Some drunk warlocks on the other side of the world were boasting about recently torturing a girl in great detail. The part that caught my attention was about the girl’s Divine. A gold fog capable of melting the bones off someone.
There’s only one girl I know who matches that description.
Once my Warriorhead pinpointed the exact location, I had my strongest warrior ready within the hour, set to attack at midnight.
The Crescent Moon Covenwas a menace. Wherever they went, anarchy followed.
The dark queen Visha famously stayed out of my way, but there were times I wanted to grab her by the skull and invade her mind to figure out what she was plotting. Something about her knowing smirk always made my skin crawl.
Between searching for my missing Horsemen and overseeing three large kingdoms, I barely had time to breathe, let alone start a war with a coven because their queen was acting shady.
The coven was high on our list of suspects for kidnapping Nevaeh and Harvey, but they kept magically relocating every couple of months with zero traces left behind. And after a while, it got impossible to infiltrate them with spies or even breach their force field without starting an interspecies war.
But tonight, I didn’t hesitate to break through the barrier because we finally had some solid intel. Within four hours, my troops had assassinated every high-ranking warrior, but Visha must’ve caught wind of our plan because she was gone long before our boots even hit her grounds.
I couldn’t waste time chasing the witch because my priority was to find my Horsemen and get them home safely.
But the moment I stepped inside the dungeon, my heart nearly dropped to my feet. As far as I could see, dead bodies littered the floor—some fresh, some old enough to have started decaying.
We also found half a dozen Deviants near the exit, sprawled in the dirt. A few were burned to a crisp, and others were brutally slaughtered.
I didn’t need any proof. I just knew it was her.Nevaeh.
She had somehow managed to escape on her own, and Fates, our future Horsewoman of Death wasvicious.
Hazel, my Warriorhead and our Bookkeeper,Grace, volunteered to secure the southern border while Seiji and I tore through the forest, hoping that Nevaeh and Harvey hadn’t gone too far. We had come too far to leave without them.
As if the lingering panic I hadn’t been able to shake since last night wasn’t enough, my Divine started acting like an unyielding brat the second I crossed into coven territory.
As much as I wanted to understand the sudden shift, I was knee-deep in prepping for the attack and making sure no stone was left unturned.
Seiji and I were frantically combing through the woods when we stumbled upon a set of bloody footprints. I was so focused on where they led that I never stopped to think why there was only one set of prints.
I thought the worst-case scenario would be returning home with two dead bodies and facing a heartbroken father. But finding his injured daughter clinging to a blood-soaked child yet still fighting her mightiest wasn’t something I could’ve prepared for.
On the verge of death, cloaked with her fading essence, there she stood. Balanced on bruised, bare feet, Nevaeh drove her spear with deadly precision that lit my nerves on fire.
The dull gold in her eyes was spellbinding. I would’ve stood there in awe of her if it wasn’t for Seiji crashing into my back, reminding me I was there to help, not gawk.
I glance down at the frail girl in my arms. Nevaeh blacked out the second she wasn’t responsible for carrying her own weight.
My breath catches in my throat when my arm brushes over another cut on her back. The bruises on her arms are older, butthe gashes across her back, forehead, and thighs are still fresh and bleed every time she moves to hide from the sharp bite of cold air.
The thin material of her dress—if you could even call it that—is soaked in blood. I pull the shivering girl closer and silently pray to the Fates to ease her pain until I can get her to safety and call a healer to help her.
Tracing every scar on her body, I have to suppress the reckless urge to burn the coven to ashes. I don’t want the flames to touch Nevaeh.
I’m not surprised that I already feel so protective of her. She is one of us, after all. But the surge of possessiveness building a home inside my chest is… odd.
As we follow the planned escape route, I send my Divine forward to weave a barrier of fabricated reality, veiling our presence. The illusion cloaks our scent and sound, throwing off anyone who tries to follow our trail. Anyone outside the transparent hexagon bubble will see and hear nothing but greenery and wildlife.
“Oh, come on, Anxo, yellow would look perfect!” Seiji whines, destroying my train of thought.
He spins around with the kid in his arms and starts walking backward. As if he knows I’m about to snap at him for not being careful, he apologizes and turns back to fall in step beside me.
“No.”
“Ugh, fine. What about purple?”
