His eyes shot open, a pale, greyish-blue in his ashen face.
“Eat it!” she hissed under her breath.
The root was sweet and moist. She tried not to groan as it triggered her saliva. She swallowed gratefully, finding it settled the constant nausea that plagued her.
Tawne mirrored her movements.
Diamond glanced at Attion, who nodded encouragingly.
Thank you, she mouthed back.
Attion merely nodded and closed his eyes as if resting. Amazingly, more of the little shoots appeared through the dust between her and Tawne.
Diamond wanted to talk to Attion. What he was doing was amazing. She glanced at him again. He had kept his wings tucked into his back, folding them inside his skin and hiding them these past weeks. The part she could see gleamed with yellow feathers but it was difficult to know if that was truly his wing colour anymore. His eyes, once brown, were now a deep emerald colour.
She pulled at her manacles again. The loss of her mate and her own magic had left her bereft, but that didn’t mean she would give up. The echo of Hugo’s pain was always there, seated deep inside her but she had learned to suppress it—until night-time, when her defences were at their lowest ebb.
Despite his own weakness, Tawne often shook her awake when nightmares of armoured monsters threatened to swallow her whole.
Diamond hadn’t been that shocked to discover who he was. Hugo had told her of the huge wolf shifter who had once been his friend. Hugo had believed him dead, killed by Griana along with Amy, Hugo’s first love. Most nights, she and Tawne had spoken quietly through the darkest hours until sleep eventually dragged them under.
He had told her how he came to be in Catava and then this forest. It seemed Erzion had saved Tawne—and Amy—after he found out what Griana had ordered her guards to do. He had stolen Tawne’s blood phial, casting a spell upon Ream to alter his memory and make the Lord Commander think he had killed Tawne.
Tawne had served the Red Wizard since.
Hugo had no idea his friends still lived. Her stomach flipped at the thought. Much as she respected the Red Wizard, she was having a hard time reconciling his failure to get Hugo out of his cruel existence with the fact that he’d saved Hugo’s friends. She hadn’t asked where Amy was or if she still lived in Catava. Jealousy sparked in her belly at the thought that Hugo and Amy could have met again. Still, it made little difference now. Hugo was gone.
Tawne ripped more of the sweet shoots from the ground and chewed hungrily, then held some out to her.
She shook her head, her appetite gone as pain burned through her thigh. Hugo’s soul was being tortured again. Diamond rubbed at her leg, closing her eyes. Her shoulders slumped forward, her eyes burning. It was fruitless to wish she could help him—that she could set him free of the torture Griana and Erebos had forced upon him. If she hadn’t insisted on seeing Jack, they wouldn’t be in this mess; they would have been fighting together, alongside the First Legion.
Diamond swallowed hard, knowing her love’s death was her fault.
Tawne insistently pushed shoots into her hand. His wolf shone through his eyes, its dominance showing.
“He would not want you to starve. Do not let grief or guilt swallow your heart, my queen. I saw from afar what that torturous night with Amy did to Hugo. Griana manipulated him well. He does not know Lord Riddeon saved me and Amy. We always intended to tell him but opportunity can be a wily beast. These past years, not a day goes by where I do not wish our lives could have been different. Please, don’t let grief turn you into a shell of the person he loved.”
Diamond swallowed and nodded. This time she took the root he offered.
“Why didn’t Erzion get him out too?” Diamond asked tightly, voicing the question that had been on her mind since meeting Tawne.
Tawne sighed. “He wanted to, but Hugo’s blood phial is kept separately from the rest of the elite guards’. Griana always knew who and what he was, so she kept his blood in a secret place. Hugo was also an extremely powerful warrior. The only way she could control him was to manipulate his heart and mind and sometimes use spells which contained his blood. She erased any purpose to his life other than serving her. She took away everyone who meant anything to him. Lord Riddeon managed to recruit Tallo to our cause soon after seeing him train Hugo as a young boy.” He smiled a little. “I remember that day so well. We were in the training grounds at the barracks and Lord Riddeon had come to address the new warrior recruits. I have never seen anyone look so shocked as he did when he laid eyes upon Hugo.”
