by S. D. Grimm
Serena looked into Ryan’s eyes, pleading for him to snap out of whatever spell she had him under. “Ryan, you don’t have to do this.”
He chuckled. “You should’ve run.”
“I won’t hurt you.”
“Then lower your weapons and let me take your head.”
What?
He nodded, none of the love in his face remaining. His smile matched Belladonna’s.
Serena sheathed her weapon and turned, leaving her back unguarded. She moved her hair over her shoulder to show Ryan her exposed neck. She almost laughed at her inability to show him vulnerability earlier. But if she didn’t let him do this, what would Belladonna do to him? His warmth pressed against her, parting the misty fog around her.
His head drew close to her ear. “Do you trust me?”
Her heart jumped, but she dared not look at him. “I’d rather you cut out my heart than take my head.”
His breathing hitched. “I don’t think I could do either.”
Her heart stuttered.
“Forgive me.” Then he said louder, “My heart only has room for one, Belladonna.”
Ryan raced toward Belladonna and grabbed her arm. Then he looked over his shoulder at Serena, showed her the vial of purple liquid, and tossed it to the ground.
No!
She ran toward them, but the purple mist disappeared. Belladonna was gone. The black lion was gone.
And Ryan was gone.
Chapter 57
Linked
The wind slammed into Cliffdiver, and he faltered. Connor’s heart froze as Quinn clutched him from behind. “The storm. That’s her storm. It feels the same.”
Out of the storm rode the Mistress of Shadows on Smoke’s back. Three riders on firegoats flanked them. Smoke opened his mouth, and a fireball propelled toward them.
“Hang on!” Cliffdiver dove to avoid the streak of fire as it careened through the clouds.
“Smoke.” Connor held tight to Cliffdiver with his one hand. “She’s come for us!”
“She knows we’re strong. We can beat her.”
Another gale ripped into them, and Cliffdiver shrieked in pain. It was too much for him. Connor looked over his shoulder at Quinn. “Hold on to him.”
He let go, held out his hand, and unleashed his power at the storm.
A boom rocked the earth. Shattered the sky.
The storm stilled.
And a deep, dark laugh came from the other side of him. “Wielder, you killed my firegoats and their riders. I shouldn’t be pleased, but I am. Your power is much greater than I thought it would be.”
Quinn looked over her shoulder. “Connor! She’s behind us.”
Connor turned toward the voice to see the Mistress of Shadows on her mount.
Smoke laughed, like gravel crunching. And then the dragon opened its maw. Fire billowed in his gullet.
“Cliffdiver!”
“Hold tight!” The gryphon dove, but four black lions flew beneath him. As the gryphon descended, the black lions swarmed them.
Connor guided Quinn’s hand to Cliffdiver’s feathers and again told her to hold tight. “Cliffdiver, take Quinn and get out of here. Find the Deliverers and keep them from getting caught.”
Then he slid out of Quinn’s arms and stood up on the gryphon’s back. And as Smoke dove beneath them, Connor jumped. He slammed into the hard scales.
The Mistress towered over him, her lips curled in an evil grin. “And now you’re mine.”
Quinn’s body landed beside him, and Connor caught her before she could fall off the dragon. Not Quinn. His heart ached. Why had she followed?
“Cliffdiver, go! Warn the Deliverers!”
The Mistress waved her hand and a gust of wind ripped Quinn from his grip and off of Smoke’s back.
“No!” Connor shouted and looked over the edge of the dragon.
“Catch her!” The Mistress yelled. Her eyes narrowed as she stared at Connor. “You care for her? Then I have leverage. I never expected to have that against you, Wielder.”
Connor fisted his hand, and his power sparked in him.
“Go ahead. Use it. It won’t harm me. But you already know that, don’t you? Only the Deliverers have the power to destroy me. But you . . . you have the power to bring them to me. To lead me to the thrones.”
A black lion caught up to them, Belladonna riding it, and Connor gasped when he saw Ryan behind her. “You have the Whisperer?” Belladonna purred. And Connor saw Quinn sitting on the back of one of the lions
“Good. Land, Smoke.” The Mistress grinned. Then she waved her hand dismissively, and Connor felt as though a tree branch slammed into the side of his head. He saw nothing more.
