The Wizard's Queen

Chapter 35

Samir had laid Dalia back in her bed as he watched her sleep. Leila turned, nodding towards Ryder and Rachel, her hand clasping the silver key around her neck as she glanced at them with a silent nod of her head. She was going to return to Marcus's side.

"Wait!" Samir called out.

Leila turned, glancing at him with her eyebrow raised. "I'm staying with the Resistance. I can't just sit idly while you risk your lives."

"Can we really trust him?" Rachel whispered.

"We need as many supporters as we can get," Ryder stated.

"Yes, but I won't be so lenient with the next traitor," Leila warned as she glared at Samir.

"Duly noted," Samir replied.

Leila nodded as she silently exited the mansion with her friends following. She had Samir instruct them to somewhere isolated so she could use the key the only way she knew how. She clasped the key between her fingers, projecting her will as she thought of Marcus. However, Marcus wasn't the one who answered. She gasped as Kas poked his head through a portal formed from thin air.

"Oh, good, I was just coming to get Ryder," Kas grinned, "Thanks for helping me out!"

"Helping you out?" Leila gasped.

"Why, of course! I always wanted to try this trick, but never could find another Cosmology Wizard that was capable of manipulating portals."

"Kas, what are you doing with the elves?" Ryder questioned.

"I took Anna to see Devan. However, the ass made her cry."

Ryder jumped through the portal without a second thought appearing in the middle of the Elven castle. One of the elf royals leant against the wall behind Kas, glancing up at Ryder in interest. "Jake?"

"No, I am his son, Ryan. Please call me, Ryder."

"Venator." The elf smirked as he shook his head. "Your father really had a weird sense of humor."

Ryder nodded as he studied the elf. Leila, Rachel, and Samir had stepped through the portal as they looked around in awe at the castle. Kas wiped the sweat from his brow as he looked at Venator.

"Proved you wrong!" He grinned.

"Stubborn as always," Venator mumbled.

"Kas, where is Anna?" Ryder questioned. Kas pointed across the hall to a shut door. Ryder didn't wait as he let himself into the room to find Anna curled up in a ball in tears.

He sighed as he took a seat on the bed, giving her shoulder a pat. Anna only squeezed herself tighter into a ball as her body shook with sobs.

"Was Devan being a dick again?"

Anna's sobs growing louder confirmed his suspicions. "Let me guess, he gave you the typically why ya'll couldn't be together spill."

Anna nodded her head as she kept her face hidden in her knees. "You know, he just sucks at relationships. Don't let his words get to you. He'll eventually come around."

"Am I the reason Kas died?"

Ryder froze, not quite believing his ears. Devan took it too far this time with his cruelty. The next thing he knew, he had engulfed Anna into a hug as he rubbed her back trying to comfort her sobs. He hated how Devan would always do this. He would break Anna down and leave Ryder to pick up the pieces then get mad when Anna and Ryder would get too close like the night before she died. He blamed Ryder for letting her leave, but got mad she was with him in the first place. Because of that, they hadn't talked for seven years.