Page 45 of Her Tortured Beasts

But too much rides on this. I need to talk to my regina. Ineedto know she’s okay. I need to know why she left me.

“Anything?” I ask Raquel, speaking out loud for the benefit of the rest of the room.

Raquel speaks softly, as if they’re worried they’ll wake something up. “Not yet. It feels sort of empty. Let me scope out the lower levels.”

I rage to think they have my regina in an underground cell or something. But knowing these fucking dragons, they would do exactly that.

“Calm, brother,” Scythe rasps in my ear. “Focus.”

I nod, but it’s irritating that I can’t feel Raquel anymore.

“Talk to me, anim,” I growl, clenching my fists to resist the urge to leap after them and feel it out for myself.

“There’s nothing here,” Raquel whispers, as if afraid someone will hear them. “I can feel faint movement, but it’s buffered.”

“Their protections are too strong,” Hyacinth says.

“We knew that going in,” I press. “But Aurelia—she might feel you if you’re close enough.”

“Aurelia,” Raquel whispers, as if she’s calling out. “Aurelia, can you hear me?”

I slap my knee. “I can’t even feel where she could be either. It’s like reaching out to a ghost.”

“Don’t say that,” Lyle growls from what feels like far away. I growl in agreement.

Raquel calls out to my regina again. “Aurelia? Oh, here’s something.”

“What?” at least four voices call out at the same time.

“It’s a dungeon,” Raquel whispers. “I sense wolves, though. Not dragons.”

A hint of warning prickles at my mind. A familiar magic. Dark and prowling low, close to the ground. It snaps at Raquel’s heels. My heart leaps.

“Abort mission!” I command. “Raquel, out! Those are Lunaris wolves!”

But instead of obeying me, Raquel lets out a blood-curdling scream.

“Lunaris?” screams Minnie. “Like Ruben Lunaris?”

“Raquel, where are you?” I shout.

“Stop!” Raquel screams. “Mr Fengari, help!”

“I’m trying!” I’m panicking now. I surge towards Drakos Estate, but Scythe’s cold power suddenly grasps my mind, holding it tight. “They’ll get you too. Leave her.”

“No!” I roar, getting onto my knees. I’ve never left a wolf behind. Not now, not ever. I strain towards Raquel, reaching out to try to hook them back to safety. “Raquel! Find me!”

Raquel screams again, this time in pure agony. And then their voice cuts off and I hear a thump in the room. Minnie and Stacey cry out. Sour panic fills the air.

Scythe grabs my mind in a grip like a cold current and forces me back to Animus Academy, where I open my physical eyes with a howl. I lunge for Raquel. But the wolf anim is slumped over, their eyes open and fixed in place.

Minnie’s arms are around the wolf anim, and she pins me with terrified eyes. “What have you done!”

Chapter 26

Xander

Anti-Hero — Taylor Swift

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