Page 167 of A Flame of the Phoenix

“You’ve made contact with her?” Lycus asked.

“She made contact with us,” Berron said.

Nik’s attention was gripped wholly. “Tell us everything.”

“Best if I show you first,” he said.

Berron led them carefully, and Nik put his complete faith in Lycus that they weren’t letting this fae lead them into a trap for Mordecai.

They headed underground through a drain. Nik was familiar with this type of labyrinth, considering he’d used such passages to leave his own city in High Farrow many times while his father was king.

At the end of a wide cylindrical tunnel, Nik could see the column that expanded vertically. They stepped onto a metal balcony and stared over the expanse. It was a hideout. Many fae were littered around the stacked balconies, and on the floor below.

“There’s been a rebel movement all this time?” Nik concluded.

“We’ve been growing our numbers slowly since the monarchy fell,” Berron informed him.

Nik’s chest swelled with pride for the resilient people of Fenstead. He knew Tauria would have been awestruck to have seen this, and that only inspired his need to see her more.

“What is Tauria’s plan?” Nik asked. Because there was no chance she’d seen this beacon of hope and hadn’t started conspiring.

They’d come to get Tauria away from Mordecai’s clutches, but Nik knew Tauria would not leave now without gaining back Fenstead.

“She’s been getting as many of the rebels into the castle walls as possible, posing as staff. Once we have enough allies within, we stand a chance of taking back the castle at least. Had you come with our army, we might just have stood a chance at pushing the dark fae out of the kingdom town by town.”

Nik exchanged a look with Lycus. The general said, “We didn’t just bring Fenstead’s army. We have legions of High Farrow and Rhyenelle forces too.”

Berron’s eyes bulged. “Then what are we waiting for? We need to set positions, alert Tauria, and…”

Everyone stilled, hearing the disruption at the same time. It was a noise that stood every hair on Nik’s body. The snarls were distantly familiar. Then the scent…

“Dark fae,” Nik said in horror. “The most vicious and beyond humanity of them.”

As he said it, the rumbling snarls grew from the passages, and the first cries came from a few levels above them as they infiltrated the space.

“Did you lead them here?” A woman came rushing toward them, accusation outlined harshly on her face.

“Of course not,” Lycus snapped.

When her eyes fell on him, recognition relaxed her expression.

They didn’t get a moment to converse further as dark fae dropped from the balconies and spilled in from the tunnels at all angles. The force of them was terrifying. Nik had only seen one this savage under his library in High Farrow. It had bitten Faythe and nearly killed her.

Nik’s sword sliced through the onslaught of them, but there were many. Too many. They were completely overwhelmed and wouldn’t hold out long. It was hard to believe these creatures were once ordinary fae. The attempt to Transition them must have gone horribly wrong to have stripped them of sanity and morality.

He needed a plan. These were all Tauria’s people, which meant they werehis, and they’d remained hidden and ready to fight for decades. To see them all be slaughtered now so quickly and brutally would be a tragedy that would break Tauria.

“Where is the main water system?” Nik yelled over the chaos.

Berron answered, his voice distorted from the fighting, “Two floors up, in the east vault.”

“Everyone needs to prepare for an evacuation. Keep fighting, but get close to an exit.”

Nik’s blade drowned in black blood to get to a tunnel opening. He took a slash of claws to his arm and narrowly avoided fangs that snapped close to his thigh. Nik raced through the passage and climbed up the ladders that took him two levels up. He would have to flood the tunnel system and hope most of the rebels could make it out before the thrashing of water.

He found the giant wheel that would release a catastrophic amount of water, but there was no other way to wipe out so many dark fae. Nik heaved, but the metal, so long dormant,barely turned an inch. He kept trying, aware of the hisses and snarls growing louder, heading toward him.

Come on.He chanted for momentum, but it wasn’t turning fast enough. He would have to leave it and fight soon, and with the velocity that carried through the passage, he didn’t know if he would get another free moment to try again.

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