“I’ll find my way into the castle and protect you,” Raife told me but I knew it was an empty promise. No one could give me such an assurance but I appreciated it nonetheless. My mind wandered to what Axil and Madelynn were doing right now. Had they retreated? Were they hurt? Had they come inside the city walls to look for us? That would be crazy. I just hoped they were alive.
Kailani shook her head. “For all the work we did to bring the kingdom together in the war, I can’t believe it’s up to just the three of us to do this.”
Raife nodded. “It was always going to be me that killed her.” Reaching into his pocket, he pulled out a small clear vial and I frowned.
“Colorless, odorless poison. I have dreamed about Zaphira choking on it since I was fourteen.”
Wow, that was dark, and yet I totally approved. “If she’s in there, go for it. Don’t worry about me,” I told him. “I’ll get my brother out.”
Kailani pulled me in for a hug and then kissed her husband chastely. We all knew the likelihood of us surviving this was not great.
“Okay, Zara gets Oslo out, Raife tries to kill the queen, and I’ll be on hand if either of you fail so that I can finish the job,” she announced.
I grinned at that; she had totally grown on me.
With that, Kailani used the handcuffs from her guard uniform to cuff my wrists in front of me. I hung my head forward and she and Raife marched me out of the fenced-in area and over to the main road. The streets were sparsely populated now; everyone had run into their homes seemingly due to the commotion at the front gates.
We walked down a few more roads and then hung a right. I flicked my gaze up to see a giant palace with large columns in front of it. It loomed up ahead and my stomach tied into knots. There were over two dozen guards, fully armed, standing beside each column. The wind rushed past us and I wondered if it was due to Madelynn and Axil fighting out front.
By the time we reached the first guard at the palace steps, I was a ball of nerves. This was a lot of people to try and control if things went badly. He saw us approaching and broke his formation to meet us before we could get any closer.
“Are you new? Prisoners don’t get held here unless we are told to do so by the queen herself,” the man said to Raife. “You need to go to the lock-up on Spring Street.”
Raife reached out and grasped the sides of my jaw, forcing me to look up at the guard. “Are you dumb? This is the queen of Fallenmoore. We just captured her trying to infiltrate the west wall.”
I built up a deep wolfy growl in my throat to add proof to his claim and the soldier paled as he looked down at my cuffed hands. Reaching behind him, he pulled out a separate pair of cuffs and then yanked me from Kailani’s grasp. The second set of cuffs closed around my skin and I knew the moment they touched me that something was wrong. My wolf suddenly felt… very far away.
“You don’t use human cuffs on a magic user,” he hissed at both Kailani and Raife. With a key, he unlocked the older set of cuffs so that only the newer ones remained.
Human cuffs. That meant … these newer ones were made for magic users?
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.