“Asmo,” I whisper.
He turns his head back to me and I motion to the left, into the forest. He shifts to stand in front of me and pauses, trying to hear what I heard for himself. Another groan comes, but this time it’s louder. I know Asmo heard this one. He grimaces, then slowly makes his way toward it.
We navigate between the trees quickly but carefully, trying not to make any sound as we approach.
There’s a break in the trees, and we finally see Marik. He’s sitting up, his arms tied behind him and around a tree trunk. Blood flows from his temple, and his head is tilted to the side. I step forward to go to him, but Asmo puts an arm out and stops me. He’s looking at me, eyes wide. I imagine him saying something snarky, and I mouth, “Sorry.”
His dark eyes roam the space, searching for any signs of the cambion.
We don’t see any, but it’s dark, and they could be hiding behind any of the trees. I perk my ears, but I don’t hear them. To be fair, the little girl moved silently through the halls of the castle, too, so that doesn’t mean they’re not here, waiting to attack.
As if on cue, a high-pitched voice whispers, “Pretty, pretty High Queen, come to rescue her High King.”
“Can she save him? Will she dare?” another voice whispers from the opposite direction.
I freeze, feeling the fear return tenfold. Beside me, Asmo pulls me to him, wrapping an arm around me so that I’m standing in front of him, protected by his arms. He whispers softly into my ear, “There are only two. Go free Marik, and I’ll protect you. They’ll come for you as soon as you’re away from me, but I need to see them so I can kill them.”
I look at him, and he says, “Go. I’ve got you, Mae.”
I nod, mustering up the courage to leave his arms. Before I can change my mind, I dart away from him and run toward Marik. The second I do, high-pitched screaming cuts through the night air. A cambion comes running for me. This one is a little boy. His hollowed-out eyes are locked on me, his arms outstretched. Before he can reach me, Asmo jumps from the shadows, embedding his dagger into the boy’s temple.
I shake the panic away and run to Marik. He’s still passed out, his head lolling to one side, blood flowing down his temple.
“Marik,” I whisper. No response.
I use the knife Asmo gave me and saw through the ropes tying his hands. Once I sever them, I focus on breaking the ropes, tying him to the tree. I hear another high-pitched shriek and look back to Asmo. He blasts a ball of fire toward the cambion, but it dodges it quickly. It sees me looking at him, and he changes his course, running toward me now instead of Asmo.
“Fuck’s sake,” Asmo mutters before the cambion’s head is severed from his body by Asmo’s magic.
“You didn’t tell me not to look at it!” I whisper-shout.
He motions toward Marik, still slumped over. “Hurry up. We need to go.”
I finish cutting the rope and then look at Asmo. “He’s passed out. Can you carry him?”
He doesn’t answer as he picks Marik up and tosses him over his shoulder.
“Let’s go,” he says, leading us out of this Mother-forsaken area. I follow him through the forest, and we hurry back to the castle. Since my hearing is better, I take the rear, listening for any signs of anything following us. Elle and Luca are standing at the front doors of the castle in a heated discussion. Elle is motioning to the forest, Luca trying to calm her down, placing his hands on her shoulders.
“Elle!” I shout.
Her head whips toward us, and she breaks into a sprint, her eyes frenzied as she assesses us.
“Mae! Are you okay?” Her eyes rove over every inch of my body, snagging on the burn on my arm.
“I’m okay,” I say, trying to assure her. “What the hell happened?”
Luca walks over to us, his demeanor more serious than usual. “You’re okay?” he asks me.
“Yes.Will someone please tell me what happened?” I ask, feeling exasperated.
Luca shakes his head. “We were hoping you’d tell us.”
“Koa told us that you fell asleep in the library. He woke up and couldn’t find you. He went looking and found the front doors wide open. He found Luca and Ivan right away. He and Ivan are looking for you now on the grounds.”
“Elle, can you send for a healer? We need to get him looked at,” I say, gesturing toward Marik.
“And preferably a bed or a couch so I can lay him down,” Asmo says. “He may not look it, but he’s heavy.”
