Thyra didn’t say who, but the king didn’t need a name. His expression turned feral.
“You endangered your mother by bringing them here.”
I shoved a windstorm their way, furious that he would lay such blame on my shoulders. “That wasyou. Your wounded ego.Your pride.”
The king snarled, but that expression faltered when the lock’s metal cracked and shattered. The pieces fell to the ground.
Thyra laughed, and I looked over my shoulder to find her staring straight at the king, a lazy smirk on her face. “That’s all that you have to keep your greatest weapon in your control? And to think I was worried.”
Yrsa and Isolde were already pulling my mother from her cell. Helping her to move, to stand, but my mother remained limp. Walking, but barely. My stomach pitted.
I locked eyes with my mate. “Go. We’ll buy you time.”
“I’ll stay with you.” Qildor stepped forward, a loyal brother.
Isolde’s lips parted. “I’m not leaving you.”
I felt her surge of magic, power capable of doing significant damage, but would invite the king to do the same. Once the two began, where would it end? How many others would die? And if Thyra got involved, it could be even worse.
“Don’t,” I warned. I gestured to Caelo, Qildor, and Thantrel, their weapons drawn.
“The cabal can hold them off,” I assured her. “The rest must go. Get my mother to safety.”
An unfair request. Isolde despised my mother, but everyone could see something was wrong with the queen, and Isolde wouldn’t let an ill fae suffer.
“As soon as you can, follow,” my wife said, all the command of a queen in her tone.
“I’ll make sure they can,” Geiravor said. “The other warder will sense my power. Right?”
Qildor nodded but kept his gaze trained on the soldiers standing with the king and prince. Ever the knight, the protector.
Thyra slid her shoulder under my mother’s, and my mate loosed an exhale filled with conflict.
“Until the stars fall,” she whispered, taking my mother’s other side.
“Until the stars fall.” I went to her and kissed her forehead.
“That one!” Magnus bellowed. “I want her alive!”
I spun to face him. “I’d like to see you try to lay a hand on her.” Through the pounding of blood in my ears, I heard thethree pairs of sisters running down the corridor to the hidden exit.
“Forward!” the king roared.
The soldiers ran at us, their swords bearing down. I palmed my daggers and diverted some of the air away from us, protecting us from the encroaching poison to the closest adversary. The air slammed into his chest, lifting him off his feet, up, up, and up. His back collided with the stone ceiling above, and the soldier’s eyes shuttered closed. I allowed the air to drop him gently, but teased a single current from the stream and dragged the fallen’s sword to me.
Before the metal met my palm, the second line of soldiers intercepted us, four already down, so many more to go. I ducked as the next came for me, spinning out of reach and landing on one knee. A slice from one of my daggers cut through the tendon above his heel. He fell, groaned, and I grinned as Thantrel darted over, relieving the male of his sword and hitting him over the head with his own hilt. Just in time, I dropped one dagger into my boot and caught the sword I’d eased my way.
Good weight. Shorter than I like, but usable.
The onslaught continued, but not a single soldier felled us, nor made it past our line. We maneuvered and struck and brought down each opponent.
And then, the arrow came, arching above the stream of air and sticking in Caelo’s thigh. My friend roared and fell.
“Warder.” I was careful not to use Qildor’s name, to give the king that knowledge. “Get him out of here!”
Caelo could still move using his wings, but to unfurl them and stay here would only make him a larger target. And once the arrows began, they continued to come.
But from where?I used one of the downed soldiers as a shield and stood to search. The oncoming forces had thinned, giving me a clear vantage all the way down the tunnel.
