Land of Monsters (Savage Lands #8)

Chapter 24

Raven

“Mom!” My garbled cry got caught behind my gag. I wiggled against Iain’s hold. “Dad!”

Seeing my family, my uncles and aunts there, filled my body with warmth and hope. As if actual adults were finally here to handle everything, and I could be the little girl and hide within their protective arms.

But right behind that feeling came fear. Guilt. They were all here for me. I put them in a position to have to protect me. Save me.

Again.

“Stop moving,” Iain snarled in my ear. He yanked out a blade, the sharp sting stilling me when he cut into my neck.

A noise came from beside me, darting my gaze down to Ash. Sweat coated his skin, his eyes shiny and glazed, a lip curled at Iain while he swayed on his knees.

Panic gutted out my lungs. True terror like I had never felt before vibrated my bones. The link between us was hazy, a thread still clutching for dear life. Soon it would be gone.

“Release my daughter.” My mother’s voice came from the garden below. Dressed down in jeans and a sweater, her long dark hair pulled back, she still held the authority of a queen. Torin, my mother’s personal guard, was right behind her like he always was, never leaving her side. She was petite like me, with a youthful face and soft voice, but I knew that tone. The strength and ferocity behind her beauty. So many underestimated her, thought her too delicate to really fight. Some fighters didn’t need muscles and weapons. Her mind, like mine, could tear through flesh and break people’s will to her own.

Standing to her right was Aunt Fionna, King Lars’s mate, dressed in similar attire. Where my mother was a natural obscurer, Aunt Fionna had trained herself in the dark arts and became skilled in black magic, though she wasn’t a strong seer as my mother. It went all to her daughter, Piper.

Six years older, my stunning cousin was one of the most powerful Druid seers in existence. Power like hers was a double-edged sword. It broke her grasp on reality some days, made her flighty and not always present in this world. Adrift in the multiple visions of the future that could unfold, she had trouble understanding what was real and what wasn’t.

“Your Majesty .” Sonya’s timbre was full of mocking. “What an honor it is for you to visit me.”

“Let my daughter go now, Sonya,” the queen responded.

Sonya let out a trilled laugh. “You think you hold any power here, Druid?” Sonya’s humor was quickly dying away. “This is my country. Not that you have much power in the UFN. Let’s be honest, Lars is the only thing keeping the people from dragging you out and banishing you.”

A snarl vibrated from my father’s throat, his eyes flashing red, blades popping up from his spine.

“Oh, does your little consort not like that? Better keep your guard dog on a leash, Majesty.” Sonya’s blonde eyebrow arched. “And if any of your pets shit on my lawn, you’ll have to clean up after them.”

A wave of growls bounded from my family, shaking the ground.

“Or maybe I’ll have them cleaned up.” Sonya smirked, her attention flitting to the highest tower and down to the ground where her monsters waited.

My gaze went up to the tower, where I noted an outline within the shadows. Someone was up there, ready to fire on my family. Thrashing against Iain, I looked from my mom’s dark brown eyes, fear leaking through them, to my father’s, the same bright color as mine. My dweller tried to scream through the link they all shared, including my brother, but my fucked-up ass could not. The oddity among oddities.

Please don’t . I shook my head, trying to tell them. You don’t know what you are up against. I can’t have anything happen to you.

Rage simmered under my dad’s skin, the dweller showing himself, but I could feel the love, the intensity of what he felt. My father was my alpha. The need to protect me with everything he had dominated his aura.

“Do not challenge me, Sonya.” My mother’s elegant voice held a deadly cut to it. “You will not like the results.”

“I already like the results.” She motioned to me, Iain’s knife cutting deeper into my neck. “I have both your children.” She tipped her head, voice dripping with disdain. “One is my prisoner and the other one… well, he is already dead.”

The silence that hit after her announcement was louder than an explosion, striking my chest with the grief I was trying to keep at bay.

Rook…

With the goblin metal blocking me, I couldn’t feel any magic or the link between us. Wouldn’t I feel my twin’s death deep in my bones, like it would rattle through, a cold empty hole, part of myself dying along with him.

“You lie,” my mom spat.

My father’s head jerked to Cole, my brother’s alpha, both of their eyes widening, realizing Rook was probably no longer a thread among their link. My dad ran his own group, but my brother decided to go with Cole. As much as my brother and father love each other, their mutual stubbornness and tempers worked better without Dad being his alpha.

“I don’t need to lie.” She grinned smugly, the fingers of one hand absently running along her necklace, the other hand at her stomach. “Not when the truth is so much better,” Sonya said. “You let your children out into the world as unprepared little lambs. They walked right into slaughter.”

A rumble came from Lorcan before his clothes tore to shreds, his bones popping as he shifted completely into his dweller, claws cutting the earth, his roar penetrating the air with anger and grief.

The sound of losing a child.

My legs bowed at the cry, the agony spinning my head, my gaze darting quickly to Ash. Pale and sweaty, he swayed like a brewing storm, ready to be taken down. My brother was already lost to the toxins, and soon it would be my mate. It was too much. My brain shut down my heart and mind. I became numb.

