The Warrior’s Broken Mate novel Chapter 128

The courtyard was breaking apart under the weight of the sorcerer’s shadows. Creatures clawed out of the ground, their eyes burning like embers. The Ash Queen’s fire blazed, Elias’s wolf roared, and I clung to the bond holding me together, still raw from the fight to reclaim myself.

But even with the three of us standing shoulder to shoulder, I could feel it–this wasn’t a battle we could win here.

The Ash Queen must have felt it too. Her crown flickered dimly, her dark eyes sharp. She turned toward us, shouting over the roar of the shadows. “We cannot fight him on the surface. His power runs too deep here.”

Elias slashed through a lunging beast, sending it crumpling to the broken stone. “Then where?” he growled.

“The heart of the realm.” She said, her voice like steel. “The source of all magic in this land. If we reach it, we can use its energy to sever him from this world forever.”

The sorcerer laughed, his monstrous form towering above us. “You dare seek the heart? You’ll never make it alive.”

I shuddered. The shadows at his command were endless. He wasn’t bluffing.

Elias bared his teeth, his golden eyes blazing. “Then we’ll carve our way through.”

The Ash Queen raised her fire higher, pushing the shadows back just long enough for us to move. “Follow me.” She snapped. “The tunnels below will lead us there.”

We ran.

The ground shook as creatures slammed against the stones, their claws scraping, their howls echoing in the ruined courtyard. The Ash Queen led us to a jagged hole in the earth, the entrance to the tunnels. She leapt down first, her fire lighting the darkness. Elias grabbed my hand, squeezing tight, before pulling me with him into the abyss.

The air below was damp and heavy, filled with the stench of mold and smoke. The tunnels were rough–hewn, twisting veins of rock that cut deep into the earth. The Ash Queen’s flames lit the way, shadows dancing across the walls.

But we weren’t alone.

The first creature came at us almost as soon as our feet hit the ground. It crawled out of the tunnel wall, its body thin and stretched, its claws too long for its frame. Elias lunged forward, slamming it into the rock and snapping its neck with a vicious twist.

“Keep moving!” the Ash Queen barked. “He’ll throw everything at us down here.”

And she was right.

The tunnels became a gauntlet. Shadows crawled out of every crack, hissing and clawing. Some were small, skittering things that swarmed like insects. Others were hulking beasts that barely fit in the tunnels, forcing us to fight in tight, suffocating spaces.

Elias tore through them with savage fury, his claws ripping through shadow flesh. His wolf snarled and snapped, his strength a wall between me and the darkness. The Ash Queen’s fire cut through the gloom, searing anything that came too close.

I summoned light of my own, magic burning at my fingertips, blasting back the creatures when they overwhelmed us. But every spell drained me, and the bond in my chest still ached from the sorcerer’s possession.

His voice followed us, whispering through the tunnels. “You cannot reach the heart. Even if you do, it will kill you before it saves you.”

I flinched at the echo, pressing a hand to my temple. His words slithered like before, but weaker this time. I clung harder to Elias’s hand, grounding myself in his warmth.

“Don’t listen to him.” Elias said, his voice rough but steady. “He’s afraid. That’s why he’s trying so hard to stop us.”

The Ash Queen glanced back at us, her fire lighting her sharp features. “Elias is right. He knows the heart is his end.”

We pressed on. The tunnels narrowed, then widened into caverns that seemed to stretch forever. Stalactites dripped with dark water, and the air grew warmer the deeper we went. The earth itself hummed faintly beneath our feet, a pulse that matched the rhythm of my heart.

The closer we got, the stronger the pull.

But the sorcerer’s resistance grew too.

Halfway through a cavern, the ground shook violently. Shadows erupted from the stone itself, forming a beast twice the size of Elias. Its body was smoke and bone, its maw filled with jagged teeth.

It lunged at us.

Elias shoved me aside, slashing at its chest, but his claws passed through like mist. The creature slammed him into the wall, the sound of stone cracking filling the air.

“Elias!” I screamed, throwing a ball of dragonfire at him.

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