Page 112 of Land of Monsters

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The car dipped, knocking Raven’s shoulder into mine, bringing me back to the present. The two cars moved closer to the looming castle, the fog thick across the grounds giving off an etherealness.

A shiver coursed down my spine.

The barrier of magic crackled, licking out and tasting the threat coming, whispering words of dissuasion in our ears.Turn around. It sang into every vein, the spell discouraging intruders. It was far stronger than last time, the pressure cracking my knuckles over the steering wheel, all of us in the car going silent.

Wesley drove the first car carrying Caden, Birdie, Scorpion, and Hanna. I drove the second. Raven and Brexley were up front with me and sandwiched in the back were Warwick, Eve, and Kozlov. And of course, a Brownie and an imp were smuggled away in Brexley’s bag someplace.

Raven’s hand slid over my thigh, our uniform caps blocking our eyes. Reaching for her hand, my fingers curled around hers, our eyes staring straight ahead. I didn’t need to see her to hear her heart, feel her anxiety, and taste her fear. And this time, I couldn’t do anything to really calm her emotions, as mine were just as turbulent.

The Trojan horse would only take us so far until Sonya recognized us. It wasn’t like Warwick was someone you couldhide. We needed to get on the other side of the barrier before she did.

“Soldiers are coming up.” Raven’s vision pierced the darkness, her grip tightening on mine. “Six of them.”

Right as she spoke, the brake lights from the front car glowed red, Wesley slowing down.

“Here we go.” Brexley clicked off the safety of her gun under the dash, Warwick and Eve doing the same in the back.

I rolled the car to a stop, and the soldiers moved toward us, ready to shoot us at any moment.

“We ready for this?” Brexley breathed out, dipping her hat lower on her head.

“I fucking hope so,” Warwick mumbled from the back seat, flicking my attention to the rearview mirror. Our gazes caught for a moment, his bright aqua eyes telling me he would be beside me until the end.

He and Kitty were my first true family. My teachers, mentors, best friends, and sometimes my rivals, but always my brother and sister. And yes, there was a moment when I thought I had feelings for Kitty, but I realized later that not all soulmates are romantic. Some were your core beliefs, your backbone of strength, your essence of who you were as a person. A part of your soul no one else could touch.

A substance far thicker than blood or DNA.

“As my people like to say, ‘A man can die but once.’” Kozlov tugged at his suit cuffs, settling back in his seat, his demeanor unflappable. “Fortune favors the bold.”

“Or the one wearing the Cintamani stone,” I said under my breath. I gave Raven’s hand a final squeeze before letting it go and reached to roll down the window as the guards stepped up to our cars, their expressions stern.

My heart thumped in my ears. Everything came down to this moment, and it could all go wrong in a blink. We would not get this chance again.

“State your business,” a man barked in Romanian, his eye twitching, his muscles convulsing like worms under his skin.

Most of us in this car had seen this before, the deteriorating brain of someone who had been given the experimental pills. Istvan had implemented them on the lower-tier soldiers, the grunts. The ones who were trained to die to protect him, while he deployed full transfusions to the upper guards and elite.

Sonya seemed to have the same strategy.

“President Kozlov, the leader of Russia, is here to see Queen Sonya.” I struggled to get out the last two words, but I kept my voice steady as three more men moved around the car.

“We were given no notice of this visit,” the man snarled, his nose wrinkling, showing canine teeth. “Get out of the car.”

The strings that tied me to Raven vibrated with ire; a snarl no one but me could hear came from the dweller, the beast wanting to eliminate the threat.

“I assure you, the queen—”

“I said get out of the car!” the man rumbled, his hand jerking and twitching on his rifle.

Darkness slid over my chest like a cloud, the coldness of the obscurer somehow making the car even darker, her power sitting on my skin. Waiting.

“Let us pass, soldier! I am the leader of Russia! I will not be held here by the likes of you.” Kozlov barked from the back seat, his condescending authority dripping with disdain. “If you do not let us pass in the next thirty seconds, I will see to it that you are thePrimul’snext meal… or maybe they can do other things to you.”

I held my breath. It was risky for Kozlov to bring up thePrimul. Sonya had never told him anything about the monsters she kept, but would this guard know that?

The man sucked in, taking in Kozlov, recognizing his stature, yet I sensed his real fear was what thePrimulcould do. Most of those on the pills thought themselves invincible, held no concern, yet they still feared these beasts.

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