Connor jolted awake. He found himself tied to a tree with cord strong enough to hold him.
Ryan sat, stoking a fire with a stick.
“Ryan?”
He turned, and the dark, empty look in his eyes made Connor shake. Belladonna had claimed him again.
“Pet.” Belladonna approached. She cocked her eyebrow at Connor. “You’re awake.”
The fire popped, and Connor saw Quinn slumped against another tree beyond the flames. “What have you done to her?”
“Nothing. I care not for her. Though I’m surprised her screaming didn’t wake you.”
He struggled against his bindings, but his half an arm was tied tight. If he were to shift into a creature small enough, he could get free. His heart hammered.
Quinn suddenly opened her eyes and cried out as if someone were torturing her, but no one touched her. What was happening to her?
“Quinn!”
She didn’t answer.
Connor glared at Belladonna. “What’s wrong with her?”
“Who knows?” Belladonna shrugged and walked away from him. She’d been blocking his line of sight to the Mistress. She sat atop her dragon. As soon as he made eye contact with her, she slid off of the dragon and strode over. And beyond her, he saw hundreds of tents spread out in the forest, surrounded by dying trees. His stomach tightened into a ball.
The Mistress sneered. “She feels the trees dying. She takes in their pain. Soon, when the forest dies, she will succumb. It will be a pleasure to watch her writhe.” She dragged her finger across Connor’s jawline. Over his bare chest. “Your punishment for falling for someone other than me.” She scraped his chin.
He flinched. His glare met hers. “You haven’t won yet.”
“I know. I need the Creator’s power first.” She faced Belladonna. “You can get me the others?”
Belladonna smirked. Connor knew how she would find them. She had a link to Serena from Franco’s blood-will. The tattoo Serena wore was in her power now. And Ethan’s scar. If he was with Jayden, she would have them all. She sauntered away from the Mistress. “I have a link to two of them. And they grow nearer to each other. I can find them fast.”
“Good. Get them.”
Belladonna called her black lion. Then she turned to Ryan. “Come on, pet.”
“He stays with me.”
Belladonna’s eyebrow rose. “Then how will I lure in the Deliverers? They’ll want to rescue him.”
The Mistress’s eyes narrowed. “Then take Kara with you as well. I want to make sure they come back to me.”
Kara? Connor scanned the woods for her. He spotted her only when the assassin dropped out of a tree. She didn’t say a word. Didn’t even smile. Whose side was she on truly?
She strode past him close. “Wait for the distraction, Wolf.”
Distraction?
She paused and whispered, “Which is stronger? A mouse or a black lion?” Then she sauntered to join Belladonna and Ryan before he could ask her to clarify. But as Ryan and Kara left with Belladonna, Connor started to plan his escape. He couldn’t turn into a black lion—those were beasts created by the Mistress. But he could become a mouse. And he could become a gryphon.
Quinn shrieked and crumpled to the ground.
The Mistress laughed. “The black blood eats
away at her.”
Connor’s heart wanted to break.
Chapter 58
Shadowlands
You are mine. Come to me.”
Jayden spun around as she tried to find the source of the voice. Her knees weakened. She’d heard that voice before. In her head after the shadow wolves had bitten her. A sinking feeling settled in her stomach. This place, the wood, the mist, she’d been here before. It reminded her of the forest where Franco had taken her. The place she’d seen Smoke.
Franco was dead. This was a dream.
She fisted her hands and closed her eyes, willing herself to wake up. To remember what had been happening before the dream.
The storm! The Mistress had separated them all! Jayden had to get out of here. She had to get back to Ethan.
“You are mine.” The voice hissed her head.
“Stop saying that!” Jayden stared at the crimson clouds as lightning flashed within them. A storm she couldn’t feel in her veins. It wasn’t hers. Could she even call her own storm anymore? Did she have any powers left? Already, her talents felt weaker.
