“Ready when you are.”
***
Aidon had placed several bad bets over his lifetime. One did not become a notorious card winner without suffering a loss or two. He knew that sometimes, it was worth going after the long shot for the incredible win.
Lighting a wagon on fire while he was still inside it and had dubious control over his affinity, however, gave him serious pause.
It wasn’t his own death that bothered him, necessarily, but the deaths of his friends. Perhaps his unwillingness to kill them would serve as motivation.
He rolled his shoulders as he inhaled deeply through his nose, silently reciting all Liam and Will had taught him thus far about controlling his well of power.
Pull steadily. Sense the depth. Go slow. Start small.
Hehadmanaged to melt the iron chains, at least. Their wrists, still shackled as they were, were no longer fastened together.
Another careless oversight on their part.
He braced his feet apart, his core tightening to hold himself steady as he faced the side of the wagon. Will and Liam stood pressed against opposite benches at the reardoor, ready to attack the guards as soon as they unlatched the lock outside.
Gods, this was a foolish plan. They had no weapons, noadvantage.
Aidon swallowed down his doubt, his jaw set as he called his affinity forward. Flames sparked to life in his palms, gently licking his skin.
“Ready?” Aidon asked with a glance to his friends.
They nodded.
He turned, his hands reaching toward the front wall of the wagon.
But a shout sounded from outside, and Aidon frowned, his hands hovering above the wood. The wagon jerked to a halt, and he just barely caught himself before he slammed into the wall.
“What the hells?” he hissed, his fire vanishing instantly. The shouting continued, the sound of swords clanging joining it. Aidon darted to the side wall and crouched down to squint through the small hole.
He could make out flashes of the Royal Guard darting around the wagon, their weapons bared, but he could not see who attacked.
The shouts grew louder, peppered with the screams of the dying. A bang drew his attention to the back of the wagon. Will threw himself against the locked doors, his shoulder slamming into the wood again and again.
Liam grabbed him and wrenched him back. “We have no idea who’s out there,” the Persi snapped.
“I will not sit here and wait to be killed,” Will snarled.
The wagon shook as a body slammed against it. It was enough to have the three of them still, their gazes fixed on where the noise had sounded.
Quiet descended as quickly as pandemonium had, and for a moment, Aidon could hear nothing but the pounding of his own heartbeat in his ears. It was interrupted bya sharp howl that set the hairs on the back of his neck standing.
Will ceased his struggle against Liam, his body going utterly still as his breath released a shocked, “What?”
There was a heavy thud and the rattle of iron, as if someone had taken an axe to the lock across the back of the wagon. Aidon did not think as he called his affinity, fire wreathing his palms. The doors swung open, flooding the inside with sunlight.
“Seven hells,” Aidon swore as he took in Dauphine Adair, bloodied axe in hand.
She wasn’t alone.
A wolf of pure white stood at her side.
35
Will was out of the wagon between the span of one breath and another. His mind screamed at him to drop to his knees and bury his face in Akeeta’s fur, but instead he grabbed the front of Dauphine’s leather vest and jerked her toward him.