“By coming here, you invoked international war, and my only rebuttal was to fight back.” Sonya shrugged. “Just know, when you watch everyone around you die, it was your own doing. You were never supposed to be queen. You had no right to step into queen Aneria’s shoes. You are a disgrace. Your death will be cheered by many.” Sonya nodded her head to the monsters below. “Kill them.”

The Primul howled, drawing attention to them. Expressions of horror fluttered over some of my family, not expecting to see the grotesque beings moving toward them.

My family was strong. We were born killers, but these weren’t normal fae.

“NO!” I screamed, but only garbled noise made it past my lips. The sound was drowned out by the thunderous roar of the dwellers shifting, magic crackling in the air. The familiar feel of Druid magic from my mother, aunt, and cousin hummed around us.

I heard a crack as beasts and monsters slammed into each other, howls penetrating the soil. Druid magic sparked, the familiarity of it dancing over my skin and burning up my nose as my mother and Aunt Fionna battled against the mindless drones surrounding them.

“Dubthach.” Sonya turned to him. “Deal with them.”

“What?” Dubthach blanched. “She is the queen.”

“An impostor.” Sonya frowned. “I want her dead.”

“They hold dark magic,” he rebutted. “I can’t counter that. They are more powerful.”

“Then maybe I should employ them.” Her nose wrinkled. “I mean, what use are you to me?” Her threat was clear. “I dispose of things no longer useful to me.”

He nodded his head, heading down the steps.

“I want you to watch, Raven,” Sonya spoke, not even looking at me, her hand on her belly. “The weak will always be weeded out. Right or wrong, it is the law of nature. And you will be part of creating something even better. I have come too far, planned too long. Sat for decades on the sidelines, letting others rule me, others dictate. But now it’s all in my grasp, and I will not stop until I get what I want.”

My pulse beat louder in my ears; the screams of death and agony dragged like claws on my spine.

“You will help to create a new breed of fae.” She stared off at the battle below. “So powerful, no one can touch us.”

“Us?” I spat back.

“Yes.” Her attention cut back over to me. “You will produce their heirs until you are no longer of use.”

A woman’s scream came from below, chilling my veins. My stomach sank when I recognized the voice.

“NO!” Aunt Fionna cried, terror gripping every nuance.

The snake-man seized Piper by the neck, his venomous teeth at her throat, while Latin words flowed from her mother. The snake smiled at her, Druid magic not affecting him.

Sonya’s smile curved her face at seeing both my mother and aunt try to use their black magic against the monster, not understanding it was pointless. Unlike the mindless soldiers, these things were neither fae nor human, but their own species, which did not bow to any magic.

Making them more indestructible. Only by beheading did these things seem to die.

Piper stood strong, her chin high as if she was accepting her demise that she would go out with pride. Her stepfather’s daughter. A true princess, even if not by blood.

Agony muffled from me, my heart stuttering for my cousin. Wyatt might have splintered us, my heart and ego unable to withstand the pain of them together, but I never stopped loving her. She was my family, my idol growing up. And now, with Ash, I realized I was a fantasist in my thoughts about Wyatt. They always had a deep connection. Where ours was more friendship, theirs was an unfathomable love they tried to fight. And no matter how much I screamed, cried, and pushed her away, she was here, fighting for me.

Where was Wyatt? He never left her side.

“No,” I whined, withering in Iain’s grip as the snake flicked out his tongue, tasting its prey. His jaw opened wider, venom dripping from his fangs, his jaw about to clamp down.

“NOOOOO!” The scream rattled my soul, but it didn’t venture from my lips. The deep bellow broke across the air like a war cry as more people popped out of thin air. Two enormous men with blondish hair, white eyes, and battle-axes came charging in.

Wyatt, followed by his father Ryker, his mother Zoey, Croygen, his mate Kat, and their pirate crew.

The wanderers—Ryker, Wyatt, and Zoey, did not need fae doors to travel. Their magic was something so rare and valuable that they were the only three to have this type of power. As long as they could picture where they wanted to go, they could “jump” to locations, bringing at least one or two people with them.

Expression carved like stone, Wyatt, a furious, stoic Viking like his father, came barreling toward his mate, his axe swinging for the snake.

Their entry took focus for a moment. And a moment was all I needed.

Ramming my arms as hard as I could into Iain’s crotch, I slammed my head back, hearing the crack of his nose burst in my eardrums. He doubled over with a howl of pain. I pitched forward, breaking free of Iain’s hold, Sonya’s shouts a blanketed screech in my ears.

Iain scrambled for me, slamming us both to the ground, his body landing on mine.

Air caught in my throat, a warm sensation buzzing over me. I knew something was wrong.

Lowering my gaze, I took in the handle of the blade sticking out of my stomach, red liquid pooling out and warming me against the cold air.

I didn’t feel pain.

My eyes flickered to Ash, his focus slowly moving from the knife in my stomach to my face.

I expected to see sadness. A distant understanding that this was all over. We weren’t walking out of here alive. We would die here together.

No such acceptance came from him. His glossy eyes blazed with fever, one word falling from his lips as he looked at me.

“Mine.”