The als was thick with tension as we crouched among the trees hear the castle. Every breath I took felt heavy, burdened with the weight of what we were about to do. Above us, the sky stretched wide and dark, the moon casting an eerie glow over the stone fortress ahead. The towering walls, worn by time but still imposing, loomed like silent sentinels, daring us to challenge their protection.
My heart pounded, a steady drumbeat against my ribs, echoing the storm of uncertainty in my mind.
We were really doing this.
Even now, even
even with the cold certainty of our plan solidifying around me, doing this.
nd me, I still couldn’t believe it. I still didn’t know why I was
- us. His f
face was unreadable, his sharp gaze
Isaiah, our leader–our guide through the treacherous world of shades–glanced back at us. sweeping over each of us before settling on me.
“Stay close,” he murmured, his voice barely a breath against the night air
I exhaled sharply and nodded.
Around me, the others tensed, their postures coiled with readiness. We pressed t
together, our bodies forming a tight cluster as if that would somehow protect us from what was coming.
Without another word, Isalah took the first step, and we followed, slipping into the darkness.
As soon as we crossed the threshold, a strange, weightless sensation washed over me. The darkness around us thickened, wrapping itself around my body like a second skin. My skin prickled as my senses sharpened, the world around me shifting in ways that defied reason. Time and space stretched, warping, pulling at the edges of my awareness, but Isaiah moved forward with practiced ease.
1 gritted my teeth, fighting the disorientation, forcing myself to focus
My mind kept circling back to him. The reason we were risking everything
I still didn’t know what I would say to him when we saw him.
He had betrayed us–at least, that’s what I had believed. We all had. But then he hadn’t. He had given them a fake map. He had played his role so well that even we had fallen for the deception. And now, because of his choice, because of his sacrifice, he was being tortured.
My entations tangled together–anger, confusion, guilt, and something else I refused to name.
“How are we going to get him out?” I whispered.
Isaiah’s voice remained steady, unshaken. “The shadows will help us. We’ll be able to move unseen, but we have to be fast. The
dungeon is heavily guarded.”
Austin snorted softly, barely concealing his skepticism. “Great. So we’re sneaking into the enemy’s stronghold to save a traitor. What could possibly go wrong?”
I ignored him, clenching my fists.
I wasn’t in the mood for his cynicism.
1/3
Chapter 187
Isaiah suddenly tied prising y
ming colder, Slater. The scent of dang ba
The deeper we went, 16
forefingered here
Then, ahead, the code need into a wider chamber
A dim glow flickered from torches mounted along the walls, their gen light casting fong, dancing shades across the stone flore
And then we heard it.
A nice sharp, furious, echoing off the cold stone
1 froze, my fireath catching in my that.
Isaiah motioned for us to stop and pressed a finger to his lips. We shrank into the deepest part of the shadows.) against the rough, unyielding wall as we perred into the chamber birjond.
And that’s when I saw
Mother
A shudder ran through me, a deep, instinctive reaction I couldn’t suppress.
She stood tall in the center of the chamber, veiled as always, an enigma wrapped in power and cruelty. Her presence filled heavy and suffocating, her very being an unspoken command that faced obedience.
Witches surrounded her, their heads bowed, their postures stiff with fear. The air around them vibrated with tension, as if they that one wrong word, one wrong breath, could be their last.
Mother was angry.
slicing through
the silence.
“How do you fail to find four worthless dogs?” she snarled, her voice like a blade slicing t
A witch flinched under her glare, her hands trembling at her sides. “M–Mother, we
Mother silenced her with a sharp wave of her hand.
“I do not want excuses,” she snapped, her tone cold, cutting. “Sarah found them. A high witch like her should have been able to eliminate four pathetic mutts. And yet, here we are.
I swallowed hard, my stomach twisting
She was talking about us,
Mother’s presence had always unsettled me, but now, with the knowledge of what we were doing, the weight of her words settled like a stone in my chest.
Must I do everything myself?” she continued, her voice laced with venomous frustration.
2/3
Chapter 187
A suffocating silence fell over the chamber.
Then, suddenly, she stopped.
Her veiled head tilted ever so slightly, a small, precise movement.
And she turned.
My breath locked in my throat,
She was looking right at us.
It wasn’t possible. The shadows kept us hidden, cloaked in an unnatural darkness that should have made us invisible. And yet..
The way she stood. The
She knew.
The way her posture shifted. It sent an ity dread lithering down my spine.
Mother
exhaled slowly, then spoke, her voice quiet, controlled, but full of certainty.
“Guard Elijah.”
A sharp pang of fear struck through me.
My chest tightened.
She knew.
“Tighten security,” she continued.
And then, after a pause, she added, “And send someone to take care of the dogs.”
For a moment, the words didn’t register.
And then they did.
My blood ran cold
We had to move.
Now
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