I shove the body shielding mine to the side and scramble to my knees.
“Raelle, are you hurt?” my father asks, trying to gather me back against him.
“No, Papa.” I frantically push him away, looking past the chaos surrounding me.
A golden glint catches my eye, and I rush forward on my hands and knees. I yank and toss metal and burned wood out of my way, digging through the rubble.
“Kyron!” I scream, pulling what was once a door to a carriage away from his chest. The blast dislodged his crown from his head and a trail of crimson streams from his brow. His skin is ashen, and on his shoulder, blood bubbles up around a spike of wood. I move to shake him awake, but another explosion rains down more debris.
My body moves of its own accord, flinging over the Stigian prince’s lifeless body.
Four
Kyron remains still beneath me. Not the blast, not the rubble crashing around us causes him to so much as to take a breath. I hurry to my knees as soon as the falling debris quiets. Crossing my hands over his chest, I press down on his sternum. Not like this. He doesn’t get to leave me with unanswered questions. He doesn’t get to slip into the ether, leaving me to wade through the mess he made. With all my might, I press down over his heart again.
Not.
Fucking.
Like.
This.
Kyron bolts upright, his eyes wide as he gasps for air. His hand darts to the wood protruding from his shoulder. He wraps his fingers around it and winces.
Every tense muscle in my body goes slack, but before I fall back into the rubble, a meaty arm wraps around my waist, yanking me off the ground. I twist in the hold of one of Micah’s mammoth guards, trying to wiggle free until the frantic exchanges around me bring me to a halt.
“Allaji troops are raiding the city.”
“How did they get past the wall without us stopping them?”
“They’re shifters, you idiot. They could have entered as animals.”
“You’re saying we just let a tiger and bear through the gate?”
“Get the prince to the sanctuary’s safe room.”
I whip my head to the side at the sound of Micah’s order. He stares down at Kyron’s guard. The massive man ignores him as he pulls out the wood lodged into the prince’s shoulder and throws it to the ground.
My father rips the hem of his red tunic and presses it to the gaping wound. “It’s not life threatening, but he will need a healer.”
My heart constricts at the compassion in Papa’s eyes for the man he raised. Kyron could betray him a hundred times and burn down each of the five kingdoms, and my father’s love for him would not waver.
“Get your prince to safety. Your queen cannot afford to lose her new heir,” Micah spits.
“I’m fine. We need to find who did this,” Kyron hisses while his guard, Lance, helps him to his feet. He stands by himself for only a moment before his knees buckle.
“I’m not saying it again, man. Get the prince inside. And you, take Raelle with you,” Micah bellows to the nearest Lucent guard.
“What? No!” I slap the guard’s arm as he moves to gather me to his side. “Micah, I want to?—”
The roar of a large cat rings out from the far side of the sanctuary, followed by several cries for help. Flapping wings beat against the twilight sky and dozens of human sized birds crow from above us. Horrific screams pierce my ears, and stomping feet rumble the ground. Dread like I’ve never felt before grips me.
The king shoots me a steely gaze before turning to the dark-haired guard. “Use your gift to zap her if you have to, but she will go to that safe room.”
“Yes, Your Majesty,” he says, his thin lips a tight line behind his mustache. He moves to toss me over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes.
“Don’t you dare,” I snarl, stepping out of his reach and looking back at our half-destroyed carriage. The backend where Zek was standing is mangled. Panic overwhelms me and pushes me forward. “Zek! Where’s Zek?” I scream.