“I have reached the Forest of Legends, and I am killing its beating heart. By the time you get there, you will be mine. And you will help me get a hold of your lover as well.”
Ethan? “No! Never! You can’t have him!”
“You say that as though you have the power to stop me. Listen carefully, because you will not remember this when you wake. You will come to the Forest of Legends, and you will bring your friends to the trap I have set. Understand?”
“You don’t control me.”
“You need more venom in your brain? I will send my hounds to hunt you.”
Venom? Jayden shook. Was that how the Mistress was controlling her still? Venom continued to pulse through her veins? Jayden pulled out her daggers and breathed in. Tried to reach out to the clouds and make them churn. Her powers filled her, but they were harder to reach this time. Still, she was able to feel a small amount of lightning at her disposal. “You can’t have me! And you can’t have Ethan!”
Ethan sat up and rubbed his head. The sky cracked and boomed, and Jayden screamed his name. She lay sleeping not far from him, and he moved over to her, trying to remember where they were. How they got here. Where was Zephyr? Heavens, where were they?
And the storm the Mistress had sent rushed back to him.
Jayden had tried to stop it while he’d held on to his shield to protect them, but she’d gone limp in his arms.
She screamed his name again, and he shook her shoulders. “Jayden? Jayden!”
She sucked in a breath and scrambled away from him, eyes wide and red.
No. Not again. “Jayden?” His heart thundered.
She stood and drew her daggers, and he backed away from her, palms open in surrender.
“Hey, Jayden? It’s me. You’re okay. It was a dream.”“A dream?” She watched him and circled him slowly, daggers still aimed at him. Her eyes flickered red. “Who are you?”
“Who am . . . ?” His lungs squeezed so tight they hurt. Not again. He stood, slowly, arms still out, and created more distance between them. “Jayden, it’s Ethan.”
“No.” She shook her head tentatively at first and then more wildly. “No! You’re not Ethan. What have you done with him?” He felt the warning of her attack through his talent a few moments before she jumped at him, and he was able to sidestep and grab her arm, pinning it behind her. That didn’t stop her though. She still had another dagger, and she leaned forward while thrusting her arm back. The sting of her blade cut his forearm just barely, but he had to release her to avoid being stabbed.
“Ethan would never hurt me!”
“I don’t want to hurt you.” He tried to plead with her. “Zephyr? Where are you?” Something trickled back over to the bond, and it felt more like confusion.
A low growl from the trees stopped both of them, and the gryphon stepped out. He thrashed his tail and lowered his head. The look in his eyes was strangely feral. And when Ethan looked at him, Zephyr took one step forward. But Jayden lifted her arm to throw a dagger.
“Jayden, no!” Ethan jumped at her and pushed her arm down before she could hurt Zephyr.
“You are friend?” Zephyr’s voice crackled in Ethan’s mind.
“Friend. Yes.” Something sad weighted his heart. He knew it was Zephyr’s feelings. The bond was fading. Ethan pressed Jayden’s arm to her side, feeling her struggle with all her might. “Where is the Forest of Legends?” If the bond was breaking, he needed to know where to head.
Zephyr tilted his head in a very birdlike manner. Then he spread his wings and flew off. Wind eddied around them, tossing twigs and leaves into their faces. Jayden’s struggle stopped momentarily as the gryphon took flight. And then Ethan flinched as something inside of him that was open suddenly closed.
A communication shut off.
A piece of himself missing.
He gasped for breath. “Zeph? Zephyr!”
Nothing.
Ethan breathed deep as a warming sensation spread over his chest. His talent, and it felt strange. Weaker.
Then Jayden’s wrath jerked back to life, and she spun toward him. That was close! And confirmation that his talents were definitely weakening.
Ethan let go, spinning away from her. “Calm down! I’m not going to hurt you.”
The red in her eyes pulsed brighter, and she raced straight at him. Just then, a screech sounded above them and Zephyr dove at them, claws extended. What was the gryphon doing? Without communication, Ethan had no idea. But Jayden was about to try and stab Zephyr, so Ethan did the only thing he could think to. He jumped into her and pushed her down, landing on top of her. Zephyr screeched again and flew off. And Ethan’s talent warned him. Too late for him to react.
