Futures Unseen (Chasing Titania #2)

The Price of Princesses

The four of us traversed through the woods. Silver held a map before him, scanning the surroundings for the entrance to Ne'Mallia's lair. She had been gracious enough to leave us a location. I couldn't help but feel it had been done to tease us. She thought she was more powerful than us. She thought she could defeat us with ease. It made my blood boil. 

I thought of Sam for a moment. My poor sister back at Delta Ace, dying for this bitch. I couldn't wait to watch Ne'Mallia's lights fade out. I wanted to watch it happen. I wanted her to feel all the pain for what she had done to Sam.

There was a crack nearby that made us all pause. It sounded like a branch breaking as if someone was watching us approach.

I heard Miles yelp before I realized what was going on. Immediately, I scrambled after him, reaching for his hands to try and stop whatever was pulling him away from us. I managed to trip over something, and Miles was yanked down a hole in the earth.

Again, I was fucking up.

I threw my head back towards Silver and Lala, standing there dumbfounded. I got up, gesturing towards the hole.

"Silver," Lala rushed forward. 

"I've got it," he ran. "Aperta!" 

The hole in the ground widened. We flew down into the cavern below. Darkness dissipated in the dim light of the morning. I turned my back towards Lala's and Silver's, scanning the surrounding room for Miles. The dark cavern was complex to make anything out of. Then I found Miles dangling upside down from the ceiling. Inky black arms suspended him. 

A fog started to stream from below him—the cave filled with it. 

"I was hoping you would take my bait," a head rose from the ground. 

Ne'Mallia surfaced from the stone. Standing before us, it was clear she had changed. Two more sets of eyes graced her face, one vertical and below her eyes—the other on her cheeks. Black ink ran down the sides of her arms, wrapping itself around her hands. 

"This is who you replaced me with?" She pointed to Miles hanging above her. "It's pathetic."

"So that's where you got the demon ink from?" Lala practically growled. 

Ne'Mallia smirked. "No, it's mine."

Two demons peeled from the walls behind us. Silver tensed, letting me know he was watching them. I made eye contact with Miles. He shook his head at me. So he thought he could get himself down. All right.

"I told you to leave us alone," Lala took a step forward. 

"Why would I listen to a no-good assassin such as yourself?" she tilted her head. "You're terrible at your job."

"Why did you do this?" Lala roared.

"Because I had my heart stolen from me by Silver. I wanted him. He left me for that farm bitch. You could have had a princess, Silver. You could have ruled with me."

Silver turned towards Ne'Mallia. "You left me!"

"Because you wouldn't bend to my will!" 

She had opened her hands, making for an attack. Lala appeared before her, swinging her chains for an attack. Miles turned to stone, clearly too heavy for the demon's arms anymore. He joined Lala in attacking Ne'Mallia.

I turned towards the demons. They refused to come close to the light. We either had to go to them or make them come out here. Silver shouted a spell, pulling one of them towards us. I unsheathed my sickles, running and lobbing the demon's head off. 

The other one wouldn't be moved so quickly. It slipped back into the wall. 

Only to appear at my feet. It attempted to swipe me off my footing, but I brought forth my ghost power. It went straight through me.