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Viktor, Vadim, and Endre pushed against the tide of people a moment later. “What’s going on?” Viktor demanded, his brow furrowing as he took in the sight of me strapping iron chains to my waist and Zuriel doubled over and sucking down air.
I debated lying for only a moment but decided the three might want to stop the fight rather than join it. “Kazimir kidnapped Izidora and took her into the mountains. Ruslan went after them. We need to stop this before they all kill each other.”
The Night Fae male gave a firm nod. “We’re going with you. No one will die today.”
“Good, because we need to move. Now.”
Craning my neck over the crowd, I discovered a fairly empty side street, then shouted for everyone to move out of my way as I led our group down it. Once we’d cleared the throng of people, we broke into a run, racing until we found an open square. Without breaking stride, my lapis lazuli wings sprung from my back, and I shot into the sky, searching for prints in the snow around the stands where Izidora was last seen. Zuriel unfurled his white feathered wings and leaped into the air, flapping them lightly as he hovered and scanned the area with me. The Night Fae were not far behind.
“Zuriel, do you know where they are?” I shouted over the wind.
“Izidora didn’t know. My guess is they went toward the Day Realm border.”
Kazimir wouldn’t know many other routes out of the Iron Realm, so that made sense. I banked right, studying the snowdrifts below for any sign of disturbance.
“Over there!” Endre shouted, pointing a little to the right. The hoofprints appeared a moment later, and we banked as a group, our shadows highlighting the tracks in the snow. We flew along them at breakneck speed, wings flapping furiously to propel us toward the jagged peaks that held what was sure to be a bloody battle.
The prints tracked up a steep incline and disappeared along with the snow, having been blown away with the wide arc carved into the ground. Following the mountainside, we searched the mud for any sign of Izidora, Ruslan, or Kazimir, the wind battling with us from above. An anguished roar shook the peaks, and we leveled off just in time to see a knife sink into Izidora’s chest.
Ruslan fell to his knees, clutching his own chest as the pain reverberated down their bond and overwhelmed him.
“Fuck!” I swore, snapping my wings shut and dropping to the ground beside my cousin. Zuriel landed beside Izidora, already chanting in Angelic as he pulled his cousin into his arms.
I threw up a barrier of rock around the four of us as Kazimir called black whips to his hands. There was no life in his eyes, both having been entirely replaced by mania.
“Kazimir, no!” Endre dropped behind his friend and yanked him back by the shoulder. He turned on his kin, and the four of them locked in a battle of fists and magic, three against one.
“Here!” Around the barrier, I tossed the iron chains at Viktor, and they clattered to a stop at his feet.
They could use all the help they could get.
Viktor yanked off his jacket, then scrambled to the ground to snatch them up, never turning his back on the crazed Night Fae behind him. Without missing a beat, he launched into action again, the three working together to corral Kazimir toward the flat rocks at his back.
They needed to put those fucking chains on him and subdue whatever madness had taken hold.
I returned my attention to Ruslan and Izidora once I was certain Kazimir was thoroughly distracted. Ruslan had crawled to Izidora’s side, so I scooted backward, maintaining the wall in front of me, until the four of us were huddled together behind it.
“Sprite, please wake up, please you can’t leave me, I need you,” Ruslan babbled incoherently. Zuriel’s brow furrowed and he chanted faster and faster, a hint of panic breaking through his words. Izidora was pale, too pale, her fur jacket soaked in blood, though the knife was still lodged in her chest. Ruslan’s voice was strained with worry, and he collapsed on his side, never losing contact with his mate. While he might feel her pain, he would not die – not unless he took his own life after Izidora passed.
I would not let that happen.
The freshness of their mating bond made it nearly impossible for him to help us, everything shared between them still so amplified and raw.
“Shit, shit, shit,” I cursed over and over, like it would change what was happening before our eyes. “She’s dying, Zuriel.”
“I’m doing everything I can,” he snapped, hovering his hands over her and spilling a flow of magic into her so thick I was certain he would burn out at any moment.
A commotion across the barrier captured my attention, and I lowered it just a hair to see what the Night Fae had done.
“You almost killed her, Kazimir!” Endre screamed at him, his face red and peridot eyes shining. Kazimir was on his knees, face bloody but eyes clear and hands bound behind him in iron chains. “Is that what you wanted, truly?”
He shook his head, and despite the wall between us, I smelled his shame. Whatever magic he possessed controlled him to a point where he acted beyond his own interests.
That in no way excused his actions.
With no one else to lead, I rose and stepped around the barrier, fisted hands holding blue flame in a clear threat. “Get him out of here. Now. Leave the Iron Realm. If you return, it will be taken as an act of war.”
Endre, Viktor, and Vadim shared a panicked look.
