Ruthless Fae - Ingrid Seymour Page 0,1

Arryn off the island. It was hard to say goodbye to the girls, but the dean had promised their safety.

Now, she and her team were ready to attempt a rescue mission. Bael, Becca, Ronnie, Regina, and Antonio were waiting for me to come back to them. I had left them with instructions to hide while I took an injured Crescent to the Habermanns as a ruse to get into the dome and rescue Vaughn and the girls, using my new invisibility skill.

Except I wouldn’t be able to personally keep my promise to Bael and the others. Charlie and her friends would go rescue the rest of my group, while I worked on a different mission.

I was going back for my cousin, Sinasre, whom I had left tangled in a clump of trees, alone and terrified of what the Habermanns’ experiments had turned him into. My Melthelel. I had to save him.

With the dean and all her magical protégés here, I was hopeful for his recovery.

I tried not to think of the fact that Vaughn was still unconscious despite everyone’s magical efforts. I had to stay hopeful. The dean and her healers were trying everything they could. They would find a way. There was no other possible outcome. Vaughn would be all right, and I would soon look into his spellbinding green eyes once more.

But for now, Charlie wasn’t going to keep me idle on this flying ship.

“I’m sure I want to go, Charlie. I can rest once we get everyone back,” I said.

“Leave her alone,” Bridget replied, rising from the cot. “You know if it was you, you’d be all hot and bothered to get into the action.”

I thought Charlie might argue, but instead, she pursed her lips and nodded in acceptance.

“Okay, then, let’s go.” Bridget opened the door, and we exited the cabin. We marched down a narrow corridor to the far end of the ship and entered the large, window-covered area where we had first materialized just an hour ago.

Disha, Rowan, Vinya, and another from Alonzo’s team named Tyler waited in the middle of the room. A stack of packs, utility belts, and weapons rested on the floor.

Rowan, Charlie’s vampire boyfriend, stepped forward. He was tall and broad with chestnut-colored hair, pale skin, and dark eyes that flashed red when he was angry. He was an intimidating vamp who I was glad to have on my side.

He pointed at the weapons. “Pick your poison.”

I glanced at the host of weapons carefully laid out on the floor. There were handguns, rifles, daggers, crossbows, and swords. I immediately gravitated toward a shortsword. It had a simple round pommel and a hilt wrapped in leather. It was the type of weapon I had trained with in Faerie.

Wrapping my hand around the hilt, I picked it up, unsheathed it, and tested its weight. It was perfect.

“Excellent choice,” Rowan said. “The blade is spelled. It can block magical attacks.”

I nodded appreciatively, while Rowan pointed to a utility belt. “I would offer you the back holster, but it wouldn’t work with your wings. That belt should, though.”

While everyone else selected weapons and other supplies, I picked up the belt, clicked it in place around my waist, and found a spot from which to hang the sword in its sheath. I tested the belt, tightening it securely, and felt a measure of relief at having a true weapon at my side.

“Everyone gather around.” Charlie beckoned. Her friends moved closer.

Rowan, Disha, Bridget, and Charlie formed a circle, touching each other. I said a small prayer to the gods for the safe retrieval of the other inmates. I had shown Charlie the exact spot where to find them. The ship’s computer had a precise map of the island, which they had pulled up on a monitor for me to explain its layout. I just hoped Bael and the others had stayed put where we’d agreed and that nothing bad had befallen them in the meantime.

After the first rescue team vanished into thin air, something I would never quite get used to, I approached Tyler, who I didn’t know but seemed to have a handle on what he was doing, and Vinya and joined their circle. I had also shown them where Sinasre was tangled near the lake with the large waterfall. Vinya nodded at me reassuringly, then our bodies fell apart into tiny particles, and an instant later, we rematerialized in the middle of the jungle. Vinya’s red hair fell about her shoulders in smooth locks like