Dark Promise by Annika West

19

Oh shit, oh shit, oh shit. The leviathan is going to eat me alive, I —

“It’s the ground, Cut.”

I stopped my frantic paddling, paused, and looked over to see Willow’s waist completely out of the water.

I dropped my foot, and sure enough… sand.

Oh.

“We’re on a sand bar,” she said. “Come on. We’re almost to the shore.”

Somehow, my trembling, numb legs moved. I just started to betray myself, my head turning to catch just one glance over my shoulder and —

“Cut! Focus! We still have a job to do!”

Something fell from the sky and landed in the water beside us.

In fact, it was a someone.

“Keep moving,” Oz said with a feral, blood-filled smile.

“You idiot,” I said. At least now I knew he hadn’t completely betrayed us for some strange reason.

I went to smack his chest.

Willow caught my hand, her eyes black in the darkness. “Can’t you see he’s hurt?”

Now that I looked, I could make out the blood leaking from his neck, his torso, his leg…

“Why should I care?” My voice was as cold as the breeze on my wet skin.

Oz wiped the blood from his mouth and drawled, “What, did you think the plan was off? Keep moving, ladies. We have a mission to complete.”

“Did you kill him?” I asked.

He stared straight forward. “Your boyfriend is still alive. In case you’ve forgotten, that’s a problem. Now, get that cute ass moving.”

The gag that came next was inevitable.

Also, Oz didn’t completely have my trust.

Lastly, I was fucking pissed that all I could think about was Hux’s lifeless body sinking to the bottom of the ocean.

Hux, bleeding out in the sky.

Hux…

My chest throbbed, like the mating rune was feeling his pain too.

This mission sucked balls.

And Oz was naked.

Having shifted in the sky, he’d destroyed all of his clothing. As we trudged through the water, he was whispering in Willow’s ear and keeping super close to her.

She glared at his wet skin and hissed, “Six inch rule, you immortal shit.”

He lifted an eyebrow that alone suggested something along the lines of six inches is egregiously not enough, but he held his tongue since Willow was glaring at him with the fiery strength of a thousand suns.

“Say the joke,” I pleaded. We padded onto solid ground. The wind whipped my wet skin, sending shivers through me. “Definitely say it.”

“She’ll kill me.”

“Coward.”

“Am not.”

“Are too. Zero confidence for such a crusty old man.”

“Fine! Willow, I’d need a lot more space than six inches to — ack!”

Clearly, Willow didn’t see a problem with striking him when he was making dick jokes.

He whipped his head to me. “Are you happy now?”

“Actually, no, but it did help.”

Willow growled, “Will you two shut the fuck up and focus? I am losing brain cells with every second I have to listen to you idiots.”

We jogged across the sand and passed beneath the tree line.

Suddenly, a pressure lifted from my body, one I hadn’t even noticed was there. “Hey, did you feel that?”

Oz grunted. “Yes. We just passed through the wards successfully. Off you go, little faery Cut.”

I held up my middle finger and shifted dimensions.

Woah.

Behind me, all the way through the trail and into the beach, rising high into the sky, was a silver wall of magic.

Even in this realm, my skin fizzled with the proximity. I had a feeling that yes, it would have been triggered if I’d passed through it in this energetic dimension.

That’s not good.

Creepy witches. Always coming up with annoying ideas that are personally inconvenient for me.

Oz transformed into a dragon once more, launching into the sky, a stream of blue fire pouring from his mouth.

Instantly, the island grew brighter. Spells were being cast. The sky grew murky with the layers of magic triggering as the witches brought their attention to him.

Oz was the ultimate distraction.

We were risking him putting the whole island on lockdown, but I was fairly certain I could weasel my way through.

Willow’s job was… well, she didn’t have a job. In fact, Oz had done everything he could to make Willow stay in the Spring Court manor.

He’d said she was a liability that wouldn’t offer anything useful to the mission.

She’d threatened to pour black nail polish in his pretty eyes while he slept.

He’d been flattered that she thought his eyes were pretty.

Morons. I’m surrounded by morons.

I cringed as I passed through another energetic barrier. This one glowed blue, but it didn’t tickle or buzz on my skin like the other ones.

Adair had claimed that being a Cut was key to all of this working. I wasn’t fully fae, so I wouldn’t be trapped by all the normal protections the witches had set up.

But I was still fae. So, I had to be careful.

Just another day in the life.

It was exhausting being so important.

I’d probably reward myself with chocolate truffles. Because if anyone deserved a fancy box of truffles, it’s probably me.

According to the map Adair had made me study, the temple was a straight shot from the shore we’d arrived on. A brief stretch of the forest padded the temple perimeters.

Sure enough, as the trees grew thinner, I spotted the sentries.

“Fuck,” I sighed. “Who stole their gear?”

A line of armored people stood guard before a tunnel entrance. But they were dressed in a sort of half-armor that didn’t quite look complete —

Oh.

That’s when I spotted it. The armor glowed. A deep, dark purple that was nearly black.

My skin fizzled as I drew closer.

Shit.

Could I get past them?

Suddenly, all of the guards tensed and focused on something in the sky.

A dragon smashed into the earth, talons digging into the soft soil. Tail lashing out and sweeping the witches away.

They didn’t even have time to draw runes or open a potion bottle.

I’d have been relieved.

But this dragon wasn’t Oz.

Hux shifted into his human form, a murderous snarl on his lips.