Page 124 of Blooms of Darkness

Andras threw his head back and cackled. “Ignorant girl. No magic and no brain. The kingdom will not miss you. The darkness will thrive, and your kingdom will be lost, while Fae who deserve wealth and power will reign.”

“I will never do what you want.” I seethed. “Never.”

Andras cackled again. “You will, or your time in the dungeons will seem like child's play for what I have planned. All of your insolence throughout the years will not go unpunished.”

A tingle down my spine, and the warmth of a familiar shadow cooled my panic, soothed it despite the impossible odds. I looked up to find Kade armed to the teeth, anger seeping from his very being.

His shadows pooled at his feet, agitated, and ready to fight.

“Remove those vines from her now, or death will seem like a mercy compared to what I have in store for you.”

Chapter 35

Kade had come for me.

Even if we were still outnumbered, the thought alone gave me hope that nothing Andras said would ever come to fruition.

Kade’s eyes were deep pits of ebony storms as his wrath consumed the space around him.

His deadly stare focused solely on Andras and the tether of vines he’d weaved around me.

Ian fell to the ground, shifting from his hawk form alongside Kade, followed by Storm, who took out a dark one approaching us, as if it were nothing.

They’d all come to help. To fight for me.

“The Royal Guard is rounding up the last of your dark ones now, Andras.” Ian seethed. “It’s over.”

Andras tilted his head to the side, scoffing. The vine around my waist crawled up and over my breasts, inching toward my throat, my fingernail unable to reach the spot I’d been furiously cutting.

“Dark ones. What a precious nickname. But you have no idea what they’re capable of,Captain,” Andras spat. “In fact, right now, there are more tearing through the streets of Ellevail. Thecries of your people will echo here soon. You will not defeat us. Brookmere will be ripe for the taking.”

Andras yanked me backward, tugging me out of the arena as dark ones rushed past him, toward my friends. A chasm of thorns erupted, blocking their path to me.

“No,” I screamed, renewing my fight against him.

We reached the gardens, people running and screaming around us.

Someone bellowed in pain behind me.No, please don’t let them be hurt.

With a fury inside I had felt more than I cared to admit lately, I ripped my hand from beneath one of the vines and latched onto it, screaming all of the hatred I had for Andras.

An unfamiliar light sparked under my hand as the vine beneath me shriveled. Whatever nature blessed me with in these dire moments, I prayed would continue.

I whirled on the man who’d tortured me all those years, and he snarled as the doors to the palace behind him flung open.

Andras smiled as if he knew the dark ones were with him. He raised his hands to his side, roots crawling toward the surface, morphing into another thorny vine, and he flung it in my direction.

Everything happened too fast to process. I couldn’t move quickly enough, but someone else did.

Leif came out of nowhere, hurling his body in front of mine as the vine tore through his thigh, pushing out the other side.

“Leif,” I cried, falling to my knees next to him. “Why, Leif? Leif!”

“I’m fine.” He clenched his teeth. “Get out of here, somewhere safe, Lana. Go.” He pressed his hand toward my shoulder.

“I can’t leave you here. I won’t leave you.”

“I’ve got him.” Corbin appeared a second later and smirked at his friend. “Had to be the hero.”

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