Page 28 of Hopeless Realm
“They are.” A pause pushes dread through me. “Can I shudder us?” he asks in a rush as we begin running toward the awful war cries of the creatures.
Can I shudder us?The arrogant, condescending tone of his voice has me rolling my eyes at him as we rush across the land.
“Yes. Please,” I clip out in a breath.
And with the next cool gust of wind we’re gone. Swept away in the breeze.
Only to be shoved out a moment later.
Ryder pulls me to my feet, not allowing me to stumble in the crash of disorderly chaos that surrounds us.
I gasp the moment I see Darrio. His face is bloody and his hair is matted but his rage doesn’t seem to allow him to notice.
The muscles in his arms tense as he lifts one of the creatures from the ground with both hands. His fingers grip each side of the thing’s jaw and I flinch as he rips the nix in half at the mouth.
They tear at his flesh, embedding their poisoned talons deep into his body. One by one he rips, crushes, and utterly destroys them.
But there are too many.
It takes me a moment to find the other fae I’m looking for. Daxdyn lies on his back, held down by two creatures as a man on top of him plummets his fists into Dax’s bloody face.
My lips part as I realize it’s the king of Juvar attacking Daxdyn. The nix assist the king as if they’ve known one another their entire twisted lives.
Darrio crumbles to the ground and I’m storming toward him in an instant as the creatures begin feasting on his flesh.
My sword is in position, my arms held high. The blade slices through their fluid bodies with ease. Dark blood coats the weapon, sliding down it and drenching my hands the more and more I tear through.
Darrio groans and Ryder’s at his side in a shuddering flash. Neither of them speaks before being whisked away by Ryder’s magic.
He’s safe. Darrio’s safe.
The tension filling the beats of my heart doesn’t ease knowing he’s safe as I race toward Daxdyn. I rush, kicking off nix as they claw against my boots.
Confusion struggles within them. They seem uncertain if I should be harmed even as I blatantly murder them one by one.
Ryder said they were attracted to power, but my first night here they attacked me.
Are my powers growing stronger now that I have some understanding of my abilities?
Intelligence is in the nix, but only faintly. An animalistic hunger seems to outshine the logic within their minds.
As I step closer to Tristan and Daxdyn, I see a burning light blaze in Tristan’s palm. My feet stumble at the sight of it.
The red coloring intensifies as he holds it above Daxdyn’s head as if he’s preparing to crash the unnatural power down on the fae.
My body trembles with magic and fear and hatred all at once. The length of my weapon is poised in my hands as I force the tip of it through the king’s slender back.
Heavy breaths leave my lungs.
Nothing happens.
Tristan pauses, his hand lowering as he stares peculiarly down at the blade protruding from his chest.
His head tilts slightly before he looks back at me with a haunting smile.
“My sweet Zakara, you’ll have to do better than that.”
I pull the blade from his body. It’s clean now. Not a drop of blood stains its shine.
