With strength I knew cost him much, he placed both hands on the stone floor to either side of me and pushed his body weight off me. His right arm trembled from pain and effort.
“When I say run, I want you to get up as quickly as you can and move to where you found me. There is a hidden door to the ballroom, but you will be at an awkward enough angle where an arrow cannot hit you.”
I glanced at where he meant and then noticed a door blended into the stone wall of the castle. It made me wonder how long he’d been watching Taelon and me. We didn’t notice him because he hadn’t come through the glass panes lit up by light from the party.
“What about you?” I asked, my voice tight with concern.
“I’ll be right behind you.” He winced. “Hurry, princess, or they’ll get us both.”
I nodded and reached for my gown. I pulled it up, past my knees as best as I could. But there was so much fabric. Whispering a quick prayer to the Light, I let him launch his body upward, his steps wobbling once he landed on them.
I rolled to the side and scrambled to my feet. Arrows started flying at double the speed they had been. I heard them everywhere. My feet tangled in my gown, but I lurched for the hidden door.
Caspian let out another grunt of pain. And then another. I turned to see that he had stepped in front of me, blocking my body with his own. There was a bloody line across his neck as if it had just narrowly missed catching him in the throat. Another arrow stuck out from his side.
He staggered on his feet, only barely keeping himself from falling to his knees.
I knew my life was more important than his as the future leader of the realm. He was a second son from Vorestra. But I could not leave him to die for me. Not after he’d only just saved me.
Running back to him, I grabbed his good arm and yanked him after me. He was too weak to fight me. Arrows continued to attack while guards continued to fall in their attempt to join the balcony battle.
But they had only swords. Which were not useful at this distance.
An arrow finally found me, lodging itself into my skirt. Thankfully the thick, layered material slowed its momentum, and I didn’t even feel a scratch on my skin.
Maybe ball gowns were the way to go.Well, in a bow and arrow fight at a distance, anyway.Hand-to-hand combat, not so much given I could barely stay upright in the damnable thing.
A sharp pain on the back of my arm, where another one grazed my bare skin. And then another one just to the right of my head, barely nicking the tip of my ear as I yanked Caspian inside the hidden door.
We landed in some dark passageway. A small space between the ballroom proper and the balcony. I hadn’t been gentle with him as I pulled him inside, and I knew I’d jostled his wounds against the doorframe in my attempts to save him.
He immediately collapsed on the cold floor, falling to his uninjured side. His arm curled awkwardly beneath him, but I could see he was in too much pain to adjust himself.
I knelt at his side, unable to stop the tears that had started to fall. “Don’t you dare die, Caspian. I will not allow it. Do you hear me? Do not die!”
His eyes were closed, but a smile twisted his lips. “I would not think of it,” he rasped, his voice as rough as gravel. “Not after the future queen promised to let me be her consort.”
His teasing surprised me more than I wanted to admit, and I sat back on my heels. “I never said you could be my consort.”
He rattled a sigh, his smile ticking wider. “But you said I could try.”
Was it possible to be infuriated with a man on the brink of death? Yes, yes, it was. The passageway door was yanked open behind me, and a string of shouts and announcements were made as guards proclaimed I was alive. Someone put strong hands on my shoulder and started to pull me away from Caspian.
I fought them just long enough to lean down and whisper, “If I find that this has been orchestrated to win my favor, second son of Vorestra, I will finish this job myself.”
His expression turned serene as he lay there, bleeding. “I knew courting you would be interesting. And to think I was worried you would be as boring as I remembered.”
Losing the ability to think rationally, I kicked out at him, intending to embed the arrow in his side as deeply as it could go. But lucky for him, the guards pulled me back at just the right time, and my foot found only air.
When I was in the ballroom proper and fully surrounded by guards and generals and my uncle, I found enough composure to say, “I’m fine. Just a few grazes. But Caspian is bleeding out, and he happened to save my life. So if you could return the favor, I would be grateful.”
My uncle’s brow furrowed as he took me in. “You seem rather unfazed. You were nearly killed.”
I let out a long-suffering sigh. “It is not the first time. Nor will it be the last. But I believe the assassins have infiltrated the castle and are using the guest bedrooms to attack the balcony.”
My uncle nodded. “Yes, they will be captured forthwith. We’ve managed to secure this section of the castle. But we will wait here until a thorough search of the rest of the grounds can be accomplished.”
“And Caspian?” I glanced nervously at the secret door that was now swung wide for everyone to see. As infuriating as he could be, I really did not want him to die. Especially after he risked his life so recklessly for mine.
