Amber Eyes

by S. D. Grimm

  “You said if this didn’t work, you needed to go as a prisoner. It’s better if they think I’m dead.”

  “But, Zephyr, the venom—”

  “Won’t hurt me. Gryphons are impervious to venom. Now do you trust me to rescue you?”

  “Yes.”

  “Then I’m going to play dead now.” Zephyr closed his eyes and lay motionless.

  Ethan dropped his sword and fell to his knees.

  Scarface stepped through the men surrounding Ethan and smiled. “A dog always returns to its master.”

  “You aren’t my master.”

  “Tie him up.” Scarface chuckled. Then he picked up Ethan’s borrowed sword and hit him in the back of the head. He fell to the ground, trying to hang onto consciousness. His arms no longer obeyed him. Everything grew hazy, but he heard Scarface’s dark chuckle again. “Thanks for the untraceable seeing stone. Franco has everything he needs now. Thanks to you.”

  Chapter 70

  All the Ingredients

  Say hello to Smoke.” Franco stepped away from Jayden’s weapon and laughed.

  Jayden shuddered as she stared at the massive beast. Its amber eyes seemed to look into her, probe the depths of her mind. Its massive, curled horns ended in spikes large enough to pierce a hole through a bison. And the teeth. They dripped with hunger for death. The emotions spilling from that creature turned to pleasure as it watched her squirm beneath its gaze.

  “He’s not mine.” Franco stroked the dragon’s nose. “My mother was holding on to him for someone else. The Mistress has picked out someone special to bond to him.”

  She recoiled.

  “Smoke can’t fly yet, but he’ll have his strength back soon enough.” Franco pointed to the fiery animal with the goat face. Its long body slithered forward, and Jayden saw that it was long and slender, like a weasel. “The firegoat is mine.”

  Claws extended from lion-like paws, and it raised its neck so that it towered over Jayden. Its head crashed down. The curled horn bashed into the ground. Jayden fell, teeth chattering in her skull.

  Heat warmed her skin. She scrambled to her feet.

  Lava oozed from the charred and broken ground where the coiled horn had struck. Blood from the earth. She backed away, only to bump into Franco’s chest. He held her steady while the beast sniffed her arm.

  A forked tongue slid out of its mouth and touched her. A flame on her skin.

  She jerked back.

  “Now that you’re acquainted, let’s ride. Oh—wait. How rude of me. I should tell you about your friends. Yes, I know they were on the shore near Castlerock Island. And they are sorely outnumbered. Your revenge-seeking friend played everyone right into my snare. They brought reinforcements, but I sent more men. They’re outnumbered again. And surrounded.”

  A boulder sank in the pit of her stomach. How would she save them now? How could this happen again? For all her trying to protect them, her family kept getting caught by the enemy.

  Franco mounted the firegoat, and she noticed the saddle for two on the creature’s back. Franco patted the seat behind him. “Join me.”

  “Never.”

  Smoke’s black talons curled around her stomach and she fought the iron grip. Useless.

  The dragon set her on the firegoat’s back and its fur scorched her legs.

  Franco pulled her onto the saddle. “Careful, she’ll burn you.” His smile was wicked. “Now, all I need is your blood, a Whisperer’s tear, and an untraceable seeing stone. I have you, and thanks to what Belladonna saw in the stone of Ishkar, I have your Whisperer. Well, I didn’t have her until you and your friends killed the last guardian. Then my men sailed across the moat and set up the rest of my trap. Oh, and Captain Jonis informs me that he just secured my stone. Looks like I have everything to set the Mistress free, and I have you to thank, Deliverer.”

  As they flew over land and water to get to Castlerock, Jayden scanned the ground. Blood. Everywhere blood. And this time it wasn’t her imagination. It was real. Men and women in cloaks fought the soldiers in black. Cloaks? Feravolk? Her heart lightened. Had Aurora already returned with Melanie and Gavin? She searched each person, scanned for any sign of Serena, Logan, or Ethan, but she couldn’t pick them out at this height.

  She wanted desperately to hang on to any form of hope, but it seemed so futile now. Between Franco and his beast, how would she defeat him? How would she stop him from breaking the prison open? She couldn’t.

  Despair washed over her.

  Snuffed any rising hope.

