Their Vicious Darling (Vicious Lost Boys #3)(48)

Fae warriors and pirates and several men dressed in black military uniforms.

And standing at the head of the arrival are Tilly, Captain Hook, the Crocodile, and a man I don’t recognize. He’s wearing the same style clothing as the queen in the tavern so I guess he must be the royal family who arrived to take Vane’s shadow.

“Fucking Roc,” Vane says at my ear.

I have a vague recollection of meeting Roc already. I also have a vague memory of killing him.

Or so I thought.

“Is he that much of an asshole?” I ask Vane. “Why is he siding with them?”

Vane shakes his head. “Sometimes it’s hard to figure out what the fuck he’s thinking.”

Peter Pan faces off with the small army. “I don’t know what you think your plan is, but it’s ill-advised.”

The twins flank him. Bash says, “Dear sister, is this really what you want your legacy to be?”

“Don’t pretend like you wouldn’t be doing the same thing if your kingdom was in jeopardy,” the queen says. “We all know the Darling has the shadow and we all know she lost control in town and murdered several innocent people.”

Pan snorts. “Giselle was hardly innocent.”

“Amara was.”

The crowd shifts its attention to Roc at the end of the line. He’s got a cigarette in his mouth, one eye squinted to keep the sting away from the smoke ribboning around his face.

I know I did what they all say I did. But I’m not that person.

Aren’t you?

The dark energy slithers in my gut.

“Get them out of the water,” Tilly orders.

Her fae soldiers take to the air, wings beating so fast, they turn iridescent as they reflect the light of the moon.

“Tilly,” Kas says, “I swear to our gods, if you—”

But she doesn’t wait for the threat.

Instead she flicks her wrist and the entire beach starts to undulate like it’s a living thing.

Kas and Bash spread out their arms to try to keep their balance. Pan takes to the air.

The fae soldiers dart across the surface of the lagoon, not quite touching the water.

“Time to go,” Vane says and wraps his arm around my waist from behind.

“Where?”

I barely get the question out before Vane is yanking us from the water. The beach grows smaller and smaller the higher up we go.

And although I’ve been into the air a few times now, my very mortal brain doesn’t like it one bit.

My cry of surprise echoes across the lagoon.

Vane’s flight path veers sharply to the right and then we’re suddenly crashing to the ground.

When we hit the sloped side of Marooner’s Rock, a jolt of pain shoots up my thighs. Vane loses his grip and we both tumble down the mossy rock.

I slam to a halt against the backside of a boulder. Vane is several feet away on his back gasping for air. More black mist trails from his open wound.

“Why did you do that?” I scurry over the rock to him. His next inhale is wet and shallow. “Vane, goddammit!” He rolls to all fours, collapses, then falls to his side. There’s a vacant look in his violet eye.

The fae soldiers are not far behind us. Down below on the beach, I can hear the sound of blades clashing and people shouting.

Come on Death Shadow. You came out and wreaked havoc once before. I need your magical madness once again.

I’m greeted with complete and utter silence.

You can’t be serious!

“Win,” Vane says.

The soldiers are going to be on us in seconds.

I hook Vane’s arm around my shoulder and grunt as I leverage us up. Blood from his open wound soaks my shirt, but it’s thick and dark, not the bright crimson blood should be. “We’ll jump off the rock,” I tell him. “Go to my world to hide you. I’ll come back and help them—” I drag him to the cliff’s side and he digs in his boots.

“You don’t know the first thing about portal jumping,” he says with a grumble.

“Sure I do. You go to the cliff. Jump. Easy peasy.”

“Says the girl who is always terrified to jump. That and you’re on the wrong side.”

Ocean spray glitters in the moonlight.

“There is no portal at the bottom on this side. You jump from here, you’ll be impaled on the rocks below.”

With him still listing at my side, I ease to the edge of the cliff and peer over. Craggy, sharp rocks break through the surf several hundred feet below.

Okay maybe I don’t know what I’m doing.

“So what’s your bright idea?” I ask.

He unhooks his arm from around me and stumbles forward. “You’ll fly away and I’ll face them alone.”

“Hah!”

He may be on death’s door, but he’s apparently still capable of scowling at me.

“Get the fuck out of here, Win.”

“I’m not leaving you.”

The fae soldiers land across the sloped expanse of Marooner’s Rock and charge toward us.

Vane shoves me back putting him between me and the men and women even though he’s in no shape to be fighting.

And as the soldiers barrel toward us from the left, down below, the royals are making their way up, hedging us in.

What the hell is the point of having a powerful magical entity if it’s not going to get you out of tight spots?