“Vara!” Arthur cried. He rushed forward to embrace his mate, weeping tears of relief. Vara hugged him back, clutching her stomach. She was heavily pregnant now with their twins.
“Fin!” Amantha screetched his name as she tore across the length of the hall to throw herself on him. He squeezed her tight and rocked her back and forth, muttering something in Gaelic.
Jasper rose from his seat, grasping Ozzie’s hand. “About time you showed up.”
“Yeah!” Ozzie said. “I thought we’d be waiting down hereforever.”
I could hardly believe it. We’d found Vara, Amantha, Ozzie and Jasper, and what was more, all of them were alive. They were filthy, covered in cuts and dried blood with clothes that looked near rags, but they’d survived the collapse.
“It’s good to see all of you made it,” I said with a sigh of relief. “But how?”
“When Gabby’s troops infiltrated the city, we knew we’d never get out, so we decided to hide,” Jasper said. “Vara had the idea to go to the Hall of Wonders, and it was a good thing she did. Once Droga destroyed the palace, the Hall turned into a bomb shelter, and the magic that Lady Magdalina used to built it made the illusion real. It protected us from the building caving in.”
It didn’t get past me that Vara had made the suggestion to hide in the Hall of Wonders. It’s like sheknewthe attack was coming, but I held my tongue… for now.
“How did you make it this long?” Finlay asked, squeezing Amantha to his side.
“We’ve been sneaking out every so often to gather food and water,” Amantha said.
“When we came back we put things over the staircase, so no one realized it was there,” Ozzie said. “That wasmyidea.”
“Jasper has been using the radio to try and get in contact with someone, or at least to find out what’s going on out there,” Vara said. “The only broadcast we could tune in to was one run by Gabby’s supporters.”
“I can’t imagine they’ve been saying kind things,” I said sarcastically.
“No.” Vara shook her head. “The broadcast has been repeating for days that you and Emma are both dead and Gabby’s the last rightful ruler of the Arcanea. We feared they were right and you were all gone.”
“But we had hope that you weren’t, when she failed to display the bodies,” Jasper added. “It’s the only thing that kept us going.”
“Did the broadcast say if Droga has undergone the ritual to turn Gabby into a goddess?” I asked.
We’d been worrying about that for weeks. We had no sort of intelligence anymore. We couldn’t spy on what Gabby or Droga were doing.
“They didn’t say anything of the sort,” Vara said. “Though that doesn’t mean it hasn’t happened.”
“Has the broadcast mentioned what they’re planning on doing next?” I asked.
“We don’t know what he’s up to. Things have been quiet since they took over,” Jasper said.
“I mean, whatisthere left to do anymore?” Ozzie said with a shrug. “They won the war. What more do they want?”
“Droga always wants more,” Vara said, haunted. “He’s just enjoying his time back in the mortal realm after being trapped for so long, ordering fae around and consuming their souls. Once he gets bored, he’ll start conquering again.”
“Why didn’t you try to escape the city?” Finlay asked.
“We thought about leaving, but weren’t sure where everyone had gone.” Amantha dropped her gaze. “None of us are strong enough to create portals like the rest of you.”
“Doesn’t matter now. We’re together, let’s make a portal and go,” Finlay said roughly. He hadn’t removed his arm from around Amantha’s shoulders since we’d gotten here.
“Portals won’t work inside city walls. Droga’s put a ward around Dolinska to prevent them,” Amantha said. “Another reason why we couldn’t leave. We agreed that it’d be better to wait for a rescue instead of trying to get out of the city ourselves, but so much time passed, and no one showed up…”
Tears marred her gaze, and guilt sucked me inward. We’d been recovering in Ireland, but the four of them had been barely surviving out here for the past month. Weeks had gone by with no sign of us returning. I wish we’d come sooner, no matter how dangerous it had been.
“I’m sorry we took so long,” Arthur apologized. “Gabby’s troops surrounded the perimeter of the city until just a few days ago. We weren’t able to break through the line without getting caught.”
“It doesn’t matter. I always knew you’d come,” Vara insisted, and she kissed Arthur. “You wouldn’t leave me or your babies behind.”
“We portaled in outside of Dolinska. Looks like we’ll have to make it back to the woods if we want to escape,” I noted.
