Aiden’s eyes darted about until they fastened on a heavyset man between the gate and the stables. “That’s him. I’ll?—”
“Aiden!” Nikella’s cry slashed my hope like a cold knife.
We turned to see a dark figure galloping down the main road on a black horse.Renwell.A fleet of Wolves sprinted in his wake, their masks glistening.
Someone screamed, and chaos unleashed. People scattered and dove for open doors or dark alleys. Guards shouted. Someone plowed into Isabel, and she dropped her box.
Nikella snatched it and shoved it back in her arms. “Run! I’ll hold him off!”
Aiden seized a shaking Helene and Isabel. “Kiera! Let’s go!”
I held back, catching a fistful of Nikella’s cloak. “Don’t! He’ll kill you, Nikella!”
She shook me loose, her scarred face taut with resolve. “No, he won’t.”
“Yes, he will! You don’t know?—”
“I do know.” Nikella threw back her hood. “He’s my brother.”
Then she strode forward to meet him.
Chapter 33
Kiera
I gaped after her.A lone, tall figure with her staff, facing Renwell on horseback and his Wolves.
It couldn’t be true. Renwell was herbrother? He’d never mentioned family. Never said where he came from. And I’d never asked.
She would have to be out of her gods-damned mind to lie about that.
Renwell spotted her, and his face whitened. He yanked back on the reins so hard his horse reared, whinnying. His Wolves came to a whispered halt behind him.
He mouthed something. Her name?
She ripped a container from her pocket and strew its contents in a wide arc in front of her. She grabbed a nearby torch?—
“NIKELLA!” Renwell roared.
She threw it to the ground. A wall of fire roared up from the cracked cobblestones. I stumbled back with a gasp.
Hooves clattered behind me. Aiden rode toward me on a brown horse with another’s reins clutched in his hand.
He pulled to a halt. “Get on.”
The realization hit me like the heat wave at my back. “I don’t know how to ride!”
He thrust his hand toward me, and I grabbed it without thinking. I leapt, and he swung me up behind him on the scratchy blanket that covered the horse’s back. Nikella heaved herself onto the other horse.
With a kick of Aiden’s heels, we jolted forward. I wrapped my arms around his waist and squeezed my arms and thighs, trying desperately to stay on.
Guards shouted and flocked to the barricade of fire while someone rang an alarm bell. They were too busy to notice Helene, with Isabel nestled in front of her, galloping out of the gate, with the rest of us close behind.
I twisted around for one last look and saw nothing but Renwell pacing behind the fire. I couldn’t see his eyes, but somehow, I knew they were fastened on me.
The gods themselves wouldn’t be able to save me from his wrath.
I shuddered, every bone in my body already rattling from the strange, rocking movement of the horse.
