the remaining stairs, entrusting Drayn and Henrik to hold him steady. “Meet our informant, Baris.”
Valiantly, Zeke bows his head, lips frowning. “You remind me of someone?—”
“He’s Max’s father,” I interject, climbing the rest of the stairs. “And if you don’t mind, I’d really rather get back to my mate.” Anxiety claws at my throat though I keep it from showing on my face.
Years of wearing a mask and it’s finally helping. I need to get back to Max, more so now than before.
We shuffle out the dungeon door, scanning the halls before we leave.
“Mate?” he grumbles, throat dry. “You claimed my daughter?”
“It was needed.”
“He did it during a battle,” Zeke remarks, ignoring my glare. “She tried to kill him for it.”
Baris laughs, though it turns into a dry, rustling cough. We halt at a corner, allowing guards to do their rounds before crossing the section back to the stone exit.
“She’s just like her mother,” he recalls fondly. Once we’re outside, we wait in the shadows for the final walkthrough of patrols to pass us by. “We need to get back to her. She’s in danger.”
Quicker than I can blink, Zeke has a dagger to the old man’sthroat, holding him by his ratty clothes. “What danger is going to hurt our future queen?”
Warmth swells in my chest but I focus on the man. “What do you know?”
“I know,” he gasps, talking around the blade, “that if you don’t get home soon enough, your father will kill her. And the world cannot lose her before she’s completed her destiny. She’stooimportant.”
Destiny? “I will not lose Max,” I growl, grabbing Zeke before he can kill the man. “You ride with me.” The horses should get us back within the day if we push through the night.
If I find any patrols, I’ll slaughter them. Nothing will keep me from Max.
As a unit, we dash into the forest, ignoring the shouts from the nearby camp and ease to where the horses wait. My mind is muddled as I pull toward the essence I know is her. It’s a silky tangle of emotions that feels like life, coursing inside my mind with blinding intensity.
It’s always there, a humming, that connects me to her. I’ve felt it since the claim tethered us together, but it’s never been accessible. Not until recently.
It must have opened when she opened herself to me—to the bond.
When I tug on it, my body jolts and the faintest shimmer of her image fizzles into my mind. There is a slight panic, an ebbing worry that radiates out but she seems unharmed.For now.
Grabbing the Human, I pull the reigns, keeping Max’s soul tucked close to mine, monitoring her from this distance. It eases the furious worry rising in my throat, cutting off all air. She’s in danger and I push my horse to ride through the night.
I won’t let anything happen to her. If it does, the world will burn.
Chapter
Thirty-Two
MAX
Asound alerts me to someone in my bed chamber and I withdraw a dagger from my pillow, flipping it, over as a hand grabs my shoulder.
The blade glints in the low lightening, going to his throat as he shouts a warning.
