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“No! I need to help Marian!” I scream, struggling against his iron grip.

He tosses me over his shoulder.

“She is dead my Queen, I am sorry, but she died the moment she hit the ground. I heard her heart stop,” Pluto says as he takes off in a run, heading for the cover of the forest and away from the city and the castle.

“No, I can help her, stop, put me down!” I scream, tears pouring from my eyes as I thrash on his shoulder.

“I need to get you out of here, get you and your baby to safety,” he says, refusing to let me go as he runs.

The scenery around me blurs black, air rushing past at his intense speed.

Wooziness takes over from the motion.

Suddenly, I am placed on my feet, the frozen ground beneath me.

Pluto bites into his wrist, offering it to me.

“Your mates won’t like it. If that wound doesn’t stop bleeding, you may lose that arm. Please, my Queen,” he says, thrusting his wrist toward me.

I refuse.

He wraps an arm around my waist, pressing his wrist to my lips, forcing his blood down my throat.

Instantly, my shoulder heals where the beast’s teeth sank in. The claw marks down my back disappear.

I rip his hand away.

Pluto steps back, watching me.

“I’m sorry. At least my scent will mask you for a bit,” he says, grabbing my wrist, pulling me into the trees.

“We need to go back, we can’t just leave,” I tell him as he continues pulling me, dragging me through the forest.

“I’m sorry but I can’t risk it, I promised your mate, I would keep you safe and that’s what I intend to do.”

I feel my magic surge. I wasn’t leaving them behind before it suddenly died out, fizzled out like water to a flame. I stare at my hands, trying to figure out why I suddenly had no magic.

“Your magic is weak because you got injured, don’t worry my Queen it will come back when it recharges.”

“Recharges?”

“Yes, you are Fae, a creature of light, it is now dark,” he says.

“What?” I ask, confused.

“You still have magic, but you have exerted yourself, kind of like what Marian did, usually your magic would be infinite, but you exerted yourself each time you got hurt, your magic was not only protecting you but the baby you carry in your womb. At the moment, it’s left to you to protect your little one. You have taken a few blows, yet your baby’s heartbeat is strong, yours erratic. Didn’t you know when a Fae is pregnant, its magic is shared to protect their young?”

I shake my head, I didn’t know that but that would explain why every time I got hurt I could feel my magic flickering. It wasn’t cutting it out, it was diverting it to protect my child.

We stop, hiding amongst the trees, as Pluto tells me to sit on a log. I do, my entire body shivering from the cold and my own shock. Marian is dead, she died and yet it doesn’t feel real, like a nightmare I just hoped I could wake from. Abigail is on my mind as Marian’s words echo in my head. They went off to get Claire. I feel stupid sitting here and hiding amongst the forest while a war is breaking out at home.

I can feel their pain pulsing through me. Dragus is injured, that much I knew for sure because he was on the ground. Silas and Matitus are burnt and I feel my skin is burned too, but nothing compared to the ache in my heart. The pain of so many lives lost all because of my blood and Aldrin’s. Being Fae is everything magical, and terrible, truly a curse for anyone forced to be around us.

The screams start to die down, Pluto is watching with eagle eyes as he looks back on our burning city. I hear the sound of wings in the air, wishing I could use mine, even just to fly up and see, to make sure they are okay, yet I can’t feel anything, can’t feel my magic. I feel as bare as the day I was brought to the castle.

The sounds of wings up above makes me look up. I see a black shadow fly above us, my mind goes to Matitus and his black Dragon. ”Matitus,” I breathe running for the clearing we just ran through, Pluto screams at me to stop and I realize my mistake. I assumed it was Matitus or Silas, I thought they were the only ones that could fly, thought the black shadow was my mate. But it’s not Matitus. Instead, I see the dark green beast above me, I freeze spinning on my heel, rushing back toward the tree line, Pluto runs toward me, how is it possible, that’s when I see him. The man from outside the borders sitting atop the Dragon my blood had healed him in the courtyard.

Its talons wrap around my body, lifting me off the ground.