“But why didn’t Erzion eventually tell Hugo he had friends, people who could help him escape?”
Tawne eyed her, sadness in his eyes. “Because my lord couldn’t risk Hugo not being receptive to his true heritage. He feared Hugo betraying him, maybe even Catava, to Griana. By the time my lord found out where Griana kept Hugo’s blood phial, Hugo was in the forest with Jack, hunting down the Seekers. When Hugo returned to Valentia with you—well,” he huffed a laugh. “Let’s just say you were a surprise that completely threw the Red Wizard. He wanted to free you both from Griana’s clutches, but he believed that together you could beat the Wraith Lord, so he had to cool his heels and wait. Instead, he assigned his son to protect and serve you both.”
Diamond stared at Tawne’s face. “What really happened to Amy?” she asked tightly.
In the dullness Tawne’s eyes glowed a little. “Lord Riddeon tracked Hugo and Amy to the crystal cave, but Hugo had already left her to find food and medicine. My lord brought her to Catava.” He paused and sighed heavily. “She works in the apothecary in the healers section. I—err—well, let’s just say she has problems being around other people. She prefers her own company.”
“Oh.” Diamond didn’t know what else to say. In truth, she didn’t really want to think about Amy or what her life had been like since that night; it brought her too many thoughts of Rose.
Pulling the rest of the green shoots from the ground, she handed half over to Tawne, then glanced over at Attion and Otekah. There was just enough light to see them.
Attion appeared to be the only warrior in his group. The other fae prisoners had the dull yellow feathers or pearlescent wings of ordinary fae. None seemed inclined to fight their bonds. Their faces were etched with grief and despair and a deep hopelessness lay heavy on their emaciated shoulders.
Attion and Otekah had been the last to be captured. They were secured at the end of the chain of prisoners. At first, Attion had yanked at the shackles on his ankles and wrists, over and over, until his skin was raw and his blisters bleeding. After a time, he had realised the futility of those actions. He had stopped fighting the iron and instead found a way to heal his skin and wounds.
Diamond caught his eye and held up the shoots. Enough. Thank you, she mouthed.
Attion nodded and leaned over his knees, dropping his head on his arms.
Otekah had done the opposite of fight. A dark, accepting air had befallen him. It hurt Diamond’s heart to know Otekah had endured such a loss of freedom before. Perhaps this captivity brought back painful memories of his daughter.
She willed him not to give up.
Tawne was right, Hugo would not want her to give up either. There had to be a way out of this, and she would find it.
Concentrating on blocking the pain in her thigh, Diamond sat back. Stones and dried up grass dug through her clothes and into her skin. The Dust Devils did not pay her any attention, they just stood staring into the darkness, swaying like trees. She closed her eyes, ignoring their presence. It was like a balm to her soul to remember the most precious night of her life, to recall the way Hugo’s skin felt beneath her touch, to remember each touch of his lips against her body. The pain in her thigh receded to nothing—even the grief in her heart lessened. As she drifted into that strange place between awake and asleep, Diamond could have sworn she heard his voice whisper her name.
Chapter 23
“Get up!” bellowed a Battle Imp, ki
cking her feet.
Within seconds, all the prisoners were yanked to their feet. Tawne swayed, his skin covered in a fine sheen of sweat, his face paler than she had ever seen it.
Her eyes met Attion’s, who scowled and snarled at his captors. They merely laughed at his efforts. The chains were pulled, and they were all forced to stagger along. It was a slow and arduous trek across the dusty plain.
When they reached the outer ruins of the city, the Dust Devils swirled into columns and joined the seething mass of monstrous creatures congregated at its gates.
Diamond’s heart grew heavy. Stormguaard had clearly once been a majestic city with tall sandstone buildings, domed temples and wide streets. It now lay in ruin, utterly destroyed, just piles of rubble where homes and market places would once have thrived.
Jack’s heart will break if he ever sees his home so broken.