  He would take her blood. Even if she were dead, he would be able to take her blood. She buried her face in her hands. Oh, Creator, why did you choose me?

  Her stomach plummeted, and she gripped Franco tight for fear that she’d fall. The firegoat dove to the island, and Jayden rolled free as soon as they landed. There, on the ground, were her daggers. If she could just get to them, she might be able to strike Franco down.

  The firegoat snaked in front of her, its leathery wings extended, and hissed. She backed up, and Franco’s tight grip forced her into the rocky exterior of the volcano.

  A group of men surrounded them. “We are ready, your majesty. And we have the Feravolk prisoner you asked for.”

  One man kicked and pushed a bound prisoner to the ground. Ethan. A leash roped his neck, and the scarred man held the other end. Hadn’t Ethan told her he never wanted to be leashed again? Her heart broke.

  Ethan struggled to stand up. His eye was bruised, and blood stained his face and hands. He looked at her, and the guilt that pulsed into her made her knees weaken. Ethan’s guilt. He made soulful eye contact with her and mouthed the words, “I’m sorry.”

  Franco and Scarface slammed Jayden’s back into the wall of the volcano and tied her bound hands to a metal ring buried into the mountainside. They placed Ethan on her left and a small girl crouched next to her on the right. Quinn. For real this time.

  Her clothes were nothing but rags, as dirty as the ground. Her arms were scarred as if they’d been burned. When she looked at the firegoat, she shook.

  Jayden’s heart hurt. Wasn’t there something she could say to comfort this poor girl? She glanced at Ethan. He said nothing, just stared at her and let the regret lap against her like a riptide.

  Because he’d wanted revenge. Again. Only . . . she’d searched his heart and didn’t feel him giving in to revenge. He’d been trying to protect her.

  Quinn clutched her knees with her arms and buried her face between them.

  “Are you Quinn?”

  Her brown eyes met Jayden’s and she trembled.

  “You don’t have to be afraid, Quinn.” Ethan’s voice was soft and calm. “We’re going to do all we can to rescue you. Won’t we, Jayden?”

  Quinn focused on Ethan. “I saw you in the stone. I hoped you’d come for me. But they got you first. And look, they’re bringing more men over.”

  Jayden glanced to the shore where Quinn’s eyes stared. Three more boats headed over the black waters. Franco’s soldiers lined the opposite shore where a battle continued behind them. How many soldiers did he have at his disposal? How many more were coming?

  “Hey, chin up,” Ethan said. “We killed that five-headed beast, didn’t we?”

  Quinn’s whole body shook. “It killed the others. The ones who put me on this island. It ate them.”

  Ethan smiled. “It’s gone now.”

  She nodded toward the firegoat, and a tear dripped over her cheek. “That is a terrible creature. The only creature in the underworld that fire does not consume. You can’t beat it.”

  “Now don’t lose hope.” Ethan stared at her as though he meant it. Then he looked at Jayden. There was hope in him. It poured into her. She drank it in. It was just strong enough to refuel her desire to succeed, to make it, to persevere. Maybe her talent was a gift after all. She just had to find the right emotion to latch onto. She mouthed words back to him, “Thank you.”

  “Anything for you. Anything.”

 
Another emotion washed over her. Relief. Not hers. Not Ethan’s.

  “Jayden, I knew I’d find you.” Stormcloud. She was close. Warmth bubbled up in Jayden like a hot spring and tears coated her eyes. “I can draw the firegoat away from you.”

  Not that it would do any good. Unless she could get free. She wriggled her hands, trying to loosen the ropes. Overhead, Stormcloud coasted over the island.

  The firegoat lifted its head and a menacing rumble escaped its throat. It tore into the sky after the pegasus.

  Jayden scraped her bindings against the rock’s hard surface. She looked at Quinn. “If fire doesn’t hurt it, what does?”

  Quinn blinked. “I don’t know. Water, maybe? It’s always in a thunderstorm in the stories where it’s frightened.”

  Thunderstorm? They wouldn’t have one of those today. Only a drenching, heavy rain that covered them and grayed the skies. The hope slipped. She looked into Ethan’s eyes.

  “Jayden, I—”

  “Quiet.” Scarface kicked Ethan’s chest and he groaned as his body slammed into the craggy rock. His head drooped forward and his chest heaved.

  Hope shattered.

  Quinn started sobbing.

  Franco approached her. Grabbed her hair and wrenched her head back. He held a shiny, black stone up to her cheek, and her tear dripped onto the surface. It sizzled. Franco grinned. The smile made his eyes look as though they were on fire. “Ingredient one.”

  The air left Jayden’s lungs. Her blood boiled. She twisted her wrists. She would get out of these bindings and Scarface would pay, he would . . . the fire that bubbled up inside her dimmed to a simmer. Chest heaving, she glanced at Ethan and he shook his head.

  No revenge.

  She’d fight for her people.

  Franco laughed. “Now all I need is the Deliverer blood and the heart of a Feravolk.” He motioned to Ethan. “Cut out his heart.”

  “No!” Jayden screamed so loud her voice scraped against her throat. If she could just find a sharper bit of rock to scrape these ropes against.

  Scarface approached Ethan with his dagger—no, her dagger. Ethan stared at his enemy with a tight jaw. His shoulders squared. Jayden scraped her bindings harder. Scarface would not kill Ethan with her weapon.

  A shard of lighting cracked across the sky, and the clouds billowed black and ominous.

  Something had turned the sky angry.

  Stormcloud flew out of the dark clouds. “This is just what we need.”

  The firegoat spread its wings and chased her.

  Jayden pulled at her wrists.

  What sounded like an eagle’s shriek filled the air.

  Jayden’s heart hammered in her chest as she watched a gryphon race toward them with the speed of an arrow. The same gryphon that had hurt Stormcloud. Could nothing go right?

  Her wrists screamed as the rock cut into her skin, but she kept scraping the rope against the mountainside.

  The gryphon hurtled into Scarface, knocking him flat. Stunned, Jayden stared as the gryphon ripped the ropes off of Ethan’s hands and tore the leash from his neck.

  “Kill the gryphon! I need the girls alive!” Franco’s voice rang out.

  Hope leaped inside her as Ethan cut Jayden’s ropes with her dagger and the gryphon kept Franco’s men at bay for precious seconds.

  “I’m so sorry, Jayden. Please forgive me.” He touched her cheek. “Get Quinn. We’re getting out of here. Alive.” He handed her the daggers. “Don’t hurt Zephyr.”

  She looked at the creature who dove toward Franco’s men. “I won’t.”

  “You can’t get me out of here.” Quinn held up her hands. “These won’t open without the key.”

  Ethan looked at her. “Where’s the key?”

  “There.” She pointed up the face of the volcano to a rocky outcropping far too high to reach. “On that ledge.”

  Ethan pulled out his sword. “Call Stormcloud. Get the key. I’ll help Zephyr hold these guys off.” He faced the enemy with a clash of steel.

  “Stormcloud?”

  “The firegoat loves pegasi. If I come, he’ll follow.”

  “We’ll be ready.”

  She stood guard in front of Quinn.

  Stormcloud dipped down. “Look out!”

  Jayden turned too late.

  Franco pushed Jayden to the ground and pinned her arms and legs down. “I’m not done with you.” He laughed as he dragged a knife across her cheek. A drop of blood dripped off the blade and hit the stone with a sizzle. “Ingredient two.”

  His fingers curled around her throat. “Now call off your dog.” He forced her head to look at Ethan. Men surrounded him, but he held a sword in each hand and slashed with more speed than she’d ever seen.

  “No.” She choked out.

  “Then die.”

  She looked right into his wild, greedy eyes. “You still need me to get the Creator’s power.”

  His eyes narrowed. “Then suffer.”

  Ethan stopped. He turned toward her.

  And one of the men stabbed him in the back.

  Franco’s fist met her face and everything went black.

  Chapter 71

  Fueled by Fire

  Ethan slashed open his attacker’s neck and the man fell.

  He ran another soldier through. Strength fueled him. He didn’t even have to call on his speed. It was a part of him.

  Warmth exploded across his chest.

  Jayden. Ethan turned. Franco had her and he meant to hurt her. What would he do now? Who should he protect first?

  “Trust your talent.” Zephyr’s voice was calm.

  He breathed deep and focused. The heat pulsing over his heart was made of a thousand tiny dots pointing out where each threat lay in relation to him. The hottest was the one he’d need to deal with first.

  Not the threat behind him.

  The threat in front of him.

  A sword bit into his skin, but Ethan was already racing toward Jayden. A sword cut into his back, but not as deep as it would have if he hadn’t moved toward the threat his talent pulled him toward. Zephyr killed the attacker behind Ethan. That spot of heat winked out. More took its place, but Ethan knew how to listen now.

  He approached Franco. Whatever his talent told him to do, he would do. This time he would obey.

  On the east shore, a boat pulled up into the rocky sand. Five more men rushed toward him. They cut him off from reaching Jayden.

  Ethan swung his sword. Clashed with the enemy’s blade. Another sword sliced his side. He barely felt it. His protective instinct kept the pain at bay. Instead he turned. Thrust his sword through that man. Chopped at the next. Sweat trickled over his skin. Three more men fell to his blade.

  Now he stood in the alcove facing Franco, who shook his head. “Not bad. You would make an awesome warrior if I could turn your blood black.”

  What did that mean?

  “But I already have the Deliverer’s blood. Now I need a Feravolk heart.”

  “You won’t get mine.”

  Franco shrugged. “I no longer need it.” He motioned to a body on the ground beside Jayden’s still form. Lana? The young Healer girl. Morgan’s sister? Blood soaked her clothes. “You weren’t the only one who had more soldiers waiting. Your little army is no match for mine. Look. More join us on the island every moment. I have men to spare. Your friends on the mainland are being killed as prisoners as we speak.”

  A flame in his chest seemed to take over for his talent. Revenge.

  No. Ethan clutched his borrowed sword tight, as if clutching it would help him hold on to his talent instead. It seemed to work.

  “My men brought me one of the Feravolk.” He held up a heart, placed the stone inside.

  Ethan raised his weapon and blood dripped down the blade. The storm rolled. This time he welcomed it.

  He raced forward, swung. The sword slashed from Franco’s shoulder to his hip. The wound healed.

  What magic was this?

  Franco laughed. “You can’
t kill me.” His smile beamed. “You can’t stop me, either.”

  Warm wind blasted Ethan’s side. It was like standing too close to a fire. He shielded his face as it grew hotter, then he dove over top of Jayden as a beast with fur like flames swooped toward him.

  Eyes dark as a pit focused on Ethan. Its face was like a goat with huge, curled horns, and its neck was like a dragon’s. Ethan covered Jayden and looked away from the bottomless eyes.

  The creature bashed a curled horn into the side of the volcano. The earth shook. Red oozed from the crack. Lava. And the creature took flight.

  Ethan crouched over Jayden and patted her cheek. “Jayden.”

  Her eyes fluttered open and she clutched his arms. “Ethan.”

  Quinn tugged his shirt with her bound hands. “The evil man is going to drop the stone into the volcano and start a fire. It will set the Mistress free.”

  Jayden’s eyes rounded and she stood. “I know how to stop him. I need Stormcloud.”

  Ethan grabbed her arm. She shouldn’t go alone.

  “Ethan.” She placed her hand on his. “This is what you’ve been protecting me for. I can do this. Let me go.”

  For once, his talent didn’t beg him to protect her. She was right. And it was killing him.

  “Get the key. Save Quinn. I’ll see you on the other side.” Her smile was beautiful. All he needed to keep going. She mounted Stormcloud, and the pegasus carried her toward Franco.

  Ethan clutched his sword in one hand and turned to Quinn. His talent still burned for him to protect her. “Let’s get you out of here.” He scanned the island. Zephyr had taken down the remaining men, but a new boat was fast approaching. “Zephyr? I need that key.”

  The gryphon soared above him and dropped the tiny metal object onto the rocky ground. Ethan grabbed it. “Please tell me that was the last of them.”

  “The boat is making another trip. Let’s get out of here before fresh soldiers land.”

  “Sounds great.”

  “Look out!”

  The pulse in his chest burned.

  Quinn screamed.

  Ethan whirled as Zephyr flew to meet the new soldiers on the shore.

  Ethan pulled out his sword and faced the incoming soldiers, but a new threat burned stronger. A threat from behind. He turned.