The Heir of Moon-Fire

Chapter 43

Ladon's POV

"And... they're gone..." Connall declared while shaking his head slowly. "Do any of you know what just happened?"

A frown had etched itself onto Cal's face while he sat with his arms crossed. "It's the bond between Emily and Mal," he stated, staring at the spot where the two of them had disappeared. "He's badly injured."

I stared at him with arched eyebrows. "And how, exactly, do you know that?" I demanded with crossed arms. 

"They're mates, and Emily felt his pain, obviously," Luna replied as she rolled her eyes. "Honestly. Don't you know anything?"

I scowled at that. "I know plenty, bugface..." I muttered the last part under my breath.

Luna's gaze snapped towards me, her nostrils flaring as she bared her teeth at me. "What... did you just call me?" I rolled my eyes at her.

"Bugface," I told Luna without flinching. We had called each other worse. And I was feeling uncharacteristically brave in the face of my terrifying demon of a sister. Not like I had much to lose. Definitely, not after Elentiya had ripped my heart out. Luna punched me in the face faster than I could blink, making my jaw snap to the side and my eyes begin to water slightly, nearly knocking me off of my horse.

She got right in my face. "If you ever call me a bugface again, I'll give you more than just a dislocated jaw." 

As she turned away from me, I rolled my eyes. "Can't take an insult, dumbass?" I snapped at her, raising my chin higher. 

She whipped around again, her eyes narrowing further in irritation. "Calling me names makes it seem like you want to get hit." She paused, studying my reaction. "And I know you're not a complete halfwit, so why, the fuck, do you want me to hit you?" she asked with a predatory tilt of her head.

"If you two would stop bickering, we should probably be going... You know so that we can save Malatyr..." Connall growled, riding his horse between the two of us before I could even begin to respond. "Or, at least, help Emily and Elentiya save him."

My head snapped up at Elentiya's name. I had completely forgotten the whole reason that we'd come all of this way. I needed to help her save her brother... It was foolish to hope that helping her save her brother would in any way get her to talk to me again... But then again, I was desperate to fix our current situation. I had to try because I'd do anything to hear her talk to me again. 

I looked around at the various members of our group. "You're right. We need to go," Cal said as he darted a look around the clearing. "I think I can remember the way..." I swallowed thickly, not feeling all that assured that we would get there in time, but at the same time, not seeing any other way that we would be able to find Elentiya at all.

Over thirty minutes of hard riding later, we arrived at a small cottage that Cal said had once held Elentiya captive. "This is it..." he murmured. He had dismounted from his horse and started approaching the cottage slowly. I flinched, remembering that Elentiya had told me that he'd been held captive here with her... Been captured and tortured in order to get her to yield. I cast another glance at Cal to see that Connall now gripped Cal's hand tightly, stroking a thumb over the back of it as he murmured something in Cal's ear that made him relax slightly.

I bit my lip before shaking my head. We needed to find Elentiya and Emily quickly. Who knew what kind of danger those two could be in. Stalking forward, I entered the cottage with its kicked-down door. 

My eyes took in every detail of the hallway, from the brown welcome mat to the crystalline vase with pink roses and white daisies in it on the finely carved cherrywood table. I noted the blood-red walls and carpet, a strange combination... although considering that background and my knowledge of the owner... it was fitting, I suppose. What better way to hide bloodstains than by painting the walls and floor the same colour as blood. I shook my head, finding no sign of a struggle other than the white door all the way at the other end of the hallway. I kept my sword out as I continued to the next door.

The pristine white kitchen was clean as could be... not a single chair at the table was out of place. I frowned as I realized that all of the doors remained intact and on the walls. At least, there was still no sign of conflict... yet. "I don't know where the holding cells are-" I whirled around, holding my sword to the intruder's throat. I sagged with relief at the sight of Cal, immediately lowering my sword but not putting it away.

"Sorry about that."

"It's fine. As I was saying... I don't know where the dungeons are-"

"What?" I snapped, interrupting him. "But you saved Elentiya last time she was here," I snarled. "You must have some idea of where she is."

Cal opened and closed his mouth. "She... wasn't in the holding cells when I found her..." he replied slowly, choosing his words carefully.

"Then where was she?" I demanded. I knew fear had entered my eyes. If Cal, the only one who had been here before, didn't know where she was, what chance did we have of finding them?

"He had her... elsewhere..." Cal stated, equally carefully, all the while avoiding meeting my eyes. My eyes widened as my jaw, quite literally, dropped. He had what?

Rage pooled in my stomach. I didn't know everything about Elentiya's past, but this? This... I didn't have the words. How could someone ever harm a fae like her? It was mind-boggling. It seemed nigh impossible. And I couldn't help but feel proud of Elentiya. She had gone through so much, and she still fought. I didn't deserve someone like her. I had been fooling myself from the beginning. My mate- I cut off that train of thought the second it entered my mind. No, she wasn't my anything. And definitely not my mate... She never would be. She was a Goddess. A Hera. She had become my Queen the minute I met her. And she would continue to be so until long after this world faded from existence.

I was snapped out of my thoughts by Luna punching my shoulder.

"You just gonna stand there, or are you going to follow us down this terrifying flight of stairs that we found in a pantry?" she demanded with a frown as she pointed at the open pantry. And the eerily dark stairs.

"Yeah, I'm coming," I told her after I had shaken myself out of the stupor I had fallen into at the sight of the stairs. I had never hesitated in the face of darkness, but as I approached the stairs, I felt a shiver run down my spine, making me fear the shadows in front of me. My hand hovered over the iron railing leading down into the dark. How many times had she been hauled down these stairs? How many times had her magic recoiled from the iron as she desperately clung onto the railing? I swallowed dryly. Elentiya was down there. She was facing her darkest nightmares as I hesitated. I knew that as surely as I knew my own name.

I stepped forward, forcing myself to enter the dark that felt so wrong. My discomfort came second to Elentiya's safety. And right now. She was in danger. And I- I needed to help her, rejection or no.

A/N

Luna (August 9), 216

Elentiya & Cal (May 1), 201

Lyria (September 9), 186

Malatyr (March 20), 170

Emily (July 15), 169

Sam (February 27), 74

Connall (December 2), 72

Ladon (September 13), 20