Page 124 of Court of Lies and Deceit

And while we’ve been stumbling around in here, the other two factions have been getting closer to the portal. The only portal that leads out.

If even one person gets to the portal before us, we will be left behind in these poisonous woods in this foreign land with these dangerous fae-like beings.

My heart starts beating faster, and panic crawls up my spine.

How would we ever find our way back to our own world?

CHAPTER FORTY-TWO

Arenewed sense of urgency pulses through our group. I cast a worried glance from side to side, but the forest is quiet and still around us. Dread curls in my stomach. There is no telling how close the other teams are to the portal.

“We’ve lost too much time,” Draven declares. Authority rolls off his broad shoulders as he meets each of our gazes in turn. “We’re going back to our original plan. We split up and move in teams of two.”

“If you fly, those guys in bronze armor will spot you and shoot you out of the sky,” Galen points out.

“So we stick to the ground for now.” He cuts a glare up at the thick canopy. “I can’t even get to the sky from here.” Tilting his head back down, he meets our gazes again. “But we need to split up to cover more ground. It doesn’t matter how far away the rest of us are, as long as one of us makes it through the portal, we’ll all be transported back.”

He’s right, of course, so no one voices any objections.

Draven nods. “Move fast.”

And with that, he turns and jerks his chin at me.

We take off through the trees.

Footsteps thud against the ground behind us as Lyra and Alistair dart away in another direction while Isera and Galen pick a third path and do the same.

Stressful tension courses through my veins like liquid lightning. We need to make it to the portal first. Goddess above, we can’t get stuck here. Draven and Lyra and Galen would never see the rest of their clan again. Isera would never get her revenge. I would never getmyrevenge. I would never be able to free the Seelie Court and show them all that they were wrong about me. I would never be able to find out the truth about my parents. Everything I have worked for, everything I desperately want for myself, would be lost.

My pulse thunders in my ears as I sprint through the forest next to Draven.

After weeks of Jocasta’s grueling training, I’m in better shape now than I was during the Atonement Trials. But I’m still not a soldier. My breath rasps through my throat as Draven and I hurtle through the woods. I focus on putting one foot in front of the other.

We need to get out of this thick part of the forest. We might not be able to fly straight to the center, but we need to get to an area where we can at least fly up through the canopy so that we can check which direction the center is in. That time we spent lost in a daze messed up everything.

Patches of the sky at last start to become visible between the foliage.

Hope surges inside me. Now, we just need to?—

“Down!” Draven yells.

Not hesitating a second, I dive forward and throw myself on the ground right before a blast of water crashes through the air above me. Pain pulses through me as my hip connects with a twisted root, but I roll aside as a lightning bolt cracks into theground right next to me. Water sloshes as the blast hits the trees to my right.

Battle cries split the forest.

I shoot to my feet right as a mass of Unseelie fae in white fighting leathers pours out through the trees and crashes into us like a flood.

Draven sends a storm wind slamming into them, throwing three of them back. Lightning splits the air as one of the remaining players shoots a white bolt straight at Draven’s chest. It forces him to throw himself sideways, which gives the leader of the White Faction time to reach him. Steel rings between the trees as Draven yanks out his massive sword right before the guy can slam his own blade into his side.

The third person still on her feet, which is the blond woman who spoke before we ambushed them earlier, shoots another blast of water magic at me right before she leaps at me. I duck and twist, narrowly evading the water, but that makes it impossible to evadeher.

She crashes into me, sending us both sprawling on the ground.

Air escapes my lungs as she lands on top of me.

I gasp in a breath and yank out my dagger from my thigh holster.

Somewhere above, the other three members that Draven blew away with his wind rush out from the trees again. Lightning crackles and wind howls and steel clashes as Draven fights furiously to take down his two opponents before they can become five.

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