Page 214 of The Shadow Wand

Lukas’s gaze meets mine with horrified urgency as he grabs hold of me once more and pulls me into a sprint toward the entrance to the Vonor.

Valasca and Chi Nam are already there, Valasca strapping on runic weapons and Chi Nam repetitively tapping runic codes with a rune stone into the portal’s frame, the portal’s center a stubbornly uncharged silver.

Valasca spits out a curse as her eyes meet Lukas’s. “Vogel’s forces can shut down advanced runic systems. We’re in trouble.”

“Vogel’s here,” I say, taking in Lukas’s momentarily dire look.

But then a steely expression descends on Lukas’s face. He looks to Chi Nam. “How long until the portal’s ready?”

“Soon,” she says as she holds a rune stone against the portal’s frame, the central silver brightening in a sweeping ripple. She gives him a level look. “But for only one passage. Maybe two, but the second might fly off course.”

“Can you speed it up?” he presses.

“I’m trying.”

Lukas turns to me, looking fiercely decided. He grips my arms, his voice rough. “Elloren. When you get to Noi lands, find your brothers. And then, if she’s still there, find Kam Vin. Warn them. Warn the Wyvernguard about what’s coming.”

Terror spikes. “No! I’m not going without all of you!”

“Be quiet!” Lukas snarls. “Listen to me! Tell them Vogel can shut down advanced military runes. Tell Kam Vin. She’ll believe you. She understands what’s happening in the Western Realm.”

What he’s saying smashes through me in a terrible wave. I attempt to twist out of his grip, shaking my head vehemently, panic building. “No.I won’t go without you!”

“Elloren.” Lukas’s voice is hard, his grasp on my arms relentless as Valasca begins attaching additional blades to me. “Youwill.”

Valasca stuffs a money purse into my tunic’s pocket, then straightens and grabs hold of my arm as well, her expression both desperate and ironhard. “Find Ni,” she says with great urgency, a beseeching edge to her tone. “Promise me you’ll find Ni and tell her what Vogel can do. Warn her. And...” Her expression momentarily shatters, her voice breaking. “Tell her I love her. Promise me, Elloren. Promise me you’ll tell her.”

They’re sacrificing their lives for me.

Tears blur my vision as I shake my head, desperation overtaking me. “No. Please.No.”

The dragons stop circling and fly in to land on the flat expanse of desert in front of the Vonor mountain.

Lukas’s tone gains an impassioned edge. “Elloren, you arenotweak. You’re awarrior. I havealwaysknown that you’re powerful. But now,youhave to believe it. You need to survive. You need to fight Vogel. And you need towin.”

Tears sheen my eyes as I glance toward the dragons, their seven riders now striding toward us, dark and small from this distance.

I look back at Lukas, both terrified and devastated. “I love you,” I tell him.

Lukas’s expression tightens, almost a flinch followed by a look of excruciating pain. We can’t lie to each other, so he knows that what I’ve just said is true. I loved Yvan. That will never change. But I’ve grown to love Lukas too.

My fastmate. My lover. My friend.

When it comes, Lukas’s voice is thick with emotion, his voice on the edge of breaking. “There are no words for what I feel for you. There never have been.” He glances toward the incoming Mages, releases my arms, then turns and draws his wand, his demeanor turning deadly.

I can feel his magic consolidating into a honed, lethal spear.

He steps away from me and follows Chi Nam as she moves toward the end of the stony ledge and slams her staff down onto stone. Another runic shield flies up and over us that pulses with blue light and a denser constellation of runes.

Lukas positions himself just behind her, wand readied. Valasca moves to his side with two blades clenched in her fists.

Heart pounding, I ready my own blades as Vogel comes into sharper view as he strides toward us, the white bird emblazoned on his priestly tunic, his Shadow Wand in hand.

Four Level Five Mage soldiers flank him along with his two envoys, but the envoys are terrifyingly altered. Shadow horns have begun a slow curl up from their heads, their eyes simmering red as coals, the rune on my abdomen heating up to a scald.

They’re demons, I realize, terror spiking.

Without warning, Vogel’s dark tree blasts into me like an affinity fist, my hands and wrists shot through with pain as if stabbed with countless needles. Both his power and the pain drive me back a step, cinching the air from my lungs as Vogel’s Shadow branches lash themselves around my lines, bearing down, rooting me to the spot, and tying me there as I struggle against his invisible bindings, a vengeful cry of protest rising in my throat.

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