Page 75 of Wrath

The former looked aghast, while the latter merely appeared curious.

“What do we win?”

“To be determined.”

I had to resist the urge to roll my eyes. “You guys are children.”

Killian tentatively lifted his hand in the air. “I never agreed to the bet.”

“Coward,” Ryland teased.

Killian opened his mouth to retort, but another keening scream from the forest interrupted him. Closer this time.

Too close.

Fear washed over me in a torrent, painful in its intensity, but I squeezed my eyelids shut, reminding myself to focus.

Find the monarch.

Remove the dark magic.

Free the goblins.

And do all of it before these monsters could kill us.

The first goblin broke through the tree line with a roar of pure, unbridled rage, its misshapen face distorted in asnarl. Another goblin joined the first, followed by another, and another, and another.

There were so many.

Too many.

There was no way we could stop them all.

And which one was the monarch?

How did I even begin to find it?

Lupe quickly transformed into a bear and lunged at the closest goblin, taking it downwith his paws. Ryland swept his dagger out with smooth, cold precision. None of his blows would kill a goblin, but it would take them out for the time being.

Killian remained beside me, his eyes glowing and his hands clenched. At first, I didn’t know what he was doing, but my unspoken questions were answered when a goblin raced towards us.

The monster stopped abruptly, and his features went slack, his eyes turning glassy. A dazed, wistful smile unfurled on his lips, causing them to stretch. One of his hands traveled down his stomach to the bulge in his pants?—

Fuck. No.

I quickly looked away.

My gaze locked on another goblin at the edge of the tree line. He stood the tallest of all of them, though that wasn’t saying much, considering that the average height appeared to be four feet. He looked like all of the others, at least appearance-wise, but there was something about him…

I forced myself to look closer and nearly gasped when I saw the dark magic hammering off him in malevolent waves. The magic encircled both of his wrists in impenetrable shackles and wrapped around his throat like a vise.

This must’ve been the monarch.

My chest gave a rattling heave, and I narrowed my eyes at the magic around his neck, searching for any weaknesses, anycracks. And…there! Right in the center, there was what appeared to be a lock. I just needed a key.

I closed my eyes—belatedly aware of the battle waging around me—and envisioned a key the size of my pointer finger, sheathed in a golden light. The key began to solidify in my mind, and I forced my eyes open. Biting my lower lip, I guided the key towards the lock and stuck it inside. Turned it. Watched with bated breath as the collar fell away.

The goblin blinked, shook his head, and then glanced at his feet, almost as if he could see the invisible dark magic. But he still wasn’t completely free of Aaliyah’s control.

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