Page 145 of Wraithwound

And Lena realized what it meant. Wraiths were a ruthless and brutal species, but she’d given Lena a gift. Armor. Exactly what she could expect from a warrior.

“You would be welcome in Oscurra any time, Lena,” Draven said, reaching for Runa.

And she didn’t know why, but her heart lit up a little when he said that. Despite everything, she knew she’d like to see them again someday.

“Call me ‘Alina,’” she said.

With that, Runa nodded and disappeared into the cloud with Draven.

When the black cloud had drifted down the mountain out of sight, Lena turned to look at her friends who were all staring past her. She registered the looks on their faces—horror, surprise, and curiosity—before turning to follow their gaze.

“Wha—” Lena started, but then she located several portals that had opened in the area around them.

She didn’t recognize most of them, but one stood out instantly. The city square in Enora. Just inside was a large crowd of people who had gathered and were gaping at Lena. Likely due to what they’d witnessed. But before she could do or say anything, the portal disappeared.

Chapter

Eighty-One

Lena learned they were in a remote part of the Slate Mountains. Not as high up as Laney’s village, but an area still cold enough to make their bones shiver and teeth chatter. On the trek down, Lena had fared better than the others although the reason for it still managed to unsettle her. She’d let Riley and Taya share her cloak, the two women holding each other close as they walked.

Taryk had fussed around Laney, trying to ensure she was warm. But Lena could have sworn it was Laney who was keeping Taryk warm when they stopped to rest, having been born in the bitter cold herself. She overheard the soulbound telling Laney about his cat and how Wyn reminded him of it. Laney laughed as he shared a story of how Mica once set a mouse on his chest while he’d been asleep. Apparently, Taryk was not a fan of mice.

Lena remembered how he’d seemed hopeful when she told him the eleuth liked him well enough, and her heart squeezed a little at the absurdity of it all.

After hours of walking, they’d been aided by a tear that opened about a half a day’s trek down the mountain and led to a spot only several miles from the entry gate to the Tower of Two Worlds.

Taryk dragged a barely breathing Kol behind them after having found the Aurynn half buried beneath a pack of mutilated monsters. Without Draven inside of him, he more closely resembled a human although some of his features remained distorted. Taya was adamant about getting him back to The Whispers, suggesting he likely had important information about Malnik and where he might have retreated to.

While that was likely true, Lena suspected the General would enjoy extracting that information, especially after what he had done to Riley. And to so many others.

None of them spoke about what had happened on the mountain, but she knew the time for that would come.

The ride back to The Whispers was a watercolor of sickly grey light that drenched the familiar terrain. Bright stars and planets were still visible in the sky, although from what Lena could tell, they’d stopped growing closer. She suspected Runa and Draven had been correct when they theorized the strange phenomenon would abate as the Goddess’s power returned. Lena had tried to find Kharon, but Taryk told her the beast took off the moment Cross was pushed through the portal.

By the time they made it back to The Whispers, Lena had lost track of time. Dauen tended to their wounds with the help of apprentices he’d been training. She thought about Cross and Henry every day, unable to get Cross’s stricken face out of her mind, even knowing that Runa and Draven sent Henry after him. Henry was alive and free, back on his home planet where he belonged. When she thought about it, she realized the Goddess had said as much. She longed to see them both again.

Riley had come to her room after several days to see how she was doing. The spy’s wounds had healed nicely although she still looked exhausted, her eyes haunted. Today, she and Jade had come to inform Lena about the rumors that had spread all throughout Reimar.

Apparently, Vince told anyone who was willing to listen about a woman who could command infected beasts, “a demon who wore the skin of a young woman.” What the citizens of Enora had witnessed through the portal only served to fuel those rumors. But while there were reports of fear and suspicion about her throughout the land, the rumors had also served an unintended purpose. A growing number of people had set out to look for Lena, in hopes she could provide information about their missing loved ones.

“They’re calling you the Lady of Monsters,” Jade said, a hint of laughter in her eyes.

“Well, I guess that’s better than demon bitch,” Lena joked.

She had yet to visit the underground cells to see if she could cure any of the others who were being held there, but she secretly hoped she could. She’d decided the first person she would visit after she fought off the exhaustion that had settled over her would be Lily, the little girl she’d met on her first day there.

Taryk had also come to her room after several days. Initially, he and Wyn had glared at each other, but then he knelt and tentatively extended a hand. Lena’s eyebrows shot up and she gave him a look, as if to say, “Your funeral if she doesn’t accept.”

To Lena’s surprise, Wyn inched forward and bumped her nose into his open palm. The look of surprise on Taryk’s face was enough to make her laugh.

But the heartwarming moment freed a memory in her mind. Something Draven told her: You can metabolize darkness—our magic, the way you did with Laney. And she remembered the odd comment Riley had made about Wyn liking the feel of leather. Lena held her hands out before her, her mouth falling open. Understanding struck her like a lightning bolt descending from the sky. Wyn had known Lena could extract wraith magic. If Wyn allowed Lena to touch her with bare hands, she would take away Wyn’s ability to shift, something the creature had accepted as part of herself. Lena looked up at the eleuth, who dropped her gaze to Lena’s hands and then back to Lena before she squawked and ran out of the room.

Taryk had avoided any major injuries during the confrontation with Kol and instead spent his time in The Whispers helping in the kitchens. Apparently, he loved to cook. Lena couldn’t imagine the large warrior taking instruction well, but then Laney brought her a flakey wildberry pastry from that morning’s prep, and she decided the soldier had missed his calling.

She found out later he’d also dispatched letters to the other soulbounds informing them of Malnik’s intentions and warning them about his powers and abilities, although it was unlikely they could do much as they were still bound to him.

Taryk told Lena of the secret tasks required of them and what he’d come to learn about Malnik after the fact. Apparently, Taryk been tasked with leading Cross into an ambush with the infected beast in the forest. His totem had read: At the junction of man and ursid beast, the role you've taken will be released.