Page 33 of King of Knights

All I need is patience and he will arrive. I am sure of it. His lover is the key to finding the others.

Exhaustion tries to take over as my lids become heavy. I take a seat by a tree and lean back against it. My mind goes to my family. Just a week ago, I had a beautiful wife and three children. Now my wife and one of my daughters are gone and a deranged man has taken my son.

I am left to feel helpless and angry. When this is over, it might be time to move away. I don’t know if I can remain anywhere near the kingdom of Nar.

The ground shakes, waking me. I didn’t realize I’d fallen asleep. Looking around for the source of the quaking, my gaze lands on a black horse. My eyes widen as I see the horse’s wings.

I close my eyes and shake my head to clear it. When I look again, there are no wings. Just a huge black horse.

“I think I am losing my mind,” I mutter.

When I take note of the rider, I jump to my feet. Reaching for the amulet, I rub it. Nothing happens.

I start to sweat. I know we will find the others here. All I need to do is get the bishop here. However, I don’t know how to use this thing.

I barely figured out how to travel with it. I frown and rub a little harder. Still, nothing happens.

Lifting it to my mouth, I blow on it and then rub it again. Still nothing. Muttering to myself, I rush toward the cave where the superbeing just disappeared.

My knees are weak. What if this thing has stopped working and he sees me? He is sure to kill me.

I swallow down the lump in my throat and keep pushing forward as I think of my son. It is a struggle to keep up with him. As I rush behind him, I continue to try to work the amulet to call the bishop here.

No matter what I do, nothing happens. I get the feeling I’m racing to my death. Suddenly, the superbeing stops up ahead.

I drop the amulet and allow it to fall back against my chest. It begins to glow with a green light. It feels warm against me.

The superbeing releases a roar that shakes everything around me. I cower where I stand, covering my head as I sit frozen.

“Will you get up? This is pathetic,” that same cold voice I’m beginning to loathe says.

“Father,” Ben calls out and rushes to wrap his arms around my neck as I raise my head.

“Aw, how touching. You have done well, Benjamin. I knew you wouldn’t disappoint me.

“I can sense the others. I now know where their help comes from. This place reeks of so many we thought we could trust,” the bishop says as I look at him over Ben’s head.

He shrugs and wipes the back of his hand across his mouth. “Let’s go. It’s time to finish this. You will see how we deal with covens and abominations. Your wish is about to come true.”

“I don’t think we should be here. Ben and I will just go.”

“Get. Up. Now,” he growls at me. Then, when I stand, he barks at me as he rips Ben from my hold. “Move.”

Betrayal

From the moment Hero lands, I get a feeling that I’m not going to like what I find when I get inside. I pick up right away on Venus and her sisters’ essence.

They should not be this far out. Nor should they have been able to get this close to our sanctuary and temple. Because this is the place we chose to rest in and allow ourselves to be our most vulnerable, we’ve made it impossible for anyone other than our true mates and those who created this place to find or enter.

However, I can feel the seal has been broken. I don’t have time to reseal the entrance as I need to get to my brothers as well as find out why I sense my woman here when I’ve never told her how to find this place.

“What are you women doing?” I mutter as I rush through the chambers.

The flow of the lava, the rush of water, the scent of fresh greenery, and the peace of the cravens leading to the temple all tell me my brothers have awakened and are recharging.

My pulse begins to race when I feel that the temple is in use. The magic flowing through the walls is unmistakable. However, other than my brothers or the ones who gifted this place to us, there shouldn’t be a single being outside of our true mates who can use this kind of magic here.

I don’t have time to process how this could be happening. I know Venus isn’t my mate. If she were, I would have known from the first moment I was in her presence.

---