Page 50 of Cold Hearted
“I agree.”
With that, I reached out and wrapped my hands around her collar, heating the lock with laser precision, and then ripped the metal contraption right off.
It fell to the ground with a clank and Nysa took a deep, cleansing breath, glancing up at me with shock. Her green skin suddenly had a healthy glow I hadn’t seen on her before.
One by one, the other women stepped forward and I heated, destroyed, and broke their collars as well.
“Where do we go from here?” Alexandria asked in a small voice next to me. Already some of the women had broken off and with waves of goodbye were fleeing, going back to their homes and families.
“My fate is waiting for me in the capital,” I said, and Alexandria’s eyes lit up.
“Easteria?” she asked, and I remembered that Sabine had told me we were closer to the Eastern Kingdom than the Western. I suppose one Ethereum lord’s black heart was just as good as the next. “I’m from near there,” Alexandria went on. “My village isn’t far from Easteria. Can I travel with you?”
I had a moment of hesitation, worried I’d lead her into more trouble, but there was such a hopeful look on her face I couldn’t say no, so I nodded.
“I’m coming too,” Nysa announced, surprising me.
“You’re from Easteria?” I asked, and she rolled her eyes.
“I’m a forest nymph. Do I look like a city dweller?”
I felt a little heat of embarrassment rise to my cheeks. “Then return to your family like the others,” I said, but she shook her head.
“I’m with you until I’ve repaid my debt. The capital of the Eastern Kingdom is fraught with danger.”
It was? Still, I couldn’t allow anyone to get hurt on my behalf. Sabine’s death had left a scar on my heart that would never heal. I couldn’t live through watching someone else get hurt because of me. I started to shake my head, but the sharp look she gave me said it would be useless to argue with her.
“All right,” I said.
The women scavenged a small amount of supplies off the fallen fae. It was split equally among us, and after several tearful hugs Nysa, Alexandria, and I set off on foot for Easteria.
It wasn’t long before my thoughts shifted to my next task: find the Eastern lord, steal his heart. For my mother, my people, and all of Faerie, I could not be distracted from my task any longer. But even at that thought, an image of Zander rose in my mind and a painful twinge shot through my chest. Every step away from him felt wrong, but I forced myself to keep moving, putting my heart aside for duty.
Chapter 14
Zander
Ifollowed my new informant’s directions along a river, through a thicket of bushes, and then froze when I smelled it.
Death.
I looked up to see a camp, the smell of stale smoke and ash lingering in the air. A stage of some sort had been erected along the river and there were… bodies everywhere.
Peering down at the man who had played a role in enslaving Dawn, I allowed the black shard of glass to erupt from my palm and press into his throat.
“If she’s dead, I’ll pay a blood witch to tie your soul to a rock so that you never leave this place,” I growled, and then shot the shard through his neck, not even waiting for his body to hit the ground before jumping off Omen and running for her.
“Dawn!” I screamed in desperation, black shadows dancing along the edges of the camp waiting to do my bidding.
So much carnage.
My gaze moved frantically over the bodies of dead fae and then to a cell that was dug into a cave wall with the door opened.I began to look closer at the bodies, grimacing at the giant cauterized holes in their chests. Reaching down, I felt one of them to find that he was cold. The edge of the erected stage was burned as well, as if by sunlight magic.
I exhaled a huge sigh of relief. “Oh, little bird, didn’t they know they couldn’t cage you?”
Stepping over to a pile of… collars, I picked one up, anger rushing through my system at the sight of it. These bastards bought and sold fae like property and used them for their bidding. If any one of them had touched my Dawn…
A moan came from one of the bodies, and I turned.
