Page 12 of The Stone Survival
Shar was the first to speak the words that they were all undoubtedly thinking. “Cam, I know you want to save Romi, but?—”
I held up my hand to stop her. “Hear me out. The faction tricked the goyle bodies into thinking they were consummating with their fated mates. A chemical reaction in their brains. Not the real thing, but enough to allow an infernal to take control of the goyle’s body and kick-start the curse.Butit wasn’t a proper curse activation. It can’t be without a real mate to activate it.”
“It’s a possibility,” Ivor said. “But you must remember that Serath hadyouas his mate, and your genes make your bond unique.”
Human with a drop of fae, a dollop of gargoyle and graynite, with a heavy sprinkling of shedim. Yeah, I was a cocktail, all right.
“I’ll stay in this form,” Serath said. “It will prove to the search party that I’m not dangerous.”
“Good plan,” Curi said.
“You should go,” Ivor said. “It’s been almost twelve hours since we picked you up. The search may have expanded to the tunnels by now. We made sure to leave some tracks for them to find.”
Serath took my hand, and together we stepped into the circle of light. The others joined us a moment later. I caught a final glimpse of Ivor’s face, his brow furrowed with worry, before the light flared and the port carried us away.
CHAPTER 6
ORIX
There’s blood everywhere. The ground is soaked with it. My stomach turns, gut twisting. Behind me, the test building is a shattered bloody mess, the roof gouged and damaged with talon marks. The width between each mark is too large to be gargoyle.
Graynites were here.
No dead elite bodies at the site means the elite were either taken or escaped.
Please let them have escaped.
Two teams of guardians sweep the surrounding area on foot and by air, but so far, they’ve found nothing.
Farnel joins me, looking out at the blood-speckled landscape. “How could this happen?”
It’s obvious, and he knows it too. He just needs me to say it. “We have a mole.”
“A rat, more like,” he says. “This location was secure, has been for decades.”
“I know.”
They were meant to be safe, here of all places, and now they’re gone. I want to hold out hope, but after hours of searching, it’s difficult to keep the candle burning.
“Whoever the traitor is, they must be high up in the ranks,” Farnel says. “This proves it.”
“It also proves that they’re close to their goal. To risk eyes on the upper ranks and potential exposure this way…Whatever they’re planning, getting rid of the elite team was integral to it.”
Then he asks the question I’ve been desperately avoiding for the past few hours. “Do you think…Do you think they’re alive?”
I close my eyes and exhale. “I don’t know.”
A guardian lands several feet away, then approaches with quick strides, wings tucked against his back. “Elite Albion, we found tracks to the east. If it is them, then they must have flown for several miles before landing and continuing on foot.”
Hope burns a beacon on my chest. “Farnel, keep the port secure. I’ll be back.” I turn to the guardian. “Show me.”
We flyfor several minutes before I spot more guardians below us, tracking the movements of who they believe to be our missing elites. Up ahead, the terrain is rocky and mountainous. Had Cam and the others aimed to seek shelter from the threat in the mountains? A cave perhaps?
They could be hurt.
Alive but too hurt to fly farther.
The guardians below vanish into the mountains, and we descend.
