by Chloe Jacobs
Isaac wouldn’t lead you into darkness. She stopped and turned to him. He watched her with pride shining from his eyes and confidence straightening his shoulders. He believed in her. He had complete faith that she could overcome this fear.
Could she really be what he needed? An equal partner? Strong enough to stand by his side? Strong enough to help him make the hard choices? Strong enough to take the first step when the path was dark and unknown?
“I don’t have to do it alone,” she said. She held out her hand to take his again. The truth was, she hadn’t been doing it alone for a while now, and her world hadn’t ended. In fact, it had expanded.
The intensity of his gaze was practically blinding. “You won’t ever have to again.”
Planting both feet on the ladder and inching her way down into the shelter didn’t get any easier, but Isaac had a hand on her shoulder giving her courage. With her head still above ground, she looked up at him. Panic was setting in, and she knew it was showing.
She could let him see it. Only him. “Just don’t let anyone close this door overtop of me, okay? I know it’s going to be shut eventually, but I can’t see it happen, and I can’t hear it. I don’t think I could handle that.”
She poured all of her strength and energy into descending the rungs of the ladder. It might have helped if she’d thought to ask just how deep the shelter went, but she kept her eyes on Isaac, and when her foot touched solid ground, she realized she didn’t actually know how many steps she’d taken.
He followed quickly, jumping the last three rungs like a superhero and sweeping her into his arms. She broke into giggles, muffled in the broad cushion of his chest. He gazed down at her with a bemused smile. “I was about to whisper words of pride and praise into your ears, but that is difficult when you’re laughing.”
She snorted. “Watching you leap into hell after me, I realized how silly my fear is…and how great you would look in blue tights and a cape.”
His eyebrow quirked. “Would you care to explain that last part?”
“It’s a TV thing.”
“Like the monster show?”
She nodded. “Pretty much.”
A shadow fell over them both. Greta glanced up and saw two figures leaning over the entrance. She couldn’t see their faces, but she knew one of them was Dryden. “Send everyone down,” she called up.
Movement. Wyatt stepped out from the shadows. She sighed. “You shouldn’t have come,” she said, but threw her arms around his neck. “I had high hopes that at least one of us would stay safe.”
“I can’t let you take all the credit for saving the world.” He hugged her back hard.
When she pulled away, Wyatt grinned and chucked her under the chin like she was his baby sister. She glanced up at Isaac, but he only lifted an eyebrow as if to say he’d known it all along.
Siona came down first. She took the ladder slowly, and when she was close enough, Wyatt stepped forward and reached both arms up to her waist. “Let go. I’ve got you,” he said gently, and Greta realized that he hadn’t only come back to help save the world…he’d returned to Mylena because of Siona.
She was happy for them and unbearably sad at the same time because of all they would have to overcome if they were going to have a chance to be together.
Siona let Wyatt lift her off the ladder. He put his arms around her and murmured into her ear. Isaac cleared his throat and said, “Take her somewhere to rest until we’re ready.”
She wanted to ask what they were supposed to get ready for, but it would have to wait until Greta’s entire group was safely inside the stronghold.
Byron and Leila came down the ladder next. They both looked like they were going to keel over with exhaustion, but Isaac showed no compassion. He stalked forward until they backed right up against the wall, going full-on beast-mode and towering above them.
Like Ethan in the skirmish with the faerie warriors, he was in complete control. Never once did his expression falter. His eyes glowed, and the rage simmering beneath the surface flicked out like tongues of fire from the edges, but even that felt purposeful. He was letting them see the danger they were in.
“You will cause no trouble here, and you will do exactly as you are instructed,” he warned in a raspy voice. “And when the coming battle is over, if you are still standing, then you just might get to keep your worthless lives.”
All the reasons why these two shouldn’t be trusted came back to haunt her now that she’d managed to get everyone to relative safety and could breathe for half a minute.
Leila’s eyes got big and round like saucers as she gazed up at Isaac.
“Just don’t,” Greta said with impatient disgust.
She hated that this girl hid behind her pretty hair and big eyes to disguise her true nature. She would have had more respect for Leila if she’d come out and admitted her greed and ambition. The princess couldn’t fool her with that innocent act, not anymore. Leila would have trampled over anyone to get what she wanted, sacrificed anything to sit on the faerie throne.
“The only reason you’re here is because you happen to have a useful skill,” Greta snapped. “And you’ve proven that you can put your selfishness aside long enough to do what’s best for Mylena. We won’t have any problems as long as that doesn’t change, but don’t test me, because I’m just waiting for a reason to toss you out in the smoldering ash for Agramon to find.”
Byron crossed his arms, but his gaze flicked over Isaac nervously.
Leila shifted toward her brother so their shoulders met, and his expression smoothed out immediately. Isaac dropped a hand on her shoulder, and she understood that he was asking her to back off as well. The look she gave him was all, Fine, but I’m keeping my eye on them, and the tilt in his brow said, I expect no less. She practically heard the amused drawl of his voice in her head, too, and even though she knew it wasn’t a telepathy thing, that they were just getting to know each other that well, it was kind of freaky.
