Page 110 of Of Realms and Chaos

“We should take her to the king.”

“What if he blames us?”

A beat of silence, and then I felt one of my feet being lifted.

“I have an idea, grab her other foot.”

With a ridiculously loud grunt, the fools began dragging me.

“Ugh, she is heavy!”

“Excuse me, who do you think you are?” My question startled them enough to drop my feet, both heels hitting the stone with bruising force. I truly could not catch a break.

Cracking my eyes open, I caught a brief glimpse of a navy blue uniform before a booted foot came down on my face, slamming my head into the ground. I let out a cry of pain, the piercing sting stealing my vision from me.

Disoriented and bleeding, I could not fight them as they dragged me for what felt like years, my hair snagging on rocks and my dress audibly ripping. At one point, the assholes actually yanked me up a set of stone steps.

When we finally arrived to wherever their king was waiting, they dropped my feet once more, speaking in hushed and nervous tones to someone. A moment later, hot breath hit my face, hair tickling my neck. The voice that spoke was both a relief and a nightmare.

“Hello, Asher,” Genevieve said.

Chapter Thirty-Five

Bellamy

Gone. How was she simply gone?

Henry was speaking. I could see his lips moving, but I heard nothing other than the voice in my mind telling me that Asher was never coming back.

My heartbeat became a war drum, every breath a battle cry. My hands flexed and stretched, bunching into fists before repeating the cycle. I was dizzy with the fury, the anguish, the terror.

Something happened to her. Someone took her.

My head swam with the many scenarios she could be suffering from, and I knew that if I did not go, I would kill every single person on this damn base.

The wind picked up, a large boom sounding as a fissure in the ground crawled between my legs, spider webbing out. Screams came from the buildings behind me, the residents of Pike unknowingly witnessing their prince and general fall apart.

When I saw red, I portaled, landing at the base of the farthest mountain and letting free a piercing scream as my power burst out of me. My body lit, fire burning through snow and making me sink into the ground. The mountain quaked, the sound of rock exploding above like nothing I had ever heard before. Still, I screamed, lifting my arms and leaning my head back. If there were gods watching, I wanted them to know just how deeply I cursed them.

Rock and snow rained down on me, but I gladly let it, drawing a wind large enough to shove the debris forward, shattering the rest of the mountain. When my scream finally stopped, I was bleeding from the rocks that had made it past the wind and chest deep in snow.

And I was not even close to done.

***

The first week was bad. But the second week? This was torture.

Asher was one for dramatics. We all knew it, and we loved her more for it. But in my heart, I knew this time was different. Somehow, we all did. Whatever occurred in the Temple of the Gods was not Asher being Asher. There was only so much I could do, though, because the siege on Isle Shifter was quickly approaching.

“I have to be there. He will not just listen when you tell him to come. He is not a dog!” Farai was yelling at me, again. Just as he had every day since I told him that we would be securing Jasper. Now, with Asher missing, I thought I might better understand the utter panic that came from not knowing if the love of your life was safe. That did not mean he was not getting on my nerves, of course. Really, he was doing nothing but irritating me lately.

“No, he is just a large cat.” My sarcastic drawl and the casual way I leaned against the wall must have been enough to set the Shifter off because then he was screaming, his hands moving with his words. I ignored him, tuning out the sound of everything save for the voice in my head as I went through the plan once more, my eyes falling shut.

First, we would sneak into the border village of the Multiple Lands. That was where Farai and Jasper’s cottage was. Quaint, secluded, everything necessary for a quick and smooth rescue. After convincing him to come, I would portal him back to Pike and into Farai’s waiting arms.

Second, we would find the control center for their base. Farai had drawn us an incredibly detailed map, but we would still need to navigate the building with no knowledge of guard shifts or routes. Luca had been silent for days, leaving us to not only go in ignorant but also worry about his safety. Once there, if we could fight against every set of odds against us, we would take out all leadership present.

Third, we would release pages upon pages of messages offering refuge. This was the riskiest part and the one thing that the council disagreed with me on. I firmly believed that harming innocents would make us no better than the royals who sent their soldiers to slaughter demons across our realm. But the council, and even some of my captains, wanted a bloodier approach, one that would decimate the fae army.

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