Page 93 of Gilded Curses

Much like Elsa, he stared at her in confusion before smiling. “What’s going on?”

“I’m hoping for a war.”

When they were all gathered in Elsa’s room and safe under the silencing spell Elsa created, Sahira filled them in on everything that happened. She’d already opened two portals and cast two spells tonight; she could feel their drain.

She had enough strength left in her to open one more portal. That one was the most important as it would take her to Orin.

When she finished speaking, Zeth sat back. “Are we really free to go?”

“I can open a portal, so I’m assuming that means you can too,” Sahira said.

Zeth waved his fingers in front of him until a portal opened; Elsa sucked in a breath. Sahira had no idea where the portal went, but the yearning on the demon’s face made her think his home lay on the other side. He was so close to seeing his wife and son again, so close to the life he’d craved for three decades.

Then he looked at both his hands and closed the portal. “What do we do?”

“I have a tracking spell on Orin so I can find him. That’s how I ended up in the Cursed Realm; I was trying to bring him home for Cole and Lexi.”

“And what if he’s somewhere with a lot of guards or somewhere that, if you appear, will put him in danger?” Elsa asked.

“That’s why I’ll be the only one to go through to find him, but we’ll have an army ready if necessary. Loth and Fath can go for the brownies while you and Zeth return to Belda’s town. Everyone will have to be careful to stay out of the main buildings and draw the others out so the dagadon don’t overhear any conversations, but we can recruit a lot of fighters from those places.”

“Do you really think that, after years of being trapped in this realm, those immortals will choose to stay instead of returning to the homes they’ve missed for years?” Zeth asked.

“I’m sure some of them will leave, but I think if you tell them we’ve found the ones responsible for keeping them trapped here, they’ll be more than happy to help us destroy them. Revenge is a powerful motivator, and the dagadon have ruined too many lives for too long. We can now take revenge on them; some will stay because of that.”

“The brownies will fight,” Fath said. “I have no doubt.”

“Puth will get the children to safety, and probably most of their mothers, but the rest will stay,” Loth agreed.

“The berserkers and lycans certainly will,” Elsa said. “I’m sure there will be others too.”

Sahira really hoped so. They needed as many fighters as they could get for this.

“You did it,” Elsa whispered, resting her hand on Sahira’s arm. “When this is over, we’ll all be free.”

Sahira enfolded Elsa’s hand in hers. “When this ends, I hope you’ll come to Dragonia to live with us.” She looked at the others as she spoke. “I hope you all will. I know the demons have their own realm, and I’m sure the brownies have found a new one, but you’re all welcome to come live in Dragonia.”

Elsa squeezed her hand. “I look forward to it.”

“And if not to live, we’ll be there for a visit,” Zeth promised.

“So will we,” Pip agreed.

“Good, now let’s get to work,” Sahira said.

Releasing Elsa’s hand, she stepped away from her friends as she waited for them to depart. She and Pip would remain here in case something went wrong.

They would have to alert the others if it wasn’t safe to return to the castle. And the others would leave their portals open in case she and Pip had to retreat quickly. They all knew how to find each other again if necessary.

CHAPTER SEVENTY-NINE

While he waited for the women to take out their revenge, Orin sat on the couch with his arms draped over the back of it. He smiled as he listened to Desmond’s muffled screams.

He’d wanted to personally cause that suffering and horror, but while he had a lot of reasons to hate Desmond, they had more. Besides, he’d gotten to play with both him and Sheree; it was far more fun that the servants Desmond tormented would be the ones to end him. That was a bet Desi never would have taken.

And the women were taking their time destroying the Golden One, which made him more okay with allowing them to do it. Desmond certainly didn’t deserve a swift death.

Studying the embers in the fire while listening to Desmond’s sounds of misery, Orin found the ruins of his hand. All that remained of his once trusted and more loved than he’d realized appendage were bones, but he could make out some of his fingers poking out through the logs.