Kieran’s POV
The silence after the last crimson soldier’s body hit the ground felt was deafening.
It wasn’t peaceful. It wasn’t relief. It was the kind of quiet that rang in your ears after violence, thick, heavy, soaked in blood. The black sedan sat crooked across the road, doors hanging open, headlights still glaring into the trees. Steam rose from the hood where tal had buckled under bodies and force.
I stood there, chest heaving, claws still extended, heart pounding with a rhythm too violent to calm imdiately.
Lorraine.
That na burned behind my eyes, louder than the screams that had just ended.
"We’re done here," I said imdiately. "We leave now.... And we use the car"
No one questioned it.
Ti was the enemy now. Liandrin gave us 24 hours and ti was almost elapsing.
We moved fast. Felix and Alistair carefully lifted Varya, laying her across the back seat. She groaned faintly, a weak sound that made Felix tense, but then her breathing evened out again. The worst of the bleeding had slowed. Her skin was already knitting unevenly over torn flesh.
Felix slid in beside her, bracing her with his body as if his presence alone could keep her alive.
I moved to the driver’s side.
"I’ll drive," I told Alistair.
He nodded and climbed into the passenger seat, fastening his seatbelt with a sharp click. Felix barely had ti to shut the back door before I was already starting the engine.
The car lurched forward violently as I floored the accelerator.
The road blurred.
Trees beca streaks of shadow. Wind scread past the windows. The speed climbed higher and higher, far beyond what any normal person would dare push, but I wasn’t normal, and I didn’t care.
Liandrin’s deadline ticked relentlessly in my mind.
Almost twenty four hours.
I wasn’t afraid of her killing if we missed the deadline. If she activated the blood oath and crushed my heart, so be it. Pain didn’t frighten . Death didn’t either.
But Lorraine.....
The thought of her paying for my delay made sothing snap behind my eyes.
My vision reddened.
I pressed the pedal harder.
"Kieran!" Felix shouted from the back as the car swerved around a bend. He clutched Varya tightly, trying to keep her from sliding. "Slow down!"
Alistair glanced at , one hand gripping the seatbelt so hard his knuckles whitened. He didn’t tell to stop. He knew better.
We crossed into the Outlands, and the air itself changed, thick, charged, humming with old magic and danger. The road deteriorated into cracked stone and dirt, but I didn’t slow. The car rattled violently beneath us, protesting, but it held.
Then we finally arrived.
Liandrin’s house.
Crooked. Wrong. Leaning like it had grown out of the land instead of being built on it.
I slamd the brakes.
The car skidded, tires screaming, before jerking to a halt inches from the fence. Dust exploded into the air.
I was out before the engine even stopped.
"Bring Varya," I ordered sharply.
I didn’t wait for an answer.
The front door creaked open under my hand, and I stepped inside....
Empty.
It was empty.
The living room was bare. Too bare. No Liandrin. No Lorraine.
My heart dropped into my gut.
"No," I muttered, turning in a slow circle. "No. No, no, no...."
Footsteps sounded behind as Alistair and Felix carried Varya in, shoulder to shoulder. The house felt wrong. Too quiet. Like it was holding its breath.
"Liandrin!" I roared.
The sound shook the walls. Dust fell from the ceiling beams.
"Don’t bring down my house with that voice," Liandrin said calmly. "I rely casted an illusion spell."
She appeared without warning, lounging on her dusty couch like she hadn’t vanished at all.
And there....
On the floor.
Lorraine.
Kaelani.
Both unconscious.
I crossed the room in two strides and dropped to my knees beside Lorraine. My hands trembled as I gathered her into my arms, pressing my fingers to her neck.
A pulse.
Strong. Steady.
Alive.
The breath that tore out of felt like it ripped free from sowhere deep in my chest.
I rested my forehead briefly against hers, grounding myself in her scent, her warmth, then I looked up, fury blazing.
"Why are they unconscious?" I demanded.
Liandrin waved a dismissive hand. "That’s what happens when people try to escape my hospitality. I pushed them into their subconscious minds. I needed so peace and quiet"
"Wake them up," I said flatly.
She tilted her head, unimpressed. "You still don’t understand, do you? Your royal authority has no effect here. This is my house and I don’t like being ordered around."
I rose slowly to my feet.
"I said," I repeated, my voice dropping into sothing cold and dangerous, "wake them up."
She sighed theatrically. "You lot stress out."
She snapped her fingers.
Kaelani jolted upright with a sharp gasp, clutching her chest as she sucked in air. Panic flooded her face.
"What.... what happened?" she cried. "Where am I?"
Alistair moved to her imdiately, murmuring reassurance, steadying her as she shook.
I didn’t look away from Lorraine.
She didn’t stir.
"Why isn’t she waking up?" I asked.
Liandrin frowned.
For the first ti since I’d t her, sothing like genuine confusion crossed her face. She stood quickly and knelt beside Lorraine, muttering under her breath as she examined her.
Then she looked up at .
"I can’t wake her."
The world narrowed.
My fangs dropped. Claws tore free.
Before she could even react, my hand was inside her chest, fingers closing around her heart.
Liandrin scread, blood spilling from her mouth as she choked.
"Kieran!" Alistair shouted. "Stop!"
I didn’t hear him.
"What did you do to her?" I snarled, tightening my grip.
Liandrin gasped, whispered a spell....
A sudden force slamd into , tearing backward through the air. I hit the wall hard, boots carving lines into the floor as I skidded back, but I stayed on my feet.
Liandrin collapsed to her knees, coughing violently, clutching her chest as blood stained her fingers.
I stepped forward again....
"Enough!" she scread.
The word cracked through the room
"I didn’t hurt her," Liandrin said hoarsely. "I might do a lot of things but I don’t lie and I don’t bluff. I did the sa thing to her as I did to Kaelani."
She dragged in a breath, eyes sharp now. "But if she’s not waking up.... then that ans she’s trapped in her own mind."
Trapped?...
My gaze dropped to Lorraine’s still form in my arms.
"And if you want to get her back," Liandrin continued coldly, "you will rein in that rage of yours and stop charging around like a maddened bulldog, so we can find a solution."
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