Jayden’s dagger pierced through his clothes, and she stabbed him in the gut. Twisted the blade. “Get off me!” She pushed against him.
His thoughts spun.
Pictures flooded his mind. Feelings overwhelmed him and then stilled so that he could take in every small detail of the moment.
The pain crushing his insides.
He hit the ground hard and then remembered to breathe.
Since when was breathing something he had to think about doing? “Jayden?” It took everything in him to force out her name.
She stared at her dagger blade. At the red that dripped off and splashed to the ground in slow motion. As it hit the dirt, the pain in Ethan’s gut slammed into him full force, and he pressed his hands against his stomach and screamed.
“Tell me what you did to Ethan!” She charged him again, and he knew this was it. She was going to kill him. And he was powerless to stop her.
“Drop your weapon.” A voice behind him sounded out hard and cold.
Part of him felt as though he remembered it; part of him felt as though this could be a dream. A hazy, rippling dream. He felt so cold all of a sudden. It looked like dozens of women in white stepped out of the trees, holding loaded bows. They headed for Jayden.
He wanted to yell at them to not hurt her, but nothing came out of his mouth except blood. And then everything turned hazy. Then dark.
“Ethan?”
A voice filled his mind. He blinked. And realized he lay on his back.
“Ethan?”
Sharper now. He knew that voice. He sat up and sucked in a breath. “Tessa?”
The young barmaid from the Winking Fox—his dear friend—wrapped him in a hug, and the first thing he realized was that nothing hurt. Was he alive? Ethan looked down to see that blood covered his shirt, but there was no wound. His heart raced. “Jayden?”
Tessa’s eyes softened. “She’s—well, she’s not in her right mind, but no harm has come to her.”
“How did you—?”
“Serena sent me here. To meet the Healers.”
“Ethan!” Someone came running toward him, and he stood in time to catch Rochelle as she launched herself into him for a hug. “It’s so good to
see you!” She stepped back and her sweet smile hadn’t changed despite the dirt smudge on her cheek and tangles in her hair. “The Healers recognized you. Ruth healed you. We have no idea what’s wrong with Jayden though. It’s almost like there’s a block in her brain, and—oh! I wish I had another shirt for you, but I know how you hate those white ones. Did—”
“Slow down.” He chuckled and placed his hands on her arms.
She smiled. “Sorry. There’s a lot to catch you up on. Where’s Serena?”
“Where are we?”
“The Forest of Legends. We had to abandon the Tree of Wisdom. A huge storm came, and lightning struck it. The Healers scattered. I am rounding up those who are willing to fight in our cause. Serena sent Tessa with a message that you would need help.”
“Yes. The Mistress is on her way here to try and defeat us. We’re headed to the white alor tree in the center of the wood.”
Rochelle’s eyes widened. “I know that tree. We will come to your aid. We are seventeen strong in this group, but I know of others not far from here.”
“Will you find them and bring them back to the white alor? Will you fight with us?”
“We will.” A new voice caused Ethan to turn. Ruth, the Healer who had tried to have him killed what seemed like lifetimes ago, approached.
“Thank you. And”—he picked up the bloody edge of his shirt—“thank you.”
She smiled, but worry weathered her features. “Jayden has been shadow touched.”
“Yes. A shadow wolf bit her. She—”
“The Mistress holds her mind. I believe she’s trapped in the dream world. She’s not . . . herself.”
Ethan swallowed. How would he get her out of it? “C-can I see her?”
“Brace yourself.” Ruth held out her hand to show Ethan the way to Jayden, then she walked with him. As they drew closer, he could hear Jayden yelling at the Healers to let her go. Her voice was rough and harsh. And the words she used were nothing Jayden would say.
Ethan flinched internally and breathed deep. He would not lose her to this. He loved her. And that wouldn’t break so easily. But that wasn’t all. They had to defeat the Mistress, and without Jayden’s storm, they didn’t stand a chance.