Page 76 of Heart of the Cursed
“They’ve all been taken care of,” Dain said.
“Well, except for those two,” Taredd said, nodding towards another doorway.
Arun looked over just in time to see two confused looking guards walk in. They frowned at the broken door before looking around the room. Their eyes widened in surprise when they noticed the group of females. The second they caught sight of Arun, Taredd, and Dain standing over Selene’s prone form on the floor, all the colour drained from their faces, and they turned to run.
They didn’t make it far before Arun caught up with them. He held his sword in front of them, blocking their escape. They looked over their shoulder to see if they could escape that way, but Taredd had come up behind them.
Both males visibly shook as they turned back to stare at Arun.
“I have a message for you to deliver,” he said calmly.
“Y.. y.. yes, s.. s.. Sir,” one of the guards stuttered.
“Tell my family, if any of them come after me, I will kill them.”
Arun didn’t care that he’d just cut ties with his family by killing his brother. He deserved to die, and Arun wouldn’t hesitate to do it again. Only next time, he would make it as slow and painful as possible, instead of the quick and clean death he’d been given.
Both guards nodded frantically. Arun glared at them for another couple of seconds before he slowly lowered his sword and stepped back. The guards took off like their lives depended on it. Neither of them looked back as they disappeared into the woodlands surrounding the property.
“You know they’re going to come after you,” Taredd said.
Arun shrugged. “They can try, but they won’t get very far.”
They could try as much as they liked. They would quickly find out that he wasn’t one to be messed with. As long as they stayed away from Selene. If they went after her, they would soon have a war on their hands.
“How long do you think we have before they come after us?” Dain asked.
“They won’t be coming after you,” Arun pointed out. “Because you’re not coming with me. It’s going to be too dangerous.”
“If you think that, then you obviously don’t know us as well as we thought you did,” Dain said. “Because we are going with you, and there’s nothing you can do to stop us. You know my view on the situation, you know I’ve wanted an end to the killing for a long time, so there’s no way I’m going to sit on the side-lines while you make it happen.”
“Dain’s right,” Taredd agreed. “You’re not going alone. We’re both going with you.”
“You both have mates to take care of,” Arun said. “You know what will happen when Selene performs the spell. You need to get yourself, and your mates, to your realms before that happens.”
“Yes, we do know,” Taredd said. “But we’re still going with you.”
They were a stubborn pair of bastards, but he couldn’t fault them for it because he was just as stubborn.
“It’s not going to be easy,” he warned them.
“We know,” Taredd said.
“It wouldn’t be fun if it was easy,” Dain added.
“Just tell us what we need to do,” Taredd said.
“First, we need to get the book from the Ogres,”
“Do we know which ones?” Taredd asked.
“Not yet, no,” he admitted. “I’ll find out from Selene when she wakes up. The book should hopefully tell us where to find the spell.”
“Sounds easy enough,” Dain said.
“It is,” Arun agreed. “Except for the fact that we’ll be hunted, not only by my family, but by every being in this realm that doesn’t want Selene to complete the spell. And I don’t have to tell you how many people that will be.”
Dain folded his arms in front of his chest. “Amberly would kick my arse if I tried to keep her out of the next fight.” When Taredd looked at him, Dain shrugged. “I had to promise her before she’d let me come.”
