Another man joins Ra’Sa, and they continue on, faces stern and heads fixed on the path ahead. They pass the palace and the homes and head into the tunnel that leads out of the city.
My interest piques.
I give them a head start before hurrying along behind. My legs ache from the speed since I’m not fully healed from the trek.
The pumping sound from inside the city starts to fade, and the air grows colder and crisper.
Enduvida’s entrance is wide open, and the hunters stand just outside with the Enduar King. Everyone’s faces are set in grim expressions, and it doesn’t take long to see why.
Quietly stepping out into the open air, into the sunlight I was starting to miss, I look down and see a dead human lying in the snow, a message carved into his chest in the common tongue.
I choke back a gasp, pressing my hand to my mouth. The blood, the color of his lips. It’s… gods, it’s awful.
And it seems just like something a giant would do.
Of course. Our escape isn’t as harmless as I thought it would be. We aren’t just left to be forgotten. The new king doesn’t merely presume us dead.
High King Rholker is particular with the humans—his obsession with Estela is appalling. Eneko had a good relationship with the king. On more than one occasion, I observed his ways. I should’ve known that he wouldn’t let any of us be at peace.
This could mean a war. How am I supposed to find a mate in the midst of all that? There isn’t time.
The Enduares will need to win this conflict before it has a chance to doom us all. I’ve come so close to getting a new home. I need to do something to stop it.
My head spins.
When I lived with Eneko, he was accustomed to spilling the contents of his mind after rutting me. It wasn't intimacy, not really—more like another kind of release. Sexual, and then mental.
Most of the time, the information was trivial. He told me idle gossip about other foremen and frustrations with Hibsej or his sons. But sometimes, it was important. Matters of the court.
Eneko knows the king. My old master has access to information that could turn the tides of a battle.
I’d been worrying about returning to Zlosa because the road was too dangerous to travel alone, but if I offered to help the Enduares, I bet they would give me someone to travel with. A bodyguard.
My mind soars, producing one name. Ra’Sa.
Nothing changes a man’s mind like close proximity to temptation.
The pieces of my plan aren’t fully formed, but my gut tells me yes.
Returning to Zlosa means sacrifice. But it also means a clear path to bringing my girls to Enduvida, with its pretty houses and glowing fungi.
Hard, but it would be worth it.
And the Enduares? If I make myself useful, there is no way they would ever cast me out. Mate or no mate. I’d make sure the two little girls in Zlosa would finally be safe.
Chapter 9
RA’SA
When I meet up with Teo and Vann, Melisa is nowhere to be seen. It’s a small mercy. She’s reached into my head and twisted up my mind. Mates, pain, safety, what does it all mean?
She is not meant to be mine, but for the first time… I wish.
Iwant.
What thefuckam I supposed to do with that?
That is until we exit the tunnels and find a human man on the ground.