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“And you think the fairy has been honest about everything?” Owen asks, his tone dripping with venom. “He intends to use you. He only has the interest of himself and his realm at heart. You are nothing but a pawn.”
“And you intend to do better?”
“At least when I’m done with you, you’ll be dead,” he sneers.
I hear a growl behind me before I am pulled into the muscled chest of my future Consort. I feel his relief at finding me unharmed, his anger at being faced with the true abomination that is Owen, and his desire to take me back to where he feels I belong. I can feel the energy pouring off Hayden who stands firm with his friend as well as my future father-in-law, Merrick.
Owen points his gnarled finger at Niko and seethes. “He intends to have you walk the realms for eternity.”
Chapter Fifteen
Niko
“Cassandra is missing,” Sonia says as she approaches me outside the conclave.
“What do you mean, missing?” I ask angrily.
“She was supposed to meet your mother two hours ago for her final dress fitting and she never showed up. We have been scouring the palace for the last hour and there is no sign of her inside or outside,” she replies.
Hayden comes striding toward us with purpose. “You won’t find her.”
“You were supposed to watch her,” I accuse my best friend. “What the hell happened?”
Hayden glares at me but doesn’t answer. Instead, he turns to Sonia. “She was taken down one of the secret passages and out of Runic. I tracked them to the portal.”
“Those passages are only known to the highest-ranking members of the court,” I supply. “That means we have a traitor in the palace.”
“That’s what I was thinking,” Hayden nods. “We need to find out who and get rid of them immediately.”
“I will get on that as soon as Cassandra is safe,” Sonia answers solemnly.
Hayden cuts her off. “You start that now. We don’t need an incursion team to save Cassandra. Niko, Merrick, and I will go and retrieve her. What you need to do is make sure it’s safe for her to be here when she returns.”
I feel like an outsider looking in. I stand there and listen as Hayden and Sonia take charge and put plans into motion while I try to keep my emotions under control. Fear slams into me so forcefully, I feel like I might collapse. I was supposed to keep Cassandra safe. I need to find her before something happens to her. Failure isn’t something I am used to, but I have failed her, and now I need to do everything in my power to rectify the situation.
“Follow me,” Hayden says as he walks past me.
Neither of us speaks as we walk toward the secret passage that leads directly from the palace to the main portal of our realm. The tension is thick enough to cut with a knife. Light spills into the tunnel as we near the end. Hayden stops me before we step into the open.
“You trusted me to take care of Cassandra’s safety and I failed you both. I will carry the consequences of that when we return to Runic. But know this, no punishment you can think of will ever surpass the disappointment I feel in myself right now.” Hayden walks out without letting me say a single word.
When I walk into the light, I see my father pacing impatiently in front of the portal.
“About time you got here,” he says grimly. “Let’s go and get my daughter-in-law. We have a merging ceremony tomorrow.” And with that, he steps through the portal followed closely by Hayden and myself.
Landing in Alluvium, I worry that there are too many places she could have been taken, but my worry is unnecessary. Hayden is the best tracker in Runic, if not all three realms, and soon leads us toward Cassandra. Walking through the forest I send up a silent prayer to whatever deity watches over this realm, my realm, and any other realm to keep her safe until I can finally reach her.
As we make our way through the trees, Cassandra’s voice filters through the forest around us, and I hasten my steps to get to her. She doesn’t sound afraid, but I have no idea what is waiting for us as we enter a clearing. Cassandra is facing down a gathered crowd led by her mother and a beast from Quietus. I watch her stand tall and proud, her magik a visible entity around her.
A growl leaves me when I hear the creature talk of her death. Wrapping my arms around her, I pull her tight to my chest offering her my strength and magik. The words that spew forth from the beast before us has my blood running cold. The one thing I wanted the opportunity to tell her myself has been thrust into the open by this abomination.
He points a gnarled finger at me and seethes. “He intends to have you walk the realms for eternity.”
Cassandra laughs loudly. “You think I don’t know the cost of this prophecy. Niko may have never said the words, but I have always known. He can’t hide his thoughts from me.”
****
Cassandra
