Page 81 of Tortured Royals

It’s nice being up here, and I know all that will change the moment we make it to the castle. Once we’re there, I’ll need to go straight to the king. To alert him of everything that’s going on and hope he’s managed to get more soldiers from the allied realms. If anything, I slow my pace a little.

Prince Callan turns his head, peering at me with concern.“What’s wrong my Ahalian Touizda?”

I sigh, enjoying the cool night air on my skin and the scent of smoke in my nose.“Nothing, and yet, everything,”I reply.“What happens if we can’t defeat the witches?”Before now, I hadn’t let myself contemplate it. Not really. But before I met my mates, I never had much to lose. Now, my chest tightens at the thought of five males being taken from me all too soon after only just finding them.”

“We will,”Mason says firmly.“There was a time when I was in the mines of The Haven, when I wondered why I was still alive. But now I know. The witches have tormented the different realms for too long. No matter what Celzar did, they need to be stopped. I was always meant to be yours, my mate, and something tells me, not even the witches are a strong enough force to break us.”

I give him a tight smile, and I peer ahead at the looming dark towers of the castle growing larger with each passing second. I thought I’d be happier to be returning home. But it’s only then that I realize the demon castle never had really felt like home. Not even when I was little and mostly confined to life within the stone walls. And now that I’m bonded to my mates, I know why. Because my home never was a stone structure where I slept. It was anywhere I went with my mates, and that hole inside me that was missing? It was them. It had been all along.

“Ha! First place!”Nate laughs in my head, as he grapples along the castle stone walls and lands on the other side.

“Be honest,”I say to the others.“You all let him have that.”

Their chuckles sound in my head.

“No one wanted to have to listen to his complaining if he lost,”Alaric grumbles as their sports car skids to a halt just outside the castle gates.

The demon soldiers on the castle walls shout and a volley of arrows fly at Nate. He dodges to the side, narrowly missing them, but they keep coming. One is aimed at his eye, and hesnatches it out of the air with his teeth.“Uh, gorgeous, any chance you can tell them to stand down before I have to kill someone?”

Grinning, I tuck in my wings, soaring the last distance, and Prince Callan gives me, Mason and himself an extra boost of speed using his wind power.

I’m glad to see Dad has doubled the guards on duty, but before Nate starts tearing through them, I shout, “Stand down! He’s my mate, and unless you want to lose your life, put your weapons down.”

A guard on the ground who was clearly about to use his power, lowers his hands.

“It’s the princess!” another guard yells, peering at me as I land beside Nate.

“Okay, is it just me, or do they look glad to see you?”Shade comments, sounding uncertain as she lands on my shoulder.

“It’s not just you,”Prince Callan says.

I frown, peering at the relieved faces of the demon guards. Over the years, I’ve grown used to demons respecting me. Fearing me, even. But I never thought they’d be relieved to see me.“Why does that feel like a bad sign?”

I order the guards to open the gates, and Alaric and Dante join us before the gates close again behind them.

“Just enjoy it,”Shade says, as the demons all drop to one knee, slamming a fist to their chests.

Nate shakes his shaggy head, and his body shifts, growing smaller again as he changes back from his beast form. He winks at me, a triumphant gleam in his eyes.“I’m lookin’ forward to collectin’ my reward, gorgeous.”

I want to say that I am as well, but I can’t stop thinking about how relieved the guards look.Has something happened here?I purse my lips.“We’d better get inside.”

“So, about the castle,”Shade starts,“Blake, there’s something I need to tell you.”

I push open the heavy front doors, striding into the dimly lit entrance hall. The moment I’m inside the castle, invisible icy claws reach for me, scraping against my skin. The dark power I sensed the last time I was in the vault, pushes at my mind, those claws scraping against my skull and trying to find a way in. Cursing, I fight against it, fortifying my mental walls, and I turn to my mates, panic thrumming through me.

“Did you feel that?” I rush out.

They all stare at me, blinking.

“You mean how damn cold it is in here?” Nate asks, rubbing his arms. “Yeah, hasn’t the king ever heard of a fire?”

“It’s summer,” Dante says dryly. He moves closer to me, concern written on his face. “You can feel it can’t you? The power?”

“You can’t?”

He shakes his head. “All I noticed was the temperature dropping a few degrees.”

I search his eyes, remembering when he was disguised as Kai and the power had tried to kill him.

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