Page 50 of Sunken Empire

Twisting in place, I move to Aukai’s side.

“What are you doing?” he demands, keeping his eyes trained on the threats looming in front of us. And boy are they ugly. These are the ones I refused to even look at through the bars. Whatever they used to be, there’s nothing of that left in them.

“I’m not leaving a brother behind,” I tell him.

In my peripheral, I see his chin jerk toward my face. As though that’s the opening they’ve been waiting for, the monsters jump. We take turns side by side stabbing and downing them, but it’s obvious we aren’t going to be able to hold them off long enough to get through the portal ourselves.

“Close it!” I yell over the scream of the victim at the end of my trident.

Gods, Rubi. I’m sorry, my love.

“Not yet,” a voice stresses behind us right before we’re all blinded with a light bright enough to be the sun itself.

A human hand wraps itself around my bicep and pulls backward. I don’t bother fighting it since we’d kept the creatures funneled to our front.

“Aukai!” I bellow. “We can’t leave him!”

I still can’t see, but I can feel when we pass through the portal. The sick feeling the first time is nothing compared to this. I’ve failed Rubi. Aukai is stuck in that god awful place and will die a most horrible death.

Trying to open my eyes proves to be worth nothing since the light has left me blind. Voices echo around the throne room as the portal drops with a slight suction to our ears. Already without one of my senses, I drop to my hands and knees.

“Aukai,” I mutter, letting my head slip down to rest against the floor.

A hand presses against my back as I hear Zale say, “He’s here, brother. He made it out.”

If there weren’t so many people around us, I might just embarrass myself by crying in relief. Losing any of us would’ve been hard on Rubi.

Zephyr.

Thankfully, when I open my eyes I can see again, I can see once more. Even if there are still spots dancing in my vision. Zale tries to help me up, and I let him. I’m sure there was a moment there when he thought I was going to be the one who wasn’t going to make it back. Once I’m on my feet, I one arm hug him.

“Let’s go save our brother and kiss our mate,” I tell him, drawing a tight laugh from his chest.

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