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She shrieked, but I silenced her quickly with a length of rope wrapping around her throat. The enclosure turned to chaos as healers fled and injured soldiers jumped into action. But the beast had taken over, and more slithering rope exploded from me, wrapping around anyone and anything in its path.
All I saw was black as I advanced, ending the lives of those who dared to stand against me.
And when I was finished, there was silence.
53
Zuriel whipped his head to the side, drawing my attention. “What is it?” I asked, heart thudding in my chest from the panicked expression drawn on his normally stoic face.
“The healers are in trouble,” was his strained reply, and he twisted in the air, heading to the narrow, harrowing pass where we’d stashed them.
“Wait! I’m coming with you,” I called out, stopping him midair.
Ruslan pulled up beside me, his large, black wings buffeting the air around us. “You two go, I will continue searching. I can contact you if I find anything.”
“Stay safe,” I pleaded, searching my mate’s smoky gray eyes. There was a weariness there, one that I felt in my bones. We’d been fighting nearly nonstop for the better part of a day, and I was exhausted. Ruslan was exhausted. And if I was being honest, I needed a break from all the death and despair hanging in the air like a fine mist. My emotions were a wreck, and I was struggling more and more to maintain my mental barrier when it was constantly battered with agony.
The grief of others also sapped at the hatred I needed to fuel this darkness, andthatwas my priority in all of this.
“Get some rest,” Ruslan hummed, kissing my forehead swiftly before backing away.
“Have I ever told you that you take such good care of me?”I spoke into his mind.
“I’ll never tire of hearing you say it, mate.”
Zuriel had already taken off, and I followed him, flapping my wings to catch up. I kept my eyes straight forward, tracking his movements, not wanting to look down at the distant ground or the gore that littered it.
It didn’t take us long to traverse the distance, and as we crested the ridge, I frowned.
Nothing looked amiss.
“Zuriel–” I started, but he held up a closed fist. I snapped my mouth shut, wondering what he knew that I did not. Slowly, we started to descend, the ground growing closer and the promise of food, water, and a seat increasing.
We landed lightly, but Zuriel was tense in a way I’d never seen before.
“What is it, cousin?”I reached out to him, trying to understand the tight set of his shoulders.
“There is no movement, no sound. It's like everyone here vanished.”
“Then we need to search these tents. What did you sense before?”
“Terror. There are no fighters back here, and no one should have seen the healers. They would have to know…”
We crept forward, slipping into a tent with its flaps tied back. No one was there, but half-empty jars were knocked askew. A trail of blood led us into the next tent, and the one after that, until we came to one lined with healing beds.
Each male on them looked like his neck had been broken, their faces purple and contorted with pain. Among them, scattered on the floor, were the healers, in similar states of death.
“Oh fuck,” I whispered, hand covering my mouth as I stared at them, frozen in horror.
“Izidora!” Zuriel’s voice was laced with panic, and the yank on my hand tore me back to reality. With a strong grip on my arm, he hauled me from the tent, racing toward the open space beyond, his head whipping in every direction.
A low, sinister laugh sent chills skittering across my skin. I felt eyes on me, and I jerked myself free from Zuriel, spinning around and searching for the voice. White fire immediately filled my palms, ready to strike at a moment's notice.
“Show yourself!” Zuriel shouted, and the hairs on the back of my neck rose.
Ten paces away, Kazimir emerged from seemingly nowhere, striding toward us with malice in his steps. His eyes were completely black, like when he’d kidnapped me and directed a knife toward my heart.
“We found Kazimir,”I shot down the bond toward Ruslan. Rage, so hot that it nearly burned me up, exploded through my veins, and I hurled a ball of white fire at him.
