Diana could see the dryad’s empty eyes widen, her mouth gaping in terror as Cacus opened his mouth wide, his jaw dislocating like a python, and dropped his head down. He bit off Alseida’s head with one snap of his massive teeth. Throwing his head back, it dropped further into his powerful jaws. The corridor was filled with the sound of crunching as he chewed her skull, pausing only to sweep his long tongue to gather the fragments of the nymph’s residual being. A dark slime seeped from his mouth, and the dryad’s remains began to collapse around her neck, showing the bones of a destroyed immortal.
Diana whimpered. She lay limply in Raskyuil’s arms as he spun around, racing into the hidden courtyard, the sounds of the vine encasement cracking all around them. Each crack was accompanied by the meaty sound of immortal substance being torn away and consumed.
Clinging to the troll, her eyes trailed over the crocottas, lingering on Keena in the lead and the duskier Keech. With each breath she could feel the forest falling down around the palace as the pets of Cacus wreaked devastation, his very presence a blight seeping into the ground. Everything around her felt dark, a fog descending over her as she flopped in the troll’s arms. She was barely aware of him clutching her tightly to his chest as he bent down to whisper in her ear.
“To the belly of the Earth with you through the hidden door of the unseen. May Silvas’s secret stair deliver you to safety.”
A groan of pain left her as Raskyuil draped her over the furred back of a crocotta. Diana barely had the strength to lift her eyelids as she slipped into the cool darkness below the halls of Arx. As the door swung shut and latched behind her, she heard the challenging roar of a troll greeting battle.
Her eyes drifted closed and she sagged, sliding precariously on the beast. By some miracle, she didn’t fall from it onto the stairs. It was only when they reached level ground that, when the crocotta crouched, she dropped to the floor.
Chaos spun around her, and Diana’s back arched with the pain that swamped her where she lay on the hard, stone ground. The thousands of connections twisted within her, demanding her, calling to her—pleading. A spark lit within her, a white flame that grew with every supplication until it was an inferno twisting through her in a raging firestorm, compressing with her every breath until it was a crackling orb of power held within her.
Diana’s eyes flew open, her mouth gaping in a silent scream. Her body arched once more as the white fire erupted through the bonds tied to her soul, flooding them with strength and power. Arx rumbled overhead, and the pale silver light burst through her mind, accompanied by a piercing pain on her brow like two stakes driven deep. Her light flooded through the Eternal Forest. She was aware of it even as lost as she was in the darkness of the lower levels, her entire being crying out for her mate.
Spent, she lay in darkness, a warm body nestled next to her as Arx shook above and the sounds of battle faded, punctuated only with the pained roar of the monstrous Cacus before silence fell. Her eyelids fluttered, but at long last, she closed them and succumbed to the weariness that overwhelmed her. At least she no longer hurt… and she hoped that the brave guard found his peace as well.
Head lolling, Diana was lost to oblivion.
Chapter 35
The sound of dripping water echoed around Diana. Was she dead? If so, she was disappointed. She had assumed that if she were dead, her worries would be gone and the emptiness and pain running through her would have ceased. Instead, she hurt and felt out of sorts.
“No, you are not dead,” a soft, sibilant voice answered with an amused chuckle.
Had she said that aloud?
Groaning, Diana cracked open her eyes, turning her head to face the stranger at her side. She gasped at the sight of the grinning female beside her. As colorless and pearly as Silvas, the female had startling blood red eyes, and instead of legs possessed a serpentine tail that coiled in a relaxed fashion on the rocks of the cave.
A low whine sounded behind her seconds before a dark snout shoved into her face, blocking the sight of the snake woman. Diana blinked up and smiled at the crocotta that stepped carefully