Page 96 of The Sacred and the Tormented

Talon kept sprinting, turning right again. Then left.

The portraits on the walls seemed to mock him—smiles widening, eyes tracking his every move.

Another door ahead was open. The door to his right.

He glanced in upon passing.

Papers and broken wood.

What the hell was happening?

“Raevina,” he called again, but she didn’t answer, couldn’t, not as something slammed into her from the cross section of the hall. Her body folded in half and she went flying. Talon’s eyes went wide, then his magic broke free, flying down the hall to block the entire tunnel where the attack had launched from.

He rounded the corner and slid to Raevina’s side, a sob already choking him.

Blood was everywhere, leaking out of her mouth, from her leg, from a wound to the side of her head, the hundreds of lacerations along her arms …

She coughed once, then Talon followed the trail of familiar magic to find Rion standing before them both, a look of confusion written across his face.

Something tore through Talon that he’d never felt before. A rage that consumed him.

And at that moment, he didn’t give a damn if Rion was a king or Arianna’s mate. He didn’t give a damn about anything.

Chapter Twenty-Eight

Saoirse

Saoirse and Zylah snuck through the outside gardens, watching the shadows as they bent with the torches that were barely still lit. A light shower had started minutes ago. Thick clouds overhead obscured the midday sun, making it seem much later in the day than when their mission began.

Under normal circumstances, Saoirse basked in the thrill of a mission, but with Zylah beside her, she just wanted to find Evelyn and get Zylah the hell out of here.

They crept between the old crumbling stones and walls, keeping close to the vines that crawled up through the crevices. Saoirse noted each and every one. The landscape was a perfect battleground for her should something foul decide to rear its ugly head.

Saoirse studied the gate in the distance. All they needed to do was reach it, disarm those who stood guard and wait for the bracelets to count down. Or all hell to break loose.

Conall had warned her they might be sitting still for hours and that they shouldn’t panic or rush to get into position. They had time, so long as the alarms didn’t go off.

Saoirse wanted to be there in case they did. The faster she could secure the area, the better prepared she’d be to get her brother and everyone else to safety.

Zylah crept along behind her. The two had paired off from the rest of the group that was sneaking around the opposite side of the garden. Saoirse didn’t like relying on near-strangers, but they needed the extra bodies. If they were captured, then it’d be their own fault for not paying attention.

“Remind me why I’m stuck with you again?” Zylah whispered as they rushed behind another crumbling wall.Everything looked so similar in the garden that it was difficult not to get turned around. And that was exactly why Saoirse was leaving small imprints of her magic within the greenery, just in case they took a wrong turn or someone with Pádraigín’s magic affected their runes.

Saoirse glanced around, then veered off into what might have once been a pleasant veranda. But the chairs had nearly rotted away and the wood’s stench floated through the space, mixing with the rot of everything else.

Saoirse stopped and peered up at the next level balconies. “Because your other choices weren’t ideal.”

Zylah watched too, her eyes nearly as keen as any Fae’s. “And why is that?”

“Well, you could be stuck with Arianna, which would probably be the most ideal, but then you’d have to deal with my grumpy brother.”

Another corner had them pausing, glazing around before darting past. “Or you could have been paired up with Talon and Raevina, but I think Raevina rivals Rion where decent conversation is concerned.”

“Talon is pleasant enough.” Saoirse looked at her, then refocused, but she caught Zylah’s smirk at the suggestion. “Was that jealousy?”

“No, I know where you stand with males.”

“I’m not sure you know where I stand with anything.”

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