To the abyss with you, Kael,I thought.
I knew what he felt for me. I had always known. And now, finally, I could admit the truth to myself.
He did not know how to love me without breaking me? Then he would have to learn. Because I wasn’t about to let him go.
I was falling for him, so we might as well fall together.
I rose to my feet. The ground shook again. When it steadied, I rushed up the coiled staircase.
The shouts above grew sharper as I climbed. A storm was about to break over the castle, and Kael would be at its heart. I pressed a hand to my burning shoulder and kept climbing.
If he thought I would stay behind, he had forgotten who I was.
I was done running from storms. I would walk straight into his.
Chapter 27
Kael
Dereck Thorne’s men advanced, our soldiers retreating in tight defensive formation. They struck the outer walls with stolen cannons. From the shouts along the walls, I gathered they’d burned houses on their way to the castle, sowing mayhem through the city. Some civilians joined them; some tried to shove them back. Word from the archers was that the horde would reach the bridge soon, a swarm armed with torches and steel.
My heart did not stutter. My palms stayed dry. We had stood in this place before, and it was only a matter of time before I reduced thisarmyto ash.
This whole notion of a staged siege buzzed at me like a persistent mosquito. I wanted to swat it and be done. But Lionel had insisted we make it look as though they had trampled us into a corner and left us no choice but to summon the storm.
“Archers!” someone shouted from the parapets. “Strike!”
A rain of arrows, invisible in the night sky, fell beyond the bridge. Enraged men dropped where they stood.
“Cannons!” another voice barked.
Several roars shook the ground near me, far weaker than what the castle truly held. Again, a staged siege. We had to play our parts.
Lionel stood beside me, clad in silver armor engraved with a golden lily over his breastplate, a dark blue cloak trailing behind him. His hair was bound in a black and silver knot. His palms rested atop the pommel of his longsword, the blade planted in the earth. No crown. No royal guards.
“Quite the sight…” I said as I gazed ahead, making idle conversation while the wolf inside scratched for release. The riot ahead twisted through the streets like a living serpent of flame.
“Yes, Kael, bloodshed is always so riveting.” His voice dripped with sarcasm. He did not enjoy my jest.
I unsheathed my sword.
“What is this for?” he asked, though he knew he would have to let me stain the blade red.
“You told me to wait before I release the storm, but you never forbade me from having a bit of fun with steel.” My voice came out a snarl. The thought of pushing my blade into a rioter’s flesh was a welcomed one.
Lionel sighed like a weary father who disapproved but would let it pass. “Go. But let them pass the gate first before you unleash your thunder.”
I dipped my head. “Understood, Your Highness.”
A vile smile crept across my face as I descended the steps and marched to the outer gates. The bridge would soon tremble beneath the weight of a hundred crazed rioters.
Our soldiers, armed with blackiron swords and steel plate, met the charge with clashing metal and raw shouts. Thorne’s army was a mess of plate, leather, and chainmail, a swarm of angry rats gnashing for blood. But they were many. Far more than I first expected.
Perhaps we would not need to pretend after all to let them cross the bridge and reach the courtyard.
A series of booms rolled through the city. Cannons on their sidehad fired, boulders crashing against the outer walls again. My gaze tracked one as it struck above the gates, tearing a chunk of the gatehouse to rubble.
I quickened my steps. I wanted this done. I wanted the damned farce over with so the mosquito whining at my ear would finally die, so nothing stood between me and what I actually meant to do.