Isaac called over a big goblin guard to show the prince and princess to a room and warned them that they would be monitored. The guard tipped his chin to her.
Greta tilted her head and watched them leave, her gaze following the guard. “How do I know him?” she asked, mostly to herself.
“You saved him two nights ago from being Lost,” Isaac said gently. “As well as about sixty others who have found their way here since.”
She remembered. “We saved him—them,” she reminded Isaac. “I’m glad he found his way here.” In the dream state, it was impossible to tell where their physical bodies rested. Sometimes the Lost were exactly where they dreamed they were; sometimes their dream world was built on fear and instinct and there was no actual place in Mylena like it. Seeking them out had been a challenge each and every time, but worth it to know that so many would be reunited with their families.
“I managed to gather a few of them into my group as well,” she said, “but I wonder how many are still out there?”
“They will find us. All of Mylena knows what we are up against, and they will band together with us.” He sounded so confident, so optimistic. She prayed to the Great Mother that he was right, because they were going to need all the help they could get.
She and Isaac stood together as the procession continued. She introduced him to each person who descended the ladder into the goblin stronghold.
“Ethan here is my right-hand goblin,” she told him with a smile when the boy jumped down and immediately dropped to one knee.
Isaac put a hand on his shoulder. “Will you be a warrior in my army? Will you fight at my future queen’s side without flinch and without fail?”
Ethan didn’t even hesitate. “Until my dying breath, your highness.”
Isaac’s gaze narrowed. “In spite of her human blood?”
Greta held her breath, but Ethan only looked up at her and grinned. “I owe Danem Greta my freedom and my life. Her blood matters naught to me, except in as much as I would die before letting an
yone shed a drop of it.”
Isaac lifted a dagger from the sheath at his waist and handed it hilt-first to the goblin boy. “Then take this, and use it in my name to protect that which is most precious to me,” he said, making Greta blush. “I hereby appoint you to the queen’s guard.”
She groaned and rolled her eyes. “How is there a queen’s guard, when there isn’t even a queen?”
“Yet,” Isaac added sharply. “You will have protection, or you will not return to the surface.”
“Oh, really? Don’t I get a say in this?” she said, hands on her hips.
“No.” Both Isaac and Ethan echoed one another.
Ethan’s eyes widened as he took the weapon from Isaac as if it were made of gold and jewels instead of plain steel with a hilt carved of iron. He stood and tucked the blade into his belt, then immediately positioned himself at Greta’s side.
Isaac laughed. “I admire your dedication already, but how about we agree that you’ll only need to guard your queen when I am not with her?”
Ethan nodded.
“Then go with the others for now. You will find food and a place to rest in the lower levels.”
Ethan bowed before Isaac, then faced Greta.
“Don’t do it,” she warned.
Thankfully he already knew better than to try that bowing shit with her, and he simply nodded. “I hope to make you proud,” he said.
Just stay alive she wanted to say, but she bit her tongue. After he was gone, she turned to Isaac. “I’m going to have to train that kid within an inch of his life, or he’ll just be in the way,” she said. “In fact, all of these people need training.”
His expression hardened. He looked as if he wanted to say something, but at that moment, Dryden dropped down in front of them.
She jerked her head up. “Did you even bother with the ladder?” she asked.
He stood silently, facing Isaac without expression. Waiting.
Greta waited, too. After a long, awkward moment, she almost intervened on the faerie warrior’s behalf, but Isaac finally nodded. Although he hadn’t actually said anything, Dryden took it as a sign to drop to one knee. He ducked his head, then he swore fealty to Isaac in much the same way he’d done with her.
“I accept your oath.” Isaac urged him to get back on his feet and told him to go with the others.
“Why did you make him go through that? The whole kneeling and allegiance swearing thing, but you didn’t require the same of Leila and Byron?” she asked. “Did you think they wouldn’t have agreed to do it?”
He shook his head. “I’m sure they would have bent their knees and said the words as well, and it would have been meaningless. But Dryden would not have sworn the oath in the first place unless he intended on honoring it, and that’s what I wanted from him. I wanted him to be forced to keep it in the back of his mind with every decision he makes.”
“He could be more dangerous than Leila and Byron put together, if he put his mind to it,” she agreed. He was so much like his powerful ancestor, Lazarus, that it gave her shivers. “But for all that, I think he’s honorable, and I think he’ll fight with us to the end.”
When everyone had made it inside, Isaac took her arm and led her down a tight corridor that made sweat bead on her forehead and her breathing hitch, until it opened up into a private chamber with a higher ceiling. He closed the door so they were alone. “We march on Agramon tomorrow,” he said.
“Tomorrow?” So soon? How could they possibly be ready so soon?
“It’s past time that I stopped hiding in here and took a stand, before there isn’t anything left of this world to fight for. Every day, more of our land is destroyed and more of our people are killed. If we want to reclaim Mylena, we must stop being afraid and do something about it.”
