A Kingdom of Ruin (Deliciously Dark Fairytales 3)

We’ll stay on two legs, I thought to my wolf as the group followed Finley, running down the center of the mighty columns.

But we need a pack, my wolf whined, the desire to join the alpha eating away at him. There was safety in a pack, especially with an alpha like that. There was family.

Finley is our pack. She is our alpha. She pulls us with respect and trust even though she can’t pull us with her animal. We stay on two legs, and we stay with her.

My wolf didn’t really understand—it was against his nature to push back when confronted with an alpha of Weston’s stature, but I held firm. My wolf hadn’t been back in the world long, and he’d understand soon enough. He’d see that there were no better leaders than Finley and the master, not when they were together. They made each other so much stronger.

We just had to make sure they got back together.

“This way is death,” someone in the back said, hobbling along like some sort of stick man held together by rusty twine. A dragon, but one that looked half-dead. “It’s an endless series of dead ends and tunnels. Anyone who has run this way without a map has died. We don’t have a map this time.”

“We don’t need one,” I replied, holding Leala’s hand now because I needed a little moral support to keep moving forward. “When people are brought in, they are reeling from the shock of being kidnapped. They are panicked and afraid, or mad and fighting. They don’t notice the fine details of their surroundings. They’re too intent on escaping to worry about what will happen down the road. Finley, and us after her, didn’t have the same experience. We made a point of taking in the fine details so we could come back this way if we needed to. We have…”

I paused as we reached the squat doorway that led toward what Finley called the Bridge of Doom. I still didn’t know how we were going to get over the thing. I’d had a hard enough time getting across on the way in, and that was with the guards practically dragging me.

Breath held and heart in throat, we jogged through the doorway. I immediately looked right, in case no one else had. There was a little hidey-hole back there that someone could crouch in. I knew this because I had contemplated trying to break free and running back and hiding there, hoping they’d just forget about me. It was in a moment of cowardice. I’d had a lot of those on this trip. It was a little embarrassing how many, actually.

Nothing jumped out, though. Nothing moved or even flickered. My wolf didn’t smell anything, either.

Continuing on, wondering if I would have a heart attack before we hit the surface, I finished what I was saying.

“We’ve compared notes and found they matched. We know the way. And this is the only way we can make it out.”

I didn’t know if any of that comforted him, but at least it shut him up. We couldn’t afford dissenters right now. What we were doing was perilous enough.

Our footfalls were too loud for my taste as we made our way, but nothing jumped out at us. Nothing stabbed into us from behind. It was the calm before Doom.

We went around another turn, down a corridor I didn’t actually remember because I’d been too freaked out by the bridge crossing, and the orange glow finally reached through the doorway up ahead. It seemed to throb, beckoning us closer. Laughing at us, maybe.

“I hated coming across this,” Leala said quietly, tucking her whip into the back of her pants. She was readying for an internal battle.

She hadn’t needed as much violence to get across as I had, but she’d also been dragged a bit. Shoved a bit. Carried a bit.

Fucking bridge.

Tension rose as we shoved in and pushed to the side, leaving room for Finley at the front, standing beside the rope bridge that moved at the slightest misstep and tore at your eyes and sanity.

I squeezed Leala’s hand. “If I don’t go down in history as the best fucking butler who ever lived, going above and beyond the job, I’m going to slap a bitch.”

She squeezed it back. “You can slap me. Multiple times. Anywhere you want.”

“You always have to ruin things.”

She laughed, and it made me realize how much I’d needed that sound.

In a moment, all humor would be sucked out of us, along with the will to live.

TWENTY-TWO

FINLEY

Urgency rode me as I faced off with the bridge. This would be the hardest part of our escape, but if we made it across, we’d be home safe. I felt it.

“Calia, can you help with this?” I asked, standing beside the suspension bridge secured with rope. The lava below moved and shifted. Dizzying heat rose from the toxic stew.