“No scent of the Mages for the last two days. We either lost them, or they gave up trying to figure out the terrain. The lone Fae male is still out there, though. That’s all we know for sure.”
Ryder tilted his head behind me, in acknowledgement of the Shifter’s words, but he said nothing. I was beginning to think there was more to this story than Ryder had mentioned to me, like these two had some sort of twisted history from the stiffening of spines of the men. They went on high alert every time Silas got too close to Ryder.
“Clear,” Ristan said, as a series of whistles pierced the wind.
We dismounted, and the men from the wagons began to set up camp once more. I walked beside Ryder and Ristan and the rest of the men as we headed toward the small spring to water the horses. That was where everything changed.
The men continued to talk to each other, seemingly unaware of what was happening. Silas was close behind us with his own horse, and the men had fallen in behind as they always did. Our backs were never left exposed, or unguarded.
“The horse, it needs water,” Ryder said, and his eyes flashed sideways to me.
“That’s why we’re walking them to the water,” I replied. Maybe being on the horses so long had rattled his brain.
“Water, yes,” he replied.
I glanced at the others, who were carrying on varying conversations with each other. None of them made a lick of sense. It wasn’t until Ristan said something that made me go on alert.
“This isn’t right,” he muttered as his skin turned from ivory, to crimson red. I caught a glimpse of fangs, peeking from under his upper lip. “Something is off,” he continued, his eyes flashing as he took in each male.
I smiled at Ryder, who was smiling gently at me. Everything seemed to move in slow motion.
Sevrin was smiling at Savlian, and when I looked over my shoulder, I blinked in confusion. Something was very off here, and my stomach was sinking with apprehension with every step I took.
I turned to look at Ryder, who was walking beside me, and caught his eyes flashing with a yellow tint that Ryder didn’t normally have. His eyes were gold, amber, or black. Never yellow. Ristan met my eyes and shook his head.
“Flower,” he whispered, barely audible.
“Demon,” I replied back.
“Duck!” he shouted as he pulled his swords, and swiftly took the head from Ryder’s shoulders. I felt my knees buckle, as everything inside of me went numb with disbelief. Ristan had just decapitated Ryder.
Chapter Twenty-Six
I ducked as Ristan swung his sword in the direction of the next man standing closest to me. The moment his blade pierced Vlad’s heart, I screamed. I cried out as I tried to pull magic around me to take out the Demon. He’d stabbed Vlad! He’d killed my fucking Fairy! Why was it my magic had to leave me now? Screw the trial and not using magic, I was going to kill him. The Demon had fucking lost it!
I felt bile rise in my throat as everything inside of me shook with rage. I was unarmed and my brands either failed to notice I was in danger, or were inactive within the strange barrier. Tears burned in my eyes as I tried to summon the strength to stop the Demon before he could kill anyone else.
I couldn’t move, even though I wanted to take him out. I needed to get away from him, and yet I couldn’t make myself stop screaming. I needed to protect my unborn children from the Demon from hell. Yet, I couldn’t stop crying and screaming with rage so deep and foreign that I’d thought I would sink to the depths of despair from it.
I screamed until I thought my own ears would bleed, and it wasn’t until I caught sight of Ryder over Ristan’s shoulder about a hundred yards away that I stopped. Ryder stood with the rest, separated from us by what looked like an invisible barrier. His hands were pressed against it, with a look of horror on his beautiful face—his beautiful alive face.
I turned and looked at Ristan, who was preparing to go after the others on our side of the barrier with those wicked looking blades he was wielding. They were over three and a half feet long and double bladed. I had never even dreamed of such a thing. He’d know it wasn’t Ryder; not the real one, anyway. My heart still raced as my mind focused on those golden eyes.
I moved closer to Ristan, but made sure to stay out of swinging distance. He swung his blade at the fake Savlian and continued killing until only Sevrin was left. He pulled his blade back high in the air, and sent it sailing like a missile toward his target—but it disappeared in mid-air. He pulled his hand back and looked to where he had aimed the sword, and his bare hand. The blades were both gone now, as were the bodies that had littered the ground.