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“Get inside!” Xorrek yelled, still hovering a breath above what was left of my blue flames.
“We go together,” I said through clenched teeth.
“You don’t get to sacrifice yourself to save us. We go now,” Gozzak replied, diving down and catching me under the arms.
The blue flames sputtered out, and the Demons hefted me between them and raced to the narrowing opening.
Hundreds of my soldiers still fought beyond the rock, and I watched every last one of them until the door closed behind us and cut them off permanently.
They would die out there, and there was nothing I could do to save them.
So I shook off the Demons and stood with my quivering palms braced against the rock and listened to their screams, until there was only silence on the other side.
My first battle as general, and I’d fucking lost.
The only saving grace was that the majority of our forces, the most valuable and well-trained, had gone to the Crystal Realm. But now we knew where the Night Fae were, and how many filled their ranks.
We already knew Desmond was working with them, but the tunnels? How long had he creeped over Rares’s shoulder, learning everything he could and everything he shouldn’t? How often had he broken into the Mage’s private chambers and plucked further knowledge from the trove with which King Azim had entrusted Rares? With Desmond on their side and the unknown of how many more secrets he possessed, and the sheer number of males on that battlefield, fear gripped my chest, constricting until black spots danced in my vision.
Because one thing was certain.
We were fucked.
32
Stepping into the Crystal Realm was like stepping into an entirely new world. I barely managed not to trip over myself as I exited the gaping maw of the mountain, jaw hanging open. In every direction, waterfalls spilled over cliff edges, roaring into my ears and misting the world around them. The tips of my swords dropped as I beheld a massive glacier, its icy fingers digging into the dirt at our feet and climbing behind us into the towering peaks in the distance.
The bond between Ruslan and me hummed contentedly as I opened up my feelings of wonder to him, and he opened up his feelings of love to me. “It’s so beautiful,” I gasped, breathless.
“Look over there,” my mate replied, directing my attention with the tip of his finger. In the distance, a massive lake spread across the land, reflecting thousands of stars off its glassy surface. From this angle, I couldn’t tell where the night sky began and where the water ended.
“Incredible,” I breathed, taking a cautious step forward, off the worn path and out of the way of the soldiers pushing out of the cavern behind us.
“Not as incredible as you, sprite,” Ruslan murmured, wrapping his arms around me from behind and forcing my swords down at my sides. “It’s safe to relax and take in the view.”
We gently swayed from side to side as I did just that.
Below, our soldiers readied camp for us, fires popping into existence and dotting the rolling green landscape. After being in near darkness as we traversed the tracks beneath the Agrenak Mountains, I was more than ready to sleep in the open with the winking lights of the stars to soothe me.
“Do you think they are nearby?” I asked eventually, after scanning every inch of the beautiful landscape sprawling over the horizon.
“I don’t know. I can’t see any troop movement or telltale fires from up here.” Ruslan tensed behind me. “I don’t see any fires, actually, besides ours. There are cities all along the lakes, but none of them are lit.”
My brows dipped as I tried to discern the shape of buildings along the lakes, but my search yielded nothing.
“Does that mean…” I trailed off as bile rose in my throat.
“That Kazimir burned them to the ground? Likely.” Ruslan’s tone was as icy as the glacier gripping the stone above us. “Vlisa is at the other end of that lake.”
“And if it’s dark, that means they aren’t there.”
Liliana popped through the tunnel and joined us in our examination of the Crystal Realm. The corners of her eyes tightened, and she played with the ends of her hair before flinging it out of her way and crossing her arms. It had been harder than she wanted to admit to part from Drazen, but she refused to leave my side given that this was the most likely place to fight the Night Fae.
Or so we thought.
I chewed on my lip, thinking. “What if it’s a trap? What if they want us to think that they’ve moved on so we let our guard down, and then they spring out of nowhere?”
“I think the trap was set elsewhere,” Liliana whispered, and Ruslan’s arms tightened reflexively around me before he dropped them away.