Tawne swore and, though he had told her his feet did not suffer because of his wolf, he was clearly struggling to walk on the sharp stones underfoot.
Diamond bit her lip, wanting to help but knowing she could do nothing. The Battle Imps marched them up the gently sloping streets and in through the splintered castle gates.
Heavily armed Battle Imps guarded the enormous archway, glaring and snarling at the prisoners being dragged past them.
They passed beneath the twisted remains of a portcullis, the stone around it smashed and cracked. Diamond gaped upward. She had never seen such a structure before. No matter its strength, it had not been enough to stop the giants who had battered their way into the castle.
They exited the archway into the bailey. Her stomach plummeted. Inside the castle walls were hundreds of starving, dirty prisoners. All were chained and kneeling on ground that was strewn with rubble and debris. The stench of fear and excrement was overwhelming. No matter how strong she had told herself to be, a kernel of fear took root in her belly.
Her group was cruelly yanked along, then forced to kneel in the only space left—near the gates. Horror saturated her soul. The confusion and dread on the faces of her group mirrored her own.
“What the hell are we doing here?” hissed Tawne, yanking a bit of jagged metal from under his knee and throwing it to the ground in front of Diamond.
“I’ve no idea,” replied Diamond. “But we have to find a way out.”
“Yeah? How do you plan on doing that?” He sounded utterly exhausted.
She glanced at Attion and Otekah, who were scanning the castle with cold calculation. Diamond’s heart warmed a little at that sign Otekah hadn’t totally given up.
Attion caught her eye and inclined his head at the gate.
She looked—really looked. He was right. The inner gates were smashed and hanging off their hinges, and only two Battle Imps guarded the vast archway this side of the wall. She was sure they could overpower them. Especially with Attion’s green magic.
Turning her head back, she nodded at him. All they had to do now was look for a way to break these chains. Before she had time to consider how, a cacophony of sound echoed through the arched gateway. Like the siren of a tornado, wind howled and shadows swirled.
Instantly alert, Diamond eyed the group of Dust Devils who marched through. There was nothing she could do to stop her cry of disbelief.
Tawne grabbed at her hand—trying to comfort her.
She snatched it away, still retaining the presence of mind not to let the shell of evil that was Ream know Tawne meant anything to her.
“No no no no...” she whispered, shaking her head.
Eyes of utter darkness alighted upon her. With shocking swiftness, Ream reached her. His face split into a vicious grin.
“Well, well, well, who have we here?” he crooned. With blackened fingers he reached out and grasped Diamond’s chin, making her look directly at him. “You!” Ream gave rasping chuckle.
The stench of rot hit her full in the face.
“Oh, how pleased my lord will be to have you returned to him. He was so angry with the Queen when he found out she had let you go.”
Steeling her courage, Diamond looked right into those soulless eyes.
“H-how are you here?” she asked hoarsely. Her heart clenched with fear. This fae had been heartless beyond reason when he had lived. Now he was a minion of Erebos, Diamond feared what he would do—especially if he saw Attion among the prisoners.
Keeping hold of her chin, Ream shrugged. “Erebos had need of a good commander. He brought me here. I keep a small part of my soul in this shell until its flesh is no longer viable and then he gives me another—all I have to do is find vessels for his demons—the Ashmea—to enter this world.”
Diamond felt the blood rush from her head. She had read about the Ashmea in the tomes kept in the palace library. Even Hugo had been horrified by the stories of them. On the day Lunaria had been killed, it was said these monsters had torn powerful legions of red fae from the skies. Even the Guardians had been horrified enough to save the fae. They had ripped into the Ashmea and torn the monsters of darkness to shreds, though it had been Vaalor—Lunaria’s faithful guardian—who had turned the tide of that battle. He was the only guardian with fire. The only one who could turn them to ash.
Ream looked over his shoulder. A soldier stepped forward with a nasty snarl upon his mottled dead lips. “You remember Fedron, don’t you, whore?”
Diamond paled as she found herself looking into the eyes of the male who had threatened her life. This now-rotting shell had used and discarded Rose. Diamond huffed with satisfaction at his demise—before her stomach flipped.
