Page 73 of Power of Draken

Collin's screams turn guttural and wet as the wolf gouges deep furrows from Collin’s brow to jaw, destroying the once handsome face.

I jam my fist into my mouth, biting down on my knuckles to keep from screaming or running or doing anything to attract the beast’s attention. My heart races, bile surging up my throat.

Just as I'm certain the wolf is about to rip Collin's throat out for good, it releases him and steps back with an angry growl. There is a bright flash of light and suddenly there is no wolf. Instead a fae male stands in its place, chest heaving and hands dripping crimson. “I promised Rowan that she will take you down,” the male snarls down at where Collin struggles to crawl to safety. “That is the only reason you still live. So she can be the one to end you.”

The male turns, his honey golden eyes catching the moonlight.

Logan.

I step back, only to hit a hard chest as a hand comes to cover my mouth. “Don’t scream, chaos,” Kyrian whispers into my ear. “Please.”

Chapter 36

Rowan

Istare at Logan, my mind spinning as I try to process what I've just witnessed. The man I thought I knew, the one who had teased and taunted and even pleasured me, stands before me now, his hands stained with blood, his eyes glowing an inhuman gold. And peeking out from the thick mop of raven black hair are the signature pointed ears of an immortal fae.

"Rowan," he says softly, taking a step toward me. "Please, let me explain."

But I can't focus on his words. All I can see is the wolf. The fae.

I twist to Kai—as much as Kyrian’s grip on me allows—desperate to find him with a weapon in hand. With shock and outrage and a plan. But he's not looking at me. His attention is fixed on Ellie, his hand clamped firmly over her mouth as he holds her close to his chest. There's a gentleness to his touch, even as he restrains her, that makes my stomach twist.

"What's going on?" I demand, my voice shaking. "What are you?"

Logan looks down at his hands, as if seeing the blood for the first time. He wipes them on his pants, leaving dark streaks against the fabric. "We're not going to hurt you, Rowan. I swear it."

"You're fae," I whisper, the truth finally too real to be denied as the many small moments click into place. The way the triad has always seemed too perfect, too strong, too fast. The preternatural beauty and power and experience that never truly matched a handful of twenty three year old cadets. The auric steel arrowhead, one that was never dipped in any poison but my own, stealing everything from Kai.

The way they had played with my heart and my body. The good parts that had seemed too good to be real. Because they weren’t. It’s always been a game to them.

Kai finally looks at me, his icy blue eyes unreadable. "Yes," he says simply. "We are."

He exchanges glances with Logan. Then, as if rehearsed, they let the rest of their glamours fall away.

Kai's blond hair gains a brush of shimmering silver, as if little flecks of starlight now play between the strands, his ears tapering to delicate points. Beside him, Logan's golden eyes become even more pronounced, and he brushes the tip of his tongue over the sharp points of his elongated canines. I can’t see Kyrian, but I feel a tiny tickling brush of magic pass over him and know that he too has changed. Subtly. Going from strangely, brutally beautiful to immortal. Perfect.

I realize I’m not breathing and force air into my seizing lungs. The numbness of surprise is giving way to fear and fury.

"I apologize for the deception," Kai says, his voice melodic but hard. Shadows flow from him, twisting around his body. And even the apology is tempered. Like he isn’t truly sorry at all. “But we had no choice."

Of course they didn’t. Not if they wanted to make their way into the heart of Eryndor defenses. Into our training grounds. To gain access to everything that gives humans an edge in this war.

Immortal fae against all too mortal humans. It was never a fair fight. Both our ancestors knew it, knew that no matter what noble intentions any one leader might have, the power balance between our species would always prove too much temptation for the immortal predators. That’s why the wards had been set up to keep fae magic out of the human realm, why the deadly Mystwood forest was grown and populated with creatures even the fae could not survive.

But the wards did not last. They’d been corroding for hundreds of years and failing outright in the recent decades.

So the universe had shifted to adjust. Enchanters have become more common amidst my people, especially in Eryndor, which is on the edge of Flurry, the most aggressive of the fae courts. Humans able to wield magic. And occasionally, rarely, so rarely that it would take penetrating into the very heart of a Spire Command and remaining there for years just to have a chance of encountering one, an alchemist would emerge.

A human capable of making auric alloy. The one element that levels the playing field with the fae.

“I was your target all along,” I whisper, the horrifying realization crashing over me like a bucket of icy water. Every interaction, every moment of banter and flirtation and seduction, all of it orchestrated and calculated to get close to me. To gain my trust. So that when Kai told me to follow him into a forest, away from the Eryndor army, I’d idiotically follow.

I feel violated. Used. Utterly betrayed. Hot tears prick at the corners of my eyes but I blink them back furiously, refusing to show even a moment of weakness before these monsters wearing the faces of the men I'd come to trust. To care for, despite every attempt to keep my walls firmly in place.

I struggle against Kyrian's hold, but he only tightens his grip, pressing me back against his chest. "Please, chaos," he murmurs. "We're not going to hurt you."

No, they probably won’t. Not yet. Their enemy is all of Eryndor, not just me, and they’ll want to milk that advantage to the fullest. Somehow. Just denying our army one alchemist would be a win for the fae, but they probably could gain an even greater edge with me alive and forced to dance to their tune.

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