Page 94 of The Sacred and the Tormented

Rion’s breath hitched as Talon’s gaze lifted to his. The absolute fury in those eyes had Rion retreating a step. He’d seen that kind of rage before, but something about this was different. Primal.

Talon’s magic stirred around him, rising and falling with every breath. It spread through the cracks in the ground, freezing the crimson liquid surrounding the female.

Dying. Raevina was dying, and Arianna was nowhere to be found.

“Talon.” The sound was nearly a plea, then ice crackled around the male’s body before he lunged.

Chapter Twenty-Seven

Talon

Talon guarded the door while Raevina sifted through the drawers, yanking papers out before tearing the entire wooden desk apart. They already had a handful of important documents stuffed into a bag. He’d scanned a few, but there wasn’t time to read through the content. If it looked official, they grabbed it and moved on.

But Raevina seemed far more focused on this particular room. As if she were looking for something specific. She’d insisted on being part of the intel recovery team when they were making plans with Conall. He hadn’t questioned her about it at the time.

“What are you looking for?” Talon asked, his gaze still locked on the long halls. They’d turned darker somehow after separating from Arianna, as if Vairik couldn’t be bothered with proper lighting.

The air in the castle was warm and stagnate. They currently occupied an interior portion that gave off the illusion of being trapped underground. He would’ve thought Fae who possessed the power to manipulate the wind itself would at least see to proper ventilation.

Raevina kept shifting through the papers and pulled out another drawer before shattering it across the desk. Bottles fell out of a hidden compartment and shattered on the floor.

Talon grimaced, certain they shouldn’t be making so much noise. Then again, if anyone showed up, it wasn’t as if he’d let them live anyway. None of the scum in this castle deserved to. Not after what they’d seen in the dungeons and those other rooms.

He shuddered at the memory.

One of Conall’s warriors peeked out from a doorway and met Talon’s gaze. The two nodded to one another, indicating all was still clear as they kept rummaging through the rooms. There hadn’t been much time to get to know them, but the little he’d seen made Talon confident in their abilities at least. They’d run through a few drills, practiced runes, and memorized the layout before setting off.

He supposed he’d worked under worse conditions while hunting The Demon and searching for Arianna.

But Rion wasn’t a demon anymore.

Talon sighed. If any of this went according to plan, it’d be nothing short of a miracle. Hell, it was a miracle in itself that they’d gotten this far.

Talon stared up at the ceiling. Just a few more floors and they’d find Vairik’s study. Ellie was nearby, he could feel it in his bones. Before long, Arianna and Rion would find his future High Lady, then they’d blow this hellhole to bits, hopefully with Vairik still inside.

He doubted it would end up being that easy.

Talon watched the other end of the hall. A chill swept through him. It was quiet. Too quiet for his comfort, like the world had taken a breath it hadn’t yet released.

They’d dispatched a few guards and had waited countless minutes for more to appear. None had and whoever sat on the council hadn’t come to collect their things either.

It wasn’t a holiday or the solstice, not that Talon expected Vairik to honor such things. Still, he’d expected to findsomeoneof importance. He’d wanted it, in fact, if only to have the chance to question them himself.

Talon checked the rune on his arm again. It remained, as did the bracelet that was still counting down. Only hours remained. He prayed they would have enough time to free the slaves outside. Saoirse and Zylah would create a distraction fortheir escape. He could break a few chains on his way out and urge them to follow.

Raevina’s sudden pause caused him to glance back. She was reading a document, her eyes moving quickly down the page. Her face contorted in rage before she crumpled the paper and slammed her fist on the desk, splintering the wood beneath her hand.

“That bastard,” she seethed.

“What did you find?”

She slammed her fist into the desk again. “He completely sold out. The coward gave up everything.”

“What are you talking about?”

Raevina didn’t answer. Instead, she stuffed the paper into her pocket, then spun toward the map hanging on the wall. Her eyes traced the lines near Fiadh and he noticed the pins that ran from Ashling all the way down the strait.

Talon glanced down the hall again, then joined her to study the various points. This map was different from the one he’d always known. Instead of Ashling sitting on the northern part of the continent, this map showed it slightly further south, at the edge of the mountains, right where Conall’s maps had shown it too.

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