I stop breathing.
This man…thisking…he’s a monster. A beast masquerading as royalty, and it’ssickening.
“But regardless, your death is imminent. Take her away,” he demands, and the guards seize my arms right as a terrified noise escapes me.
This is it.
I’m going to die.
I made it this far only for my fate to remain the same.
I look at Jax, and he looks like he’s about to tear every limb from every guard who has his hands on me.
But he doesn’t move, and my heart leaps into my chest as they drag me from the room.
I scream again, so raw and panicked and out of control. Tears sting my eyes, but I can still see the shadows lining the walls shimmer and shake, as if they’realive.
As if they mightsaveme.
But they don’t.
The guards don’t release their hold. We’re at the exit of the throne room, and I notice Theo as we pass. His eyebrows scrunch, his lower lip trembles.
I didn’t even realize he was there.
“Do not fear, Little Flame,” he says, his words are soft so the king and queen cannot hear. “My cousin will get you out of this.”
But then the doors to the throne room close, and a guard slams the end of his sword into my face.
The pain is searing, and my entire body sags, my legs feeling limp as they continue to drag me down the corridor, down the stairs, and into a dark and musty space.
My vision is darkening, and I can feel the blood dripping over my eye from the wound the blunt end of the blade created.
“You must fight, Fire Wielder. You do not die today. Are you listening?”Nyxa’s voice fades.“You. Do. Not—”She’s gone.
I don’t hear her.
I don’t hear anything.
Darkness consumes me as I feel my body go weightless in the air. It’s the same feeling I felt during my first trial when I was just fifteen years old. When my grip had slipped, when I knew I was going to die.
But thenChar saved me.
Char.
But there’s no one here to save me now, and my body collides with the cold, hard ground.
Chapter 28
Jax
The sound of her screams as the door closes behind them has my shadows once again pouring from my fingers with every intention of murdering every man who laid a fucking finger on her. But I grind my teeth and keep them from sliding under the crack of the door and doing exactly that.
There will be time for that later.
Turning my attention back to my father, the man who has countless guards at his disposal to carry out his every order. He’s the one I need to deal with, and I know exactly what I need to say, what I need to do, to make sure Serafina lives.
Make him an offerhe can’t refuse.
