The Forbidden Wolf King: Kings of Avalier, Book 4(57)

I pulled on my wolf, just a little bit, to see if I could get her to come to the surface.

Nothing.

Full-blown panic rose up inside of me and I tried to use the king’s power, forcing the man before me to take them off.

Nothing.

“No!” I whimpered and yanked at my wrists, looking up at Kailani with alarm.

I could see her fear just below the surface but she was hiding it, playing her part.

“My bad. Should we drop her off with the lead guard in the dungeon?” Kailani asked.

The man before us had short cropped blond hair and he looked Kailani up and down. “Can you handle that?” he questioned her, since clearly she’d messed up my cuffs.

In one swift move Kailani kicked my knee out and I fell to the ground with a shout. Raife then hooked under my armpit on my left side and Kailani on my right so that they were dragging me. “I can handle it.” She blew the guard a kiss and he grinned.

I let my legs go limp, dragging behind me as Raife and Kailani pulled me across the front castle steps.

We passed over two dozen guards and I prayed no one would recognize the elf king’s magnificent golden bow strapped to his back. Other guards had bows but they were black with chunky steel.

It felt like it took us forever to reach the front doors of the castle and walk inside. When we stepped into the open entryway it was even busier than outside. Warriors rushed about shouting directions and asking for help at the front wall.

Madelynn and Axil were giving them Hades.

It made me grin.

Kailani herded us down a hallway and then we were alone, suddenly descending a stone staircase.

“I’m so sorry, Zara, did I hurt your knee? I panicked,” Kailani whispered as she helped me stand properly so I could walk.

I shook my head. “You did great. I’m not hurt and if I was, I heal fast so don’t worry about it.” It was true, she’d gotten us all inside which was a miracle.

“Was the flirting necessary?” Raife asked and I sensed his jealousy, which caused me to smile slightly.

“Yes, I think it was. I got us inside, didn’t I?” she snapped back.

We reached the bottom steps and the damp smell of a musty dungeon reached my nostrils. Plus one other thing.

Oslo.

His scent was faint, but it was here.

“My brother,” I whimpered.

Kailani grasped my upper arm tightly and then looked at her husband. “Get your revenge, my love. I’ll help Zara and meet you outside the wall.”

Raife looked shocked then, like he hadn’t actually believed this day would come. He was here, inside the private castle of the Nightfall queen herself.

He nodded, leaning in to kiss her. “I love you,” he whispered and then he disappeared back up the steps.

Kailani stood still, yanking on my cuffs and grunting in desperation. “I don’t really know what these are or how they work. I can’t get them off,” she said.

“I don’t care. Take me to my brother. He’s scared, I can smell it,” I urged her.

With that we walked into the open hallway and then into a larger room surrounded by cells in a circular shape.

At first glance, they all appeared full. When my gaze landed on my brother, head hung low as he hugged his knees, I screamed.

“Oslo!” I ran for him but Kailani hauled me backwards, hard. The two guards who stood in the center of the circular room looked up then.

“Who’s this?” one of them asked, pulling his knife from his belt.

“Zara Swiftwater, wolven queen.” Kailani told them with pride.

He stepped over to me and looked down at my wrists, seemingly to check my cuffs. Then he glanced over at Oslo’s cell. “Is that fella who just came in her son?”

Kailani shrugged. “How should I know? I just found her breeching the wall. Queen wants her locked up down here, I assume.”

My son. Did I look that old?

“You assumed correct.” A powerful female voice entered the room and Kailani went pale, like she’d seen a ghost.

I felt my own inner fear ramp up a notch as the Nightfall queen herself walked into the room. I didn’t need to know what she looked like to know who she was. She oozed power. Covered head to toe in red leather, she walked like an alpha, chin tipped high as she held our gaze.

“Cuff her. She’s not a guard and she’s very powerful,” the queen ordered the guard as she watched Kailani.

The guard scrambled to get the cuffs off his belt and that’s when Kailani went berserk. She rushed towards the queen, puckering her lips and sucking the air from the room. I didn’t understand what was happening, maybe this was her power? But either way I was going to rush the queen with her. Both of us could definitely take her to the ground. Even as a human with my hands tied behind my back, I was still a powerful fighter.

One second I was turning in Zaphira’s direction and the next a funnel of wind picked me up and threw me against the far wall. Oslo screamed as I cracked my head on the stone, slinking to the ground in confusion.

The queen held her hands out, a wind funnel filling the room as she laughed madly. She had fae power? Kailani was on the floor beside me and the guard was affixing the cuffs to her hands. It all happened so fast I barely understood what Zaphira had just done. She had thrown a wind bomb at us.

The Nightfall queen smiled. “You know I realized it wasn’t that I wanted to expunge the realm of all magic users,” she said and then it started to snow inside the room. She was displaying her variety of powers and I felt sick knowing she’d stolen this from good people. “I just wanted to be one,” she added and then a blinding flash of light pulsed in the room, causing my eyes to squint shut.