He barely felt it, rage driving him. He lassoed the bastard with a sizzling rope of his power and flung him in the air. An agonized screech ripped free from the fucker. He grabbed the skinny one with the mole, slamming his skull against the wall again.
“Talk. Or, I will rip you open. You will live through eternity in agony. Death will only be a dream.”
Skinny whined, “She, she’s—”
“Shut the fuck up, Alcoy!” Stocky rasped. “What do you thinkhewilldo to us once you open your mouth?”
He meant the fucking sorcerer.
Fury razed Aerén’s mind like wildfire, demanding justice. He turned up his roiling power. Groans of agony escaped the bastard suspended in the air.
“Where’s the sorcerer?”
“In another place,” Skinny said. “I don’t know if he stays there. We cannot go close to his abode.”
A flick of his hand, and lightning roped thecaeniaround the neck. Aerén flung him up in the air opposite his pal. “Death will never be yours!”
He dematerialized and continued through the fallen debris. At the sound of rubble falling, he shot toward the noise then faltered. Hastily, he reformed in the scattering dust.
His warriors’ startled gasps echoed, and his own jammed in his throat as the dust cleared.
A massive white serpent blocked them, filling the tunnel. It shimmered in the gloom like the stars it was said to be created from.
“The Auras?” Thiorr rasped.
“Aye, the world’s serpent,” Taegér murmured. “Made from the stars and the essence of the original Ouroboros. So the tale goes.”
“She told me, and I said our serpents were extinct.” Aerén stared at the supposed myth. “I didn’t realize…”
The Auras’ coils slithered and slipped, revealing a dark head protected in its loops.
“Leya?” Aerén stepped forward, and the snake hissed a warning, its eerie eyes tracking every move they made. One misstep, and they’d all be dust.Dammit. “I am her mate. She’s the one who gave you form,” he reminded it. And hoped to the stars the creature would allow him close. “She needs me.”
It hissed at him again, its long, forked tongue flickering, whether tasting the dusty air for his truth or in displeasure, Aerén didn’t know. He remained still. Didn’t react or shout out his frustration.
Then the enormous, thick coils undulated and lowered slowly.
Aerén reached for Leya. Blood leaked from the wound on the side of her brow, matting her black hair. Tears had left tracks on her dust-covered face. Bruises and specks of blood littered her skin. His gaze lowered, and he staggered, falling to his knees at the sight of the arrow sticking out of her chest.
His eyes blurred as he put a hand on the arrow. A burn stung his palm—fuck! Another wretched cursed weapon. Her heart still beat, but it was so faint.
Stay with me, me’morae. Our mages will aid you.
Carefully, he scooped her into his arms and rose.
Shuffling feet and grunts had him turning. A group of rebels lumbered along, bound by a shadowy black rope, dirt stuffed into their mouths. Then the shadows lifted and swirled, and Drav’n took form.
“Found a gateway to some kind of dwellings and lands, and thesecaenisscurrying off.” He kept them lassoed with an extension of his shadowy arm.
“Leave them here bound. How do we get out of this place without using the sea portal? I can’t take her underwater like this, she’s human. Nor can I dematerialize us with this arrow in her. It’ll kill her.”
“Allow me.” Taegér cautiously stepped past the enormous Auras watching them.
The Darkrean’s gaze lowered to Leya’s bloodied face. His mouth thinned…then they were moving, without walking or taking a step. A mammoth bubble encased them all, sliding them out of the cave and into the nearby undulating dark waters.
Back at the cave front, the Auras, which had followed them, shimmered and vanished.
“Slow down!” The rage rampant within him boiled close to the surface. He set Leya in Thiorr’s arms and faced the bubble wall, hands outstretched, power rippling through him.
