AllFreeNovel
Share Us
"It will not be easy," Sharak warns. "To pass as human, to play at being something we're not, it goes against every instinct, every inch of what we are."
"I know," I grit out, the words bitter on my tongue. "But for her, for Lily, I will do anything. Be anything, even if it means betraying the warrior I've always believed myself to be."
I meet his gaze, my own burning with the immensity of my resolve. "I will crawl through the mud, cower in the muck if it means getting to her, bringing her back. I will beg and bleed, Sharak, will break every vow, every value if it leads me to her side."
He stares at me for a long, charged moment then nods, a grim acceptance settling over his features. "Then let it be done," he says quietly. "Let us be done with the ways of war for this night, this need."
He leans in, his eyes fierce. "For her, Grok, we will be anything. Everything you require. Shadows in disguise, who strike from the darkness, all for the sake of the female that holds your heart."
Emotion swells in my chest, a tidal wave of gratitude and allegiance to this male, this comrade who's been my sword and my shield for longer than I can remember.
"Thank you," I rasp, the words woefully small. "Thank you, old friend."
With love burning in my breast, my blood, I turn to face the city that holds my heart within its walls.
Night falls over Emberhal like a shroud, a shadow thick and full of whispers, of warnings left unheeded.
We move through the streets like ghosts, cloaked in costumes and camouflage, blending with the crowd of revelers, the clamor of the festival in full swing.
It's a jarring thing, to be so close to the enemy and yet go unnoticed. To walk among them, with them as if we are part of their pack, their party.
As if we belong when every instinct, every inch of me screams the opposite.
But I push down the revulsion, the resistance and focus on the task at hand, the target ahead. On the keep, the castle where my Lily lies in chains, in captivity.
Waiting for me, wanting for me to come for her, claim her as I always have, always will.
No matter the cost, the carnage. No matter the mask I must wear, the disguise I must adopt to slip past the guards and reach her side.
"The gate is ahead," Sharak murmurs, his voice a barely-there breath against my ear. "The guards are distracted, drunk on wine and wenches. If we move now, swiftly, we may pass through unseen."
I nod, a sharp jerk of my chin. "Then let us move," I growl, the words a rumble in my chest. "Let us move and may the gods grant us speed and stealth as we breach the walls that keep me from my mate."
We surge forward as one, a unit bound by purpose and passion, duty and the driving need to see our mission through, our majesty restored.
To see her restored to my arms, my aura. To the place, the position she was always meant to hold.
At my side, in my sight as my queen, my completion.
We pass through the gate like smoke, like specters, unseen by the guards that should have stopped us.
"The keep," Drex hisses, pointing with a clawed finger. "There, at the heart of the city, rising like a blight on the land."
I follow his gaze, my eyes narrowing, my nostrils flaring as I take in the towering spire of stone, the stronghold of the enemy.
The place where she is being held. Hurt in ways that make my blood boil, my bones quake with the need, the necessity to reach her, to free her.
To end the ones who dared to lay hand on her and make them pay, in blood and bone and breaking.
"We go in hard and fast," I rasp, the words a growl of barely leashed violence. "Silent and sudden, striking from the shadows and leaving no trace of our presence."
I meet each of their gazes in turn, my eyes burning with the intensity, the immensity of my resolve. "No killing," I command, the words bitter as bile on my tongue. "Not unless necessary, not unless needed to preserve our own lives."
I see the surprise, the shock flicker across their faces. The ogre way is not one of mercy but of ruthless efficiency, removing any threat.
But for her, for Lily, I will temper my blade, my brutality. I will stay my hand, my hunger for the spilling of blood, the sundering of bone.
Because I know it is not what she would want. Not what she would choose, even for those who have wronged her.
