Because I Love You✔️

Chapter 64: In for the Kill

Chapter Sixty-Four: In for the Kill 

The next morning dawned dark and damp. Rain fell in fat drops from roiling black clouds, matting the fur of the squirrels down into clumpy tufts that looked like threaded scales.

Xaphile tried shielding his eyes from the persistent rain with his hand, but it did him little good.

Krishna, behind him, didn't say a word as she maneuvered her squirrel amid the steam drafts between the forests and the lake island. The other riders glided behind them with all the silence of the dead, each one bearing one of his friends in their saddles.

A part of him had wanted to tell Ella and the others what was going to happen, to spill it all out despite the warnings Krishna had adamantly laid down, but the other part of him... well, what he'd said was enough.

More than enough, in fact.

It had to be.

They landed on the opposite shore and watched as the other riders deposited his friends on the pebbled beach. They all had to walk past him and Krishna since they were perched atop a large boulder to monitor the procession, but because he could see how tense they were, he tried to give them a reassuring smile.

He watched as they headed into the forest city with the squirrel riders, faces covered with masks. Amelia's hair had been braided into pigtails that swung heavily with water, and Vrael's wet bangs had fallen forward to cling to his metal-wrapped forehead.

"You didn't tell any of them, I pray," Krishna remarked. "I did warn you." 

"I only told them not to fight," Xaphile said, mouth going dry despite the rain on his lips.

"Wise words, since saying more would have killed whoever you've chosen," she said, then glanced up at the sky and basked in the rain. "We called this storm to aid you."

He blinked, then glanced up.

All he saw was dark skies and pouring rain.

"Called?" he asked. "As in, you were expecting it?"

"No," Krishna chuckled, smirking widely. "There is a reason we are called the Queens of the Sky, young Vadil... there is nothing on this world that will not bow to our magic, but our greatest asset happens to be our control over the sky itself. The clouds above are under our command."

As she spoke, she steered the squirrel after the other riders, but they veered off the path early and didn't enter the forest itself, instead pressing on alone. He anxiously twisted in the saddle to watch his friends march stolidly away, but only Ella glanced back at him.

The little he could see of her eyes clearly said that she was worried.

"They will all be prepared before entering," Krishna told him. "We must attend the blessing ceremony—you, especially."

"I know," he said, swallowing hard before closing his eyes. "You told me."

Together, they rode into the forest city of Gwyradyll Hollow. 

The air around them trembled with hauntingly beautiful voices rising and falling like waves on the ocean, weaving together an enchanting coalescent sound that vibrated the core of his being. It was a beautiful cacophony that made him feel fresh and awake.

Every part of him tingled.

The woods, not to his surprise, were totally deserted until they reached the clearing with the cherry tree he'd seen the previous day. It was filled to the brim with what appeared to be every single female in the community, and the sea of women parted before Krishna's mount with shrieks of approval, many of them joyfully tossing pink flowers at them.