She shuddered. “I know, but…tell me you at least have a plan.”
He crossed his arms. “I have a plan.”
She snorted. “Great, but I need a little more than that.”
“Do you know that when Siona said my name, she did not wish for strength to heal…at least not exactly?”
“She didn’t? But I can see that she’s getting better. What did she wish for?”
“She asked for strength to save the faeries who remain tied to the hive, under Agramon’s control.”
Greta groaned. “That sounds like her.”
“However, thanks to the bond I now have with her, I know how we will defeat the demon.”
“You do?” she said, surprised.
“If we can reconnect Siona to the faerie hive, she should be able to use her power to weaken Agramon’s hold over the faeries still under his control, enough for them to break free.”
She frowned. “Releasing all those faeries back at the Glass Kingdom almost killed her, and that was when Agramon was unaware of what she was doing. He won’t make the same mistake again. He’ll be watching out for her.”
“Which is why she won’t be releasing any of the faeries, only leaving the door open for them to do it themselves. Once the exodus begins, it will be like a tidal wave, and Agramon won’t be able to stop it if they tear away all at once.”
She hesitated. “You’re forgetting that if Siona becomes part of the hive, then the connection goes both ways, and Agramon can use her power against us just as easily as we use it against him.”
“Only if he feels her link to the hive snapping into place.”
“How could he fail to notice something like that?”
His square jaw clenched. “He will be too busy when our army attacks his, to notice the addition of one faerie mind amidst the loss of so many others.”
She winced. How many faeries would have to be killed so that the rest of them could live?
“However, there is a problem with this plan.” He grimaced. “I am bound to Siona’s wish.”
“What does that mean?”
“It means that I cannot give the order to attack the faerie warriors, not when her wish is to save them.”
Crap. “I’m not under the same restrictions,” she pointed out. “But who’s going to follow my orders?”
“You underestimate the effect you already have on these people,” he said. “Even before your arrival, each and every one of them was ready to pledge their life to yours, because of the Lost that you have returned to their families. Even those who aren’t goblin are hoping you will find a way to bring back their Lost loved ones as well.”
She sputtered. “What if that isn’t possible? We’ve only been able to make it work with the goblin folk who made their wishes to you, because of the bond.”
“You have taught me—and all of Mylena—that anything is possible, as long as you believe in something…and they now believe in you.”
She hoped to God she didn’t break under so much pressure. “Even if they will follow me, you’re assuming that our mostly non-magick-wielding forces will be able to hold their own against a legion of experienced and powerful faerie warriors.”
He nodded tightly. “It only has to be for a short time.” His forehead creased. He knew exactly what he would be asking his people to do. People who were, for the most part, just people and not warriors. But they’d both known that if they were going to take Mylena back, it would come down to this…a fight to the death.
Her guts still twisted with worry and fear. This was it. This was the moment they really stepped up and took responsibility for an entire world.
It was terrifying.
She put her hand on the hilt of her sword and had to clear her throat before words would come out. “All right, I’ll lead the first wave against the demon and the faerie warriors, trying to overwhelm him with an assault from all sides so he doesn’t have a chance to look inward at what’s going on with the hive.”
He nodded. “And I will lead a group specifically targeting Leander and the gnomes.”
“That’s a sneaky way of getting around Siona’s wish,” she said. “But it might just work. Now the only question is, where has Agra
mon been hiding? Except for that moment in the mouth of the portal, there hasn’t been any sign of him…only the minions he’s sent after us.”
“I expect the rest of my scouts to arrive before morning, and one of them should have the demon’s location.”
“So we wait,” she said, deflating a little bit.
“No…we prepare.”
Chapter Twenty-Three
Before the night was done, Greta decided it was probably better that they didn’t have more time to prepare for war. She didn’t think she could handle another night like this.
It was one thing to manage her own worry and stress, but as word spread that they would be heading aboveground soon, fear spread through the rest of the group. It was like a brush fire, and keeping everyone calm and optimistic became more difficult as the walls closed in.
The goblin stronghold may have been designed to contain as many goblin people as the castle could hold in an emergency, but it had not been built for all the faeries, sprites, and other Mylean species that had joined them as well. Cabin fever was settling in.
After making sure that all the new members were present and accounted for, she’d organized three separate training units. One was with her for weapons training, another went with Dryden for magick practice—offensive skills for the faeries, and defensive skills for everyone else—and the third unit was led by Wyatt for hand-to-hand combat training. They rotated groups every three hours, until mid-afternoon the next day.
It was more time than she’d believed they would have, because Isaac’s scout still hadn’t returned with the location of the demon’s camp.
“I know one way to guarantee we draw Agramon out,” she said, running a sharpening stone along the blade of her sword. She was covered in sweat from head to toe after two solid hours of training with Ethan and a group of eager young goblin men. Isaac had pulled her aside and forced her to rest for a minute, but she continued to watch the trainees and shout out advice.