Page 54 of Bonded to the Fallen Shadow King

Shock rippled through me, and I stumbled. I stopped just short of the end of the platform, heart thundering in my chest.

Myantha’s hands flew to her mouth.

Siray bolted the rest of the way to the square platform. Her foot caught on one of the boards as it snapped. She fell forward and clawed herself back up.

Another loud click sounded with a heavier, more final note. Then the entire maze started to shift, the boards lifting or falling and then reforming in a different order all around the tower.

Leaping from the shifting walkway, Siray narrowly landed on the black square platform.

“Everything’s moving!” Velessa shouted, as if no one else was seeing what she saw.

The paths ahead and on the sides shifted, swirling in a mad cyclone faster and faster. The lilac-haired fae stood there, stunned.

“Hey, get back here!” I cupped my hands around my mouth and shouted, “It’s moving! Come on!”

The path the lilac-haired woman was on collapsed, boards falling into the water like rain as others moved upward. She dropped with a scream, and the leeches descended upon her as soon as she hit the water.

My throat burned as bile inched upward.

The third path had even bigger gaps now, the floating segments too far apart to reach without jumping and now angled in a different direction.

Rhielle’s route was gone too, the connecting plank snapping like a twig as the entire section twisted away. Rhielle stood on the black platform several yards away, her eyes wide.

We didn’t have time to plan more. The massive leeches and crabs had already taken notice, pulsing through the water and toward our platform.

The first ones reached us quicker than I’d expected, curling upward and straining with their huge, toothed mouths.

“Feck!” Quen sent a fiery red blast at them but missed. She dropped to the ground and lay on her stomach, driving her elbows into the slick floor so the discs didn't weigh her down.

Calla Lily swallowed hard. “I have to try to get across.” She bolted down the middle path, arm up to shield her face, weaving through where the blades had taken Malron. The boards flexed under her feet. One cracked, but she didn’t stop.

The leeches surged up the sides, thick bodies slapping against stone as they attacked our platform. Crabs followed, claws raised, their shells black and bruised. One scraped across the platform and snapped at Myantha. Quen torched it, and it recoiled with a hiss. The smell of burning shell hit fast. Yuki summoned up three large rocks and slammed it repeatedly, driving it back.

But several huge ass crabs seemed intent on me. The first crawled faster than I’d have thought possible, and my wolf surged forward. I waited until the last second and, just as the first one reached the top, I slammed my disc into the crab’s face. The metal vibrated all though my arms and into my bones.

The crab jerked back, legs skittering. But another one was already crawling up, mouth open and ridges grinding. I braced again.

Beneath all of it, the clicks returned. Slow. Steady. Heavy.

I’d just swung my disc and knocked the second crab off the platform when Calla Lily screamed, “Help!”

I glanced up to find her in the center of the path she’d chosen, its the planks snapping under her.

She tried to jump to the next plank, but it broke upon impact. She dropped like a sack of potatoes, but caught the broken edge of the hole in the bridge with both hands. Her legs kicked, feet slapping wood of the nearby structural enforcements but unable to get a hold. “Please! I can’t hold much longer!”

Kaylen shot past us, barely touching the boards. Her steps made no sound.

I stared after her. Had the fallout with her friends made her want to change her tune? I couldn’t believe it, but—

Instead of stopping to help Calla Lily, Kaylen jumped over the broken planks and kept going.

That fucking bitch. I should’ve known better.

Hands slipping, Calla Lily hung on for dear life.

I gritted my teeth. There was no way I’d leave someone to die like that.

The platform sagged under my weight, and unlike Kaylen, my feet thudded against the wood. The planks splintered, revealing what poor shape the bridge was in. Still, I pushed forward, determined to save Calla Lily before it was too late.

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