All around her, people cried out, pushing and shoving to get away as Terena’s heart shattered. Her frame shook, head to toe, as her mind fought to make sense of what her eyes were seeing. Blood roared in her ears but she stood rooted, staring.
Orry stared back at her, the light leaving his eyes as his lips parted.
In stunned silence, Terena looked up at High Cleric Christos, whose wicked grin widened as he pulled a young woman infront him. She cried out and stumbled, and Terena watched her dispassionately. Her blonde hair shook as she moved, torn from its pins, and her arms, marred with bruises, flailed against Christos. The girl sobbed, fighting against the cleric’s hold as he screamed at her to use her amulet. Terena glanced down at the jewel resting at the woman’s chest.
An emerald amulet.
Chaos raged around her and Terena finally understood.
Terena roared, the sound ripped from her soul. Her body levitated, her hair lifting and crackling like a roaring fire, every inch of her skin alight as her eyes blazed with red heat, blocking her vision for a moment.
Terena whipped her hands out over and over, releasing the short swords at the dais. More blades materialized in her hands, red phantom swords, thrown with all her might as she raged.
Landing with a ground-shaking boom on one knee, Terena lifted her head to glare up at the dais. She smiled at the emperor laying there, multiple wounds bleeding profusely as he stared at her in mute horror. High Cleric Christos was nowhere in sight.
Terena stood, stalking toward the dais and the dying emperor. He held up a feeble hand, squeezing his eyes shut before opening them up to beseech her.
“It’s all coming to pass,” he whimpered when Terena crouched before him. “Everything she said. I thought I could stop it. He said we could stop it.”
Terena gazed at the fallen emperor with disdain. She spared a glance around as the room emptied, someone finally having opened the doors.
“Where is Christos?”
Solon exhaled and blood oozed out his mouth. He licked his lips, his face pale as he lifted fearful eyes. He shook his head and cried. “We are doomed. We are doomed.”
“Aye,” Terena said without inflection. She summoned one of her swords and with a quick twist of her wrist, slammed it into Solon’s chest. He wheezed, his eyes going wide.
He whispered something and she leaned in to hear. Pulling back, she frowned down at him. He was still.
Terena turned away from the dead emperor, fresh tears blurring her vision as she moved over to to Orry. Her friend’s eyes were still open, glassy and unseeing. His face was white beneath the fresh bruises and she prodded at his shoulder. A sob escaped her throat and she almost choked trying to stop the overwhelming rush of agony.
Standing abruptly, Terena threw her head back and roared. Every candle and torch snuffed out, leaving the room darkened once more.
“CHRISTOS!”
Rydon ranwith Gabe behind Prince Lerek, bursting onto a chaotic scene when they reached the great hall. People screamed and ran every which way. There were only a handful of guards, City Watch by the look of their uniforms, all of them shouting at each other and the people as they tried to gain some kind of order. It was impossible.
The prince led them to the grand ballroom, the doors on the ground in a broken mess of splintered wood and metal. The interior of the room was dark and an ominous feeling shuddered through Rydon as he gripped his sword tight.
Stopping short at the sight before them, Rydon blinked. A moment later he was running.
“Ren,” he said, crouching beside Terena’s sobbing frame. She was crouched over someone, her body shaking with the ferocity of her cries and she wailed anew when he tried to pry her away.
“No!” she shrieked, thrusting her arm out. The force of it knocked him back on his ass.
Gabriol and the prince came up on the other side of her, Lerek’s eyes wide and his mouth hanging open as he stared down at Ren. He dropped to his knees, his eyes welling as he reached out a tentative hand.
Terena snapped forward, ready to bite his hand as she shrieked again. “Don’t you fucking touch him!”
As if realizing who he was, Ren blinked stupidly at the prince before she looked around, a crazy gleam in her eyes as she swiped a hand over her face.
At last, she spotted Rydon and threw herself into his arms. Great wracking sobs shook her body, and he tightened his hold, burying his hand in her hair as he tucked her head into his neck.
A long time passed before Ren lifted her head and sniffed, snot and tears marring her features.
“Where is he? Where is Croak?”
Rydon glanced up at Gabe. He’d gotten an abbreviated version of what happened in the dungeons, but he waited for Lerek to speak.
