Page 75 of Blood of Two Crowns

Our soldiers’ roars rent the air as Nakoa worked them into a frenzy, but I was too busy staring at the gaping portal to pay attention to what he was saying. His father andolana kah’heiseemed to be in a similar state. Though their thoughts were surely consumed with the task at hand, mine were consumed by the thought of Mareina in the hands of another male. And my emotions couldn’t decide whether to be relieved or heartbroken that it was with anothersoulbound.

The hairs on the back of my neck rose at the sensation of the dark, heavy magic bleeding from it. My heart pounded in my chest with undeniable fear and impatience to step through the cursed thing so I could hurry up and get Mareina back home safe and sound. It was black and completely opaque so westillcouldn’t see what laid directly on the other side of it.

Lokus gave a derisive snort, scowling at the portal as if it had personally offended him. “Fuckthat.”

He stomped off toward the jungle, carrying a long, crooked, broken branch and jabbed it through the portal. We all watched with bated breath.Including Miroslav.When nothing happened, Lokus wiggled it around before drawing it back out. The stick remained exactly the same, but he appeared unconvinced.

Lokus scratched his beard, leaning on the branch.

“Anyone got a dog and a leash?”

The question earned him a few chuckles and eye rolls. Lokus’ mischievous grin illuminated his face as his eyes landed on Roderick,the lykos wolf shifter.

Roderick heaved a long-suffering sigh, stifling his own grin. “Fuck off, mate.”

“I’d bet my whole fucking ball bag that you’ve got a leash and collar lyin’ around somewhere in that kinky little bedroom of yours.”

Roderick gave him a dazzling smile as he tossed him a wink. “I do, actually, but it’s not formeto wear.”

Lokus tossed his head back with laughter, easing some of the nervous tension in the air.

As though not entirely convinced, Lokus jabbed the branch back in, swinging it around halfway down the length. After a moment, the branch was halted mid-swing, and somethingyankedonit. Before we could even react Lokus shrieked as he was pulled through the other side faster than he could let go.

Chapter

Forty-Three

ASTERION

I’d spent the last two sleeps—there were no windows or clocks to tell time—watching the people trapped in this enormous maze of a subterranean dungeon beside me, trying to determine just how many of them were worthy of a life cut short. Because someway, somehow, I would get this fucking palladium collar off me, and raze thisAkash-forsaken place to the ground. The demons, humans, fae, and other beings inhabiting Azrael’s realm were all pretty wretched.

In all fairness, I couldn’t imagine there were many decent creatures here outside of the all-female prisoners Azrael had cleverly locked me up with on the off chance I figured out someway to remove the collar. Like by bribing one of my fellow nephillim—and throwing caution to the wind by unleashing my powers, killing everyone in my vicinity so I could escape.

After Mareina had been taken, Azrael appeared an entire breath later and slapped a palladium collar on my throat and a dart in my neck.

I’d woken up to the sight of a gaping, black hole with whisps of black magic pouring into it that had appeared near the farthest wall, only a few feet away.Outside of our cell,much to my dismay.It blended in somewhat against a dark backdropof shelving and other storage items that seemed to have been haphazardly left there.

The females stuck in the cell with me yelped as a long, crooked branch suddenly jabbed through the portal, wiggling around.

What the fuck is that?

I cautiously stepped toward the bars of our cell and attempted to reach through them to grab the wriggling thing. One of the females ran up to stop me—the one who had helped me keep my calm and sanity—especially when I’d first arrived. She had power I’d never come across before. She could influence people’s emotions and, thus, their actions.

“Don’t. You have no idea what might happen?—

I shrugged her off. “If I do what? Grab a stick? It’s not like they can pull me through these palladium bars.”

She frowned, flicking a glance toward the portal just as the branch disappeared. My heart sank.Fuck.

Heaving a sigh of disappointment, I returned to the wall opposite the presumed portal and sat heavily. Praying that something,anything, would happen. Hours passed, and I’d just nodded off to sleep when I heard the female’s gasps and hushed murmurs. I snapped awake, heart pounding, to see the branch being swung around violently.

I leapt forward, squeezing my arm through the metal bars and reaching as far as I could. The branch incidentally slammed into my palm. A grin split my face as victory purred to life in my chest—what victory, onlyAkashknew—and I yanked on the thing as hard as I could.

A tall, lithely muscled male wearing a fancy pair of fighting leathers, with tousled blonde hair and skin covered in tattoos, bodily slammed into the bars of my cell. His eyes went comically wide at the sight of me as he backed away, taking in the sight of our bleak surroundings.

A harsh look carved his features as if I were the one who’d put the portal here. “Who’re you?And where the hells are we?”

I narrowed my eyes in disbelief.

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