Ruthless Fae - Ingrid Seymour Page 0,3

intent on tackling my cousin before Tyler could shoot him.

Sinasre was only fifteen feet away from Vinya, then ten. He lunged in her direction, arms outstretched.

Purple, crackling magic hit him square in the chest as he soared. He dropped to the ground a mere foot away from the witch, who let out a shuddering breath, staggered backward, and collapsed onto a fallen log.

I landed next to Sinasre, relief flooding my chest. He was unconscious on his stomach. I pushed matted, badly chopped hair out of his face. I caressed his cheek with the back of my fingers.

“I told you I would come back for you, Melthelel.” Tears of relief prickled in the back of my eyes. All the people I loved here on the island were safe now.

I glanced up at Vinya to thank her. She looked pale and sweat dotted her forehead. She had a slight smile on her lips. Suddenly, it disappeared, and her eyes widened in alarm.

“No!” she exclaimed, her hands weaving frantically again.

I whirled, unsure of what was happening.

The earth underneath my feet shifted. I glanced down to find the ground cracking open beneath my cousin. I watched in horror as the earth attempted to swallow Sinasre whole.

I grabbed his arm and pulled on it, my wings whirring desperately as I tried to hold him back.

“Stay with me!” I screamed.

But he was too heavy, and his body fell along with the crumbling rock. His arm slipped from my grasp, the earth gave a massive yawn, and swallowed him whole.

Chapter Two

“Sinasre!”

I tore at the ground, clawing it with my fingers as I shrieked his name. He was just here. He was in my hands, and now…

No. He couldn’t be gone.

Someone grabbed my shoulders and tugged at me, trying to make me stop. “Tally.”

“He was here. I had him.” I’d dug through the topsoil, yanking up clogs of dirt, but there was no sign of my cousin. He’d just been here. He had to be—

“Tally!” The gentle hands turned firm as someone hauled me upright.

Tyler whirled me around to face him. “Stop this. He’s gone. We can get him back, but not like this.”

Vinya stepped beside him until they formed a united front, a study in opposites—her face pale and hopeful, his dark and serious.

“They used magic,” the witch said. “I could feel it. He isn’t in the ground, Tally. They’ve taken him somewhere.”

“Back to the dome,” Tyler said, his dark eyes gazing out into the night as if he could see all the way there.

I pulled out of his grasp, still angry and not ready to give up. “Then we have to go after him.”

They both stared at me.

“We go after him,” I repeated. “Now.”

Vinya shook her head, her long, red hair falling over one shoulder. “We lost half our people on that raid when we rescued you, Tally. We can’t just pop in and out as we please.”

“They’ll be waiting for us,” Tyler added. “Going after him is exactly what they want us to do.”

“But he’s hurt,” I said, my anger and frustration not letting me accept their words. “You saw him. What they did to him.” Tears prickled at the backs of my eyes. My cousin. My melthelel.

“We did see him.” Tyler put a hand on my shoulder to calm me, or maybe to keep me from turning and flying through the jungle toward the dome. “We will help him, but we need to be smart. The longer we’re here on the ground, the more vulnerable we are.”

Vinya nodded, her voice tight with what sounded like fear. “Something is coming. I can hear it.”

Our heads darted up as we registered her words. “What’s coming?” I asked.

She shook her head, biting her lip. “Something big. We need to go.”

Pulling out the gun he wore on a shoulder strap, Tyler gestured for us to head out. “Move. Now.”

Fear zapped over my skin like a current, but I refused to give up on my cousin so soon. Yet, I could see that Vinya was right. There was no sign of Sinasre here. The Habermanns, and their evil island, had taken him from me once again, and I needed to survive long enough to make them pay. Besides saving Sinasre, making sure we destroyed them and their operation was my main goal.

The idea that my aunt was actively working with those monsters had haunted me ever since I’d learned that awful news. And now her son was in more pain because of her selfish actions.

Vinya tugged at my arm,