Attion. Had he been the one to kill this male too? She dare not look at Attion for fear of alerting these two cruel servants of Erebos to his presence. She could only hope he would keep a low profile and not provoke them.
“Bring her. I should like her to see what we are building. What she will never have the power to stop,” Ream rasped.
Fedron yanked her to her feet. From his pocket he produced a key.
Diamond’s heart soared with joy and hope, though she let nothing of those feelings show on her face—only fear.
He unlocked her ankle manacles.
Diamond willed her knees to straighten, though they shook from exhaustion and hunger. I will get us out, she silently promised her friends.
When Fedron sneered and pulled her forward with a jerk of her wrist, she knew what to do. Stumbling, she fell to her hands and knees. Pain shot through her palm. Sobbing as if frightened out of her mind, and pleading to stay, she sprawled on her belly. Concealing her hand she worked the piece of jagged metal Tawne had discarded free from the mud. Before Fedron could yank her up, she met the gaze of the three warriors she called friends—and smiled.
Attion’s eyes widened a fraction then he lowered his head and shrank down into the crowd. He understood.
Allowing Fedron to haul her from the ground and shove her forward, Diamond followed Ream. Dragging her feet and hunching her shoulders, she was the perfect picture of despair, but that piece of metal she held along her palm and up into the sleeve of her tunic only made her more resolute.
They led her past the crowds of shackled prisoners and through yet another arch under yet another thick wall. The inner courtyard was vast and teeming with activity.
Through narrowed eyes, Diamond surveyed the chaos before her. Huge cages of iron had been erected, filling every available inch of ground. The monsters contained within them had her blood running cold.
“No, don’t look at them; they are not what I want you to see. This,” preened Ream in a voice dripping with malicious satisfaction, “this is what is going to happen to every single one of those pathetic mortal souls out there. Isn’t it beautiful?” he laughed.
In the centre of the muddied ground was a ring of rough stone. An Ice Witch stood at the centre. Unlike everything else in the castle grounds, she was quite beautiful in a harsh, cold way. Her long white hair hung loosely down to the small of her back, her almost translucent skin glittering with frost.
It was as if her magic had coated her body—was her body.
Diamond thrust away the pain in her heart at the sight and feel of such power and ignored the emptiness where her magic and her Nexus had once been; instead, she studied the details before her. If she were to fight this army in the future, she must learn all she could about them.
At one edge of the circle, the witch formed a block of ice at least ten feet tall.
Diamond’s eyes followed the figure of a skinny man as he was dragged kicking and screaming into the circle. The Ice Witch merely glided up to him. With the caress of a lover, she stroked his cheek then brushed his lips with her long, slim fingers. Immediately, the poor man’s mouth was sealed shut with ice; his body frozen to the spot. Only his terrified eyes could move.
Diamond didn’t know what was about to happen, but she knew she did not want to watch.
Fedron shoved his hand into her hair and held her head still. “Watch, little princess. You’ll like this next part,” he rasped in her ear. His breath was cold enough she shivered violently.
The Ice Witch began to chant, her hand touching both the man’s heart and the block of ice.
A conduit, realised Diamond.
Something stirred inside the ice. Wings. Darkness. Teeth. Talons.
Diamond swallowed her cry of horror.
The man’s body began to shrink before her eyes as if his insides were being sucked out. His eyes widened and he moaned and screamed against his closed lips. His body jerked as the ice column began to crack. Then he fell face-first into the ground, his body desiccated.
Diamond cursed silently, praying to her grandmother to help save her and all the living souls of this world from such a fate.
The ice shattered, exploding outward. In its place stood another of the monsters Erebos had created. It was huge. Its taloned feet churned the ground. At the end of each of its four arms claws curled like hands as if wanting to grab something. It spread its bat-like wings and roared, its maw packed with sharp teeth that were too big for its blackened mouth.
The Goddess and The Guardians Boxset: The Complete Romantic Fantasy Quartet Page 89