Chapter 500

Nina

“I knew you would come back for your little friend.”

The cold, sharp points of the spears pressed against our backs felt like nothing compared to the bite of Mila’s words. God, I felt like a stupid little child in that moment. We had walked straight into a trap. A rather obvious one, at that. How foolish were we for thinking that it would be so easy to walk right into Mila’s palace without running into a single guard?

I felt my heart clench in my chest as I looked upon the scene that was waiting for me: Mila, standing in the middle of the morgue with Luke at her side. He was kneeling beside her with a metal collar around his neck and a chain that led straight to Mila’s hand.

Like a dog.

“Let him go, Mila,” Enzo growled, attempting to take a step forward.

A low growl rumbled in the back of his throat, but he stopped nonetheless. There was nowhere he could go. It was either into one spear or another. Because the moment he had moved, another spear had appeared at his front just as quickly as it had at his back.

“I must say, you two really crack me up.” Mila smirked. “Coming back for your friend like this is so endearing and yet… it’s so, so stupid.”

Enzo let out another low growl, to which Mila merely chuckled and folded her arms across her chest. The chains in her hands clinked together as she did so, and I saw Luke’s neck jerk a bit. But he didn’t lift his head. He just kneeled there, staring blankly at the floor.

“Oh, how sweet,” Mila continued patronizingly. “But unfortunately, being sweet is a weakness in this world. Guards, cuff them.”

Before I knew it, those damned silver ropes were being bound against my wrists again. The silver burned and seared against my flesh, but I hardly felt it. My senses were locked on two things: the sharp end of the spear still pressed against my lower back, and my dear friend kneeling in front of me, his head bowed.

“At least let Luke go, Mila,” I pleaded as the ropes were bound around us. “He is of no consequence to your grand plan. Please, he’s innocent.”

“Innocent?” Mila chuckled again, the sound darker and more malevolent this time. “How can you call him innocent when he plotted right along with you, all because of a pointless promise? And besides, even if I set him free, I don’t think he would leave anyway. This poor little lost puppy would follow you to the ends of the earth.”

I felt my throat close up at Mila’s words. It was true; Luke had made a promise to me to be my protector. Not once had he broken it. And thanks to that, he was here because of me. He was in danger because of me.

Just like everyone else who came into my life.

“Luke,” I murmured, “you don’t need to stay by my side. Please, just go home.”

But Luke merely shook his head. For the first time since we had returned, he finally spoke. His voice was low and gravelly, like iron being raked over hot coals. Had he been screaming? Had Mila been torturing him?

“No,” he whispered. “You came back for me. God, why did you come back for me?”

“Because we love you, Luke,” Enzo replied. “We couldn’t leave you behind.”

“How precious.” Mila yanked lightly on Luke’s chains, and I felt my blood boil when I saw his body lurch forward. “They love you, Luke. Isn’t that a sweet excuse for naivety?”

Luke didn’t respond, and neither did I. Because once again, Mila was right; it was naive of us to return. Maybe Daphne, who was currently being held by her arms by two guards so she couldn’t shift and fly away, had been right. Maybe we would have been better off taking our chances and trekking to the portal location.

“Well then,” Mila said with a self-satisfied sigh. “I suppose there’s no use in more theatrics. You two will be returned to your chambers to begin the memory extraction process, and the undead boy here…” She paused, tapping her chin thoughtfully. “I think I’ll keep him, actually. After a bit of reeducation, I could use a loyal servant such as—”

Suddenly, as Mila spoke, the sound of crackling and fizzing filled the room. Moments later, a swirling portal vortex ripped through the fabric of reality, and I felt my heart soar when I saw a familiar pair of broad shoulders step through.

“Dad!”

My father stepped out of the portal, looking even more enormous in the stifling room. Mila’s eyes seemed to widen, then flash with recognition as she whirled around to face him.

“Hello, Mila,” he said gruffly.

I furrowed my brow. Wait—he knew her after all?

“A-Aldric,” Mila said, taking a shaky step back. “It’s you. I haven’t seen you in—”

“Quite the place you’ve built for yourself here.” With the portal still whirling behind him, my father stepped forward and looked around the room. Several guards spilled out of the vortex as well and began to circle the room, some of them in their snarling wolf forms.

Mila seemed astounded as my father’s piercing eyes swept over the room. They finally stopped to linger on me for a few electrifying moments before he turned back to Mila.

“Release my daughter and her friends, Mila,” he said calmly. “I won’t ask twice.”

But by now, Mila’s surprise had faltered. She frowned deeply at my father, straightening her shoulders as she looked at him. “The others can leave, but Enzo… He stays,” she insisted. “I need him.”

“For what?” my father scoffed. “For your grand plan? The boy has trace amounts of dragon blood in him. Hardly enough to produce an heir who can shift into one.”

“With the correct rituals,” Mila said, “it will be enough. I only need time.”

My father rolled his eyes. “You’ve had a hundred years, Mila. It’s time to let it go. Now.”

At the mention of that last word, my father held his hand up. His guards held their swords up, prepared to attack. The ones in their wolf forms raised their hackles and bared their teeth; even Mila, the fearsome bloody queen, seemed to quiver a bit where she stood.

For a few long moments, there was a tense silence. I wondered if the spears might pierce our backs before we could escape.

But then, Mila raised her hand and the spears were pulled back. Our ropes were cut. Daphne’s arms were released, and without a moment of hesitation she shifted back and flitted through the portal. Even Luke’s chains were dropped to the floor from Mila’s hands.

My father smiled. “I see you’ve still got a flicker of intelligence behind those mad eyes of yours, Mila,” he said.

But Mila merely grimaced in response.

My father turned to us then. “Go, all of you,” he said as calmly as ever. “I have some business to attend to here.”

Before I knew it, Enzo’s hand was wrapping around mine. I felt him pull me to my feet and scoop me up into his strong arms, and right now, that was all that mattered. I tangled my fingers around his shirt as he carried me toward the portal with Luke on our heels.

Freedom. Freedom at last.

The last thing I saw before the three of us lunged into the swirling portal was a bright flash of fire filling the air.

And screams. So many screams.