Page 12 of Taloned Heart

“It’s a no.” Lore leaned against the rocks, turning her gaze from the humans, who screamed for help. “We need to keep moving. It’s not safe to camp here for the night.”

No, it wasn’t. He let her sink into her thoughts as she led them away from that cursed castle. So many souls haunted those halls.

Abraxas glanced back at the dark shadow outlined by the moon and wondered how many more ghosts would be added this night.

CHAPTER5

Lore couldn’t sleep. There were people out there who needed her, and she was supposed to curl up on a cozy bed of moss, with the moon over her head. And just... dream? No. She couldn’t do it.

Not a single part of her cared that those who were being tortured were human. She’d met a lot of good humans in her life. They’d even helped her out when she was in a bind or hidden her from the eyes of the Umbral Soldiers.

Good people were everywhere. No one could say that all humans were bad, just as no one could say that all elves were powerful. And knowing that those people were the ones who were being hunted? It made her sick to her stomach.

She just wanted to help.

But she couldn’t help them because there was a bigger picture to focus on. An entire kingdom waited for her to save it, and yet she wanted to save each individual.

Sighing, she rolled over yet again and stared out into the woods. Could she sneak away for the night? Abraxas was asleep, but he was a light sleeper. If she so much as stood up, she had a feeling he would notice. And he’d know what she was doing. He’d make her lie right back down and scold her for a good amount of time before staying up the rest of the night to ensure she stayed put.

She didn’t enjoy feeling trapped. And all of this felt like she had a collar around her neck with a hundred different people tugging her in every which direction.

Sighing again, she rolled over onto her back. Maybe she could save them tomorrow. Maybe, if she was lucky, they would still be alive when she broke down and couldn’t take the hollow echo of their screams anymore.

A hand came down over her mouth and she froze. Abraxas loomed over her, crouched in the darkness and nowhere near his bed. “Don’t scream.”

She furrowed her brows, glowering until he removed his hand from her mouth. “I wasn’t going to. You’re lucky I didn’t pop your skull.”

“Well, you weren’t sleeping, and that means I wasn’t sleeping. So let’s go.”

“Go?” She sat up, her hair a tangled mess around her head. “What do you mean, go?”

“You want to save the humans, and I want to sleep. So let’s get one group freed and then I can rest for the night.”

She stared at him while her heart thudded hard in her chest. Sometimes, she was reminded of how much she loved him. How much her heart beat only for him and that he could see inside her head like she was a book he knew how to read.

“Abraxas,” she whispered, her throat tight with emotion.

All he did was grin at her and hold out his hand for her to take. “Come on, Lady of Starlight. Do you think I don’t know you?”

He gathered her up in his arms, tugging her upright before disappearing between the trees. She’d forgotten this was his home. That he’d had hundreds of years to explore every inch of this forest. No one knew how to get around the castle better than Abraxas.

They snuck through the trees with light footsteps. She hadn’t grabbed any of her weapons, and neither had he. Their journey was too swift for such things. And as they crouched just outside of the light cast by fires, she understood why.

Four elven guards stood watch around a group of humans who were all tied with metal chains. They could hardly move away from each other. If anyone needed to lift an arm, at least three others had to do so as well to give them enough slack. It made eating difficult, it seemed, although they had little in their laps for food.

The fires were far away from them, perhaps only lit for the elves themselves. No human huddled around the flames for warmth. Instead, they were curled around each other.

The elves didn’t look like they were paying much attention. Maybe they had been nervous in the early days of kidnapping the mortals and bringing them to the castle. Lore couldn’t imagine there weren’t at least a few people who had wanted to fight back. But now? There was no one left to fight.

Abraxas pointed at the nearest guard. “I can silence him rather quickly, but the other three don’t seem to linger close together. They are well spaced.”

Or she could create a diversion.

Because what if these guards weren’t terrible people? Elves stuck together. They always had. If Margaret had told the elves to fight, then they would do just that. It wasn’t a question of why, nor did they need any reasoning. An elf said that mortals were to be rounded up, therefore, they would do exactly that.

Good people, she reminded herself, were hidden all over this kingdom. Killing the good ones to free others meant she was no better than Margaret.

Sighing, she pinched the bridge of her nose. She didn’t want anyone to sense the magic, but... Was this worth the risk?

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