“Architect.” One lowered his head while the second rushed to open the gate.
“My reins,” I said, giving Rowan a hard look. “I am not in control of my body.”
Rowan’s eyes widened, and he maneuvered his horse back to recover my reins. I gave him a curt nod before returning to my map. My horse’s uneven steps tossed my body like a rag doll as we raced up The Mile.
I sent out orders defining our new borders. With the shield in place, we couldn’t move against The Great Hall. My arena and Wicked Wichwere too large and too close, respectively. Fighting over our food store, which had our well hidden in its center, and The Happy Rooster was fierce. I sent anyone free to push the odds in our favor.
If they finished the portal in the Alun, having access to our food supplies would become a moot point. By the time I’d given my last order and returned to myself, my horse pranced outside the main gates. Rowan stood at its head, holding its reins.
“Why am I still mounted?” I ripped at the straps, which kept me in place. “We’ve lost precious time. The moment the horses stop moving, you unstrap me and get us moving.”
Rowan stepped forward and helped me with the final strap. Before I could jump down, he placed his hand on my thigh. A vision of the massive sausage between his legs came unbidden to my mind. He hadn’t left me then either.
“I’m not Ezra.” Rowan tightened his grip; not painful, but making a point. “And I’m no mind reader. This is your first test of strength. This is the first time someone has outright challenged you, us, and everything that is the Architect. I might not do it right, but I won’t leave you.”
He let go of my leg, and the fear I hated admitting I was even capable of feeling covered me in goosebumps. I gripped the leather of my saddle and slid down, more reports already crowding my mind.
“So… do you walk on your own, or does Ezra carry you everywhere?” Rowan asked.
Rowan’s humor eased my fear, and I managