Faintly, so faintly. But undeniably.
I let out a strangled laugh.
“Jace!” I turn to see Dover and Kai holding open a door off to the side of the dais.
“This way!” Kai shouts over the chaos. I scoop Serena up into my arms and race toward them. Dover pauses in the doorway, glancing back toward Zadyn.
“We can’t leave him.”
“He’s already dead,” I spit.
That’s when Serena stirs in my arms. She coughs up some black blood, her eyes still closed. I stagger back, my heart leaping in response. At the sound of her choking, Zadyn whirls, stunned.
In that split second, Kylian’s guards are on him, Mal in the lead. I shove Serena into Dover’s arms and, with a growl, lunge straight for him.
Sparks fly as our swords meet, colliding in a lethal kiss. I drive my foot into his chest, sending him back into the wall. Marble crumbles beneath the force. Whirling to Zadyn, I shout, “Time to go.”
“Not before I kill him.” He steps toward a still-recovering Kylian, but my fist wraps around his arm.
“Let go of me.”
“She’s alive. And if you die, she’ll hold me responsible.”
Recognition registers in his eyes as he inches back to sanity. We sprint toward our friends, spilling through the door as Kai slams it behind us, shutting out a wave of bloodthirsty beasts.
“We need to get to Mar. She’s posted up on the shore,” I tell Kai.
“Going out the way we came in is out of the question,” Dover says.
“I have a better way out.” Kai hastily leads us down a dark corridor through a hidden door in the wall.
My eyes are fixed solely on Serena, stirring lightly in Dover’s arms.
We make it to a decrepit part of the castle, and Kai ushers us inside a room filled with antique mirrors. I can sense dark, seductive magic rolling off of them. Kai moves around at a brisk pace, feeling the glass surface of each one as I shrug out of the remnants of golden armor. I stand ready by the door, sword in hand, listening for attackers.
“Which one is it?” Kai mutters to himself.
“What is this?” I ask, though deep in my bones, I fear I already know.
“Our ticket out of here alive.”
“They’re magic mirrors,” Zadyn pants as Serena goes into another coughing fit.
Both of us wheel toward the sound.
“Put her down,” he commands Dover, who gently lays her on thedrafty floor. Zadyn rips the ridiculous veil from her head and smooths back her hair. I take slight comfort in the gentle rise and fall of her chest.
Alive, I tell myself.She’s alive.
Serena’s eyes fly open and she shoots up, gasping for air.
17
SERENA
This is nice—death.
So quiet. So peaceful.
