Page 54 of A Sun Scorched Bloom

"We need to calm down and think this through, Gray. Who could have taken her?" Erik said.

"Calm. Down?" Gray lowered his chin, his shadows writhing uncontrollably as he took long strides toward Erik. The rage in his chest boiled over, seeping between his ribs and puddling in his gut. He was going to kill him.

"Wait!" Emma cried out, stepping in front of Erik. "Do you remember someone named Lochan?"

Gray froze. "Lochan. I tried to save him, here in these very woods… but—"

"He says it’s okay. He knows you tried. And that… he knows where Lea is."

Gray would have given everything to trade powers with Emma at that moment. Would give up every drop of his magic in order to be able to speak to Lochan directly, to ask him to get them to Azalea as quickly as possible.

"Is she okay?" Gray rasped, trying desperately to slow his breathing.

"She was taken to a clearing with a house. He can’t say anymore. But he says he will take us as close as he can."

Without a second wasted, Erik was readying the horses, leaving behind everything but their weapons and saddles. He hoisted Janelle up in front of him as Emma mounted her own horse and Noah took up the rear.

"Hurry," Gray begged as thunder boomed. He needed to control himself, to stay calm and precise, but if he lost her…

"Don’t even think it." Erik was beside him in a second as Emma kicked her horse’s sides and sprinted off through the woods, Obsidian and Cinnamon directly behind her. "We'll find her," Erik reassured him.

"And if we don’t?" Gray asked, knowing that there was no possibility that he could live in a world without Azalea. Wondering if he could even live with himself now that he had failed in his responsibility to protect his mate.

"Then I will add my fire to your darkness, and we will destroy the veil to get her back."

Chapter 36

Lea

Theworldwentcompletelysilent. The feeling that had been hovering around her shoulders, the presence whispering in her ear that she wasn’t safe, that something was coming, disappeared as she woke up in a soft bed of grass, a stark difference to the dead, rotting ground they’d been treading on for days. Sitting up, she pushed her hair from in front of her eyes. She was in a clearing, where the land lived and wildflowers dotted the earth. But… Where was her father?

Had it really been him? She wasn’t injured, but surely if it had been another demon who had taken her, it would have simply killed her. And yet, her father had always been exceptionallyordinary. Wouldn’t she have known if he had magic powerful enough to freeze time? To steal her consciousness?

Pain bloomed in her chest. As misguided as it may be, shewantedit to be him. And yet, it couldn’t be. Her father may have abandoned her, but surely if he’d gone through the effort to kidnap her, he would have been here when she woke in the strange place. Though oddly, as she looked around, it didn’t feel all that strange.

Lea felt as if she had returned home. A sense of calm overcame her, the knowledge that everything would work out settling in her chest as the wind stirred within the clearing. The fresh air wiped away the memory of the cloyingly damp scent of the forest surrounding the grove and seemed to cleanse her hair and clothing of the musty odor. She moved nothing but her eyes, her body freezing and forcing her to take in every detail of the clearing. A cottage sat in the far corner, a full garden surrounding the right side that began at the front gate and wrapped around nearly to the back of the house.

It was overgrown with weeds that caused Lea’s magic to tingle in her fingers, begging her to tend to the neglected soil. She ignored the feeling, focusing instead on her surroundings, on what the wind was trying to tell her. A separate garden bed sat on the left side of the house, and she rubbed her eyes as shock and bewilderment flooded through her gut.

She could hardly breathe as her vision tunneled, and her magic writhed in response to what she was seeing. Moonflowers… At least ten vines climbed up several wooden trellises that were in the process of crumbling away. And on those thorny vines were fingernail-sized white petals,livingflowers, that swayed in the breeze.

Lea began crying without even realizing it, her heart squeezing and fluttering in a strange way. Right in front of her was her very dream come to life. She’d worked tirelessly to see the beauty of those flowers, losing sleep and attempting every combination of variables she could think of. She'd tried planting the seeds at different times, in different types of soil. She’d given the sprouts differing amounts of water and sunlight. And here they were, hundreds of them, just growing in a weed-filled garden bed as if they required no tending at all.How is it possible?she wondered.

Lea’s feet carried her forward, slowly, as if any movement might startle the moonflowers into crumbling to dust before her eyes as she’d seen them do so many times before.

On shaking legs she walked to the garden, a bed crafted of aged wood with swirling patterns of the moon and stars painted in blue and white across the sides. Lea had been correct that there were ten lines, two neat rows with five plants each. All mature, and allalive…Not growing taller or climbing higher, but stagnant, as if stuck in time. In the middle of the neat rows was a statue of the goddess of the moon, her hair flowing behind her with her palms pointed down toward the soil and water dripping from her fingers—the picture of a dutiful goddess, pouring herself into the earth to help it flourish.

Lea took another step forward, her fingers itching to touch the statue. But something was holding her back. The statue glowed a faint silver-blue, and it had an energy about it that made Lea pause. The wind blew harder, wrapping around her arm and lifting her hand.Follow the darkness…she heard again. The wind was yet to steer her astray.

With a slow exhale, Lea allowed her palm to be placed on the sun-warmed statue.

Lea‘s breath was squeezed from her lungs, immense pressure pushing on her chest as the world pitched into night. Her head spun, and dizziness clouded her mind as she was flung forward forcefully, landing on the cold, hard tile of a hallway. Closing her eyes, she waited for the lightheadedness to subside, her knees stinging from the rough impact.What is happening?How was it possible for her to be on the soft earth under the moon one moment, then inside a chilly, torch-lit corridor the next?

Her palms ached where they'd hit the floor, and her breaths were ragged as she took in her surroundings. Panic bubbled behind her breastbone, a cold sweat breaking out on the back of her neck. The hard floor. Not the soft dirt, but the cold,hardstone floor. The same stone floor she'd scrubbed at least twenty times. She was back at the castle.

Somehow, she was hundreds of miles away from the Wicked Wood and back at the horrible place where she’d been beaten and abused. Had the statue been some sort of portal? Was it a spell? A trap to send her back to where the king and prince likely rested safely in their beds after a long day of stealing magic and commanding their armies to hunt them down?

No, no, no. This can’t be happening.Lea was spiraling, and she sucked in a deep breath, trying to slow her heart rate. Would they feel her power? Were they already on their way to find her? Kill her?

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