Page 146 of A Dawn of Gods & Fury

“It isn’t!” I inhale sharply to calm myself. It can’t be. “Elijah is trapped, this time in his own body. I need him freed.”

“And if we find out how, you will help rid us of Malachi and walk away from my throne?” Zander asks.

“This is not an alliance you can add to your long list. Just get me the answer I need. I am here each night, fixing all that you and your winged beast destroyed. Do not return without the information I seek—”

“I want to see her,” Romeria blurts. “Wendeline. Bring her here tomorrow night.”

I grit my teeth at her pomp. My, but she has grown. “Perhaps that can be arranged. Now, I suggest you leave so I can clean up this mess, or the next time you come through that stone, there will be fifty Saur’goths and Malachi himself waiting for you, and there will be nothing I can do.”

“What about my sister?” Zander asks.

“I have not met any sister to the king.”

“Her name is Princess Annika. She has long, blond curls.”

“There is no one here by that name or description. She must have perished in the rebellion.”

“If they had found the princess’s body, it would be well known,” the one-eyed warrior says.

“True.” The king is desperate to find this missing sister. I am not above gathering owed favors. “I can ask around.”

Zander hesitates. “Thank you.”

“The five of us are leaving now,” Romeria announces. “We’ll be back tomorrow, to see Wendeline and maybe with an answer for you.”

“Good. Run along, then.” I have no idea when more Saur’goths might wander in.

With another long, lingering look, they vanish through the stone.

I drop the shield and allow myself a deep breath.

Now to deal with this mess … I set to work, disintegrating the beastly bodies with fire until nothing but cinders and metal remains. The ash, I scatter with a gust of wind. Their armor, I bury under a surge of earth, hiding all evidence with fresh grass.

With nothing but an unguarded sanctum remaining, I return to the castle.

A small spark of hope ignites deep inside me.

40

Romeria

“How did he get those Saur’goth beasts to Cirilea?” Zander demands the moment we cross back to the cold, dank crypt in Ulysede. “They were nowhere to be seen when I was there days ago.”

“Likely the same way he got there so quickly.” Abarrane studies the gore on her blade with intense interest.

“How many are there?”

“Lucretia?” I call out and wait. Nothing. “Okay, good. She understood.” That, or she was being a defiant pain in my ass. But when I clearly specified that the five of us would leave, I hoped she would catch my unspoken order. “We’ll have answers tomorrow night.”

“Finally, she is useful,” Jarek mutters.

“There is nothing better than an invisible spy,” Zander agrees.

“As long as Malachi can’t sense her.” I know nothing about the sylx’s abilities except what she is willing to show us.

“Something tells me she knows well how to survive. But the important thing here is that Sofie is on our side.”

“On our side? She was two seconds from incinerating us,” Jarek argues. “And will likely incinerate us two seconds after she has no use for us.”

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