Page 73 of Secrets of Ruin

“I want them dead, but the amsirah have been through far worse than us,” Brokk continued. “This is their choice to make.”

Besides, none of this mattered; even if the dragons didn’t follow the emperor through the ophidians’ portal, the shadows would. The emperor must believe Cole couldn’t follow him through a portal.

He was dead wrong.

Kaylia resisted the impulse to rub her hands together as she practically salivated over the man’s ignorance. The ophidians could leave, and once they did, they would die.

The shadows didn’t move; Cole must be keeping them at bay, but she knew they were there… watching and waiting to strike. It was what they did, and they did it well.

Still, they all had to play the game until it was time for them to hunt. The only problem was Ryker might not know the full extent of the shadows’ powers or Cole’s.

She doubted anyone did… including Cole. So, Ryker could choose to kill the ophidians instead of having the emperor go, but she believed he would choose his king above all else, and he didn’t prove her wrong.

“Let him go,” Ryker said. “No one will stop you from leaving.”

“It doesn’t matter what you say.” The emperor’s malevolent gaze focused on Lexi. “It’s her word I seek.”

CHAPTER SEVENTY-TWO

Lexi smiled as the dragons roared. “You have my word that if you let King Leonidas go, the dragons won’t bother you.”

But the shadows will. Those unspoken words hung in the air amongst those who knew what Cole could do.

“That’s good to hear,” the emperor stated. “I will give him to you. Open the portal.”

One of the other ophidians opened a portal to another realm. It shimmered beyond the emperor’s back.

“Go,” the emperor commanded.

It astonished her that he let his followers flee before him, but perhaps being a decent ruler was the only good thing about this foul man. Kaylia couldn’t tear her gaze away from Leo’s thin, filthy face, which was mostly obscured by the thickness of his beard.

Leo’s face showed no signs of happiness despite the emperor stating he would release him. An uneasy feeling twisted in Kaylia’s stomach; while he held Leo like that, they could do little.

With his tail encircling Leo, it would be difficult to separate them. If the shadows ripped the emperor away, he might slice off Leo’s head as they did so. It was a risk they couldn’t take, but after what she’d suffered at the hands of these monsters, this seemed almost too easy.

When the last of the emperor’s followers vanished, the emperor unraveled his tail from Leo and shoved him forward. Too weak to catch himself, and with his ankles bound, Leo couldn’t stop himself from falling forward.

Ryker was already running toward him when the emperor’s tongue lashed out. The forked ends drove through the king’s neck and erupted out the other side.

It all happened so fast that Kaylia barely saw his tongue before it retracted into his mouth. She didn’t realize what happened until Leo hit the ground, and his head bounced down the rocks to land ten feet away from his body.

“I never said how you’d get him back,” the emperor stated.

CHAPTER SEVENTY-THREE

Kaylia suppressed a scream of frustration as a bellow tore from Ryker. The lightning pummeling the rocks lit up the sky as it hammered them apart.

It filled the air with electricity that crackled against her skin. Kaylia lifted her hands to shield her eyes from the brilliant flashes.

It was too late for Ryker’s wrath; the emperor was already retreating into the portal. With another bellow, Ryker reined in his power and stood, his shoulders heaving as grief etched his face.

Kaylia lowered her hands, and her gaze fell on Leo’s broken body. She wasn’t surprised the emperor had gone back on his word; he was a monster after all, but she hadn’t expected her crushing disappointment.

They’d fought so hard to find this man; now all they had were pieces of the amsirah king. Their realm had been in turmoil for years; this was about to make it worse for Ryker and the other amsirah.

The emperor’s tail vanished into the portal, and it started to close, but not before the shadows surged forward in a wave of black. Excitement radiated from them, and their chatter filled the air as they vanished into the portal.

A startled scream came from the other side, and the portal stopped closing as the emperor’s tail reemerged. The shadows dragged him from whatever realm he’d been trying to flee to.