Page 125 of Shadows of Ruin

“My senses as a shifter are heightened regardless of magic,” he responded, taking a step back from Ian. “As are yours if you would learn how to train them properly.”

I noticed the captain frowning, no doubt unappreciative of Jax’s comment about his own abilities.

Jax approached me next, winking. “Fates, I should have started with you?—”

“Not another damn word,” I said through gritted teeth. I couldn’t handle his teasing, the way he wanted to diffuse some of my anger. Not when it came to Lana’s safety.

Jax stepped away from all of us and stretched his neck, turning slowly until he froze, eyes opening. “To the woods.” He pointed off to the right.

“He can track them by scent much faster than we can search on foot,” I explained to Corbin and Kalliah. “You have a choice. Stay here and guard the campsite or join us for whatever we are about to face.”

I looked back toward my tent. Where Lana had been with me just hours before. The ball inside of me tightened in response to my agitation again. If I had been able to access my shadows, there wouldn’t be a campsite left. Perhaps the poison was a blessing at this moment.

Corbin and Kalliah looked at each other for a moment and nodded. “We fight,” Kalliah responded, unsheathing the dagger from her side. A glimmer of vengeance twinkled in her eye.

“Let’s go.”

Following Jax’s lead, we ran. Every so often, he paused, sniffing the air again.

He cursed, a frustrated snarl escaping him. “It’s harder without my damn magic. Give me a minute.”

I should comfort him, reassure him the way Raya did, instantly going to his side. But my mind churned too fiercely to be of any use. I left the encouragement up to the others.

Harder, faster we ran. We jumped and dodged low-hanging branches and rocks, forcing ourselves through the wooded area at a speed defying what our diminished magic should allow.

The love each one of us had for Lana pushed us forward. She may be mine, but she was also theirs. All of theirs.

A woman who brought together two kingdoms just by being herself.

“Ahead!” Jax’s shout spurred us on the last few feet. As we cleared a row of trees, and entered a small clearing, Kalliah gasped.

All of us stopped dead in our tracks.

Dark ones littered the open area like locusts. Hundreds of them stood behind a tall, hooded figure. There were more than we could ever defeat alone. But I would not be deterred. From the way the others stood their ground, neither would they.

An evil laugh cackled loudly from the figure, as they stepped to the side, revealing Hale holding a dagger to Lana’s throat. Fear etched into every part of her body, and my heart stopped.

“Hale,” I screamed. “If you have harmed her…” Fury engulfed my entire body. “You will pray for death.”

“Release the queen,” Corbin yelled beside me. Thorny vines shot out from around his feet toward the closest group of dark ones.

The figure removed his hood, and the midnight hair beneath shone glossy, reflecting in the moonlight.Andras.

He cackled loudly again. “Release her? Never. She isours.”

“I swear on the Fates themselves, if you harm her, there is nowhere you can hide where I will not find you,” I said furiously. “Whether in this world or the next.” My handtwitched at my side, and instinctively I drew my blade from my back and over my shoulder. “It will not just be your body I destroy. It will be your very soul.”

Andras’s eyes narrowed as he stalked forward a few steps, braver with the army of dark ones behind him. “I am a loyal servant. One who has no fears for the words of a Fae so easily swayed by his heart. Come, Kade Blackthorn, try to make good on your threats.”

He raised his arms above his head as lightning cracked in the night sky. The dark ones jumped from foot to foot behind him. Agitated and waiting for a fight. Crazed.

I ran forward only to abruptly slam into a solid invisible barrier. My eyes went wide, staring the short distance to Lana while realizing I couldn’t reach her.

“No!” I tore at the barrier, the impossible wall I couldn’t see.

Andras laughed again. “As you can see, my loyal devotion is rewarded with gifts, like shields. Shields from weak men before”—he twirled his pointer finger around in a circle, staring like a starved man at the gem on his finger—“now made strong when multiplied.”

I shouted, an unintelligible sound coming from the base of the tether inside of me. “This is your last warning. Release Illiana now, or prepare to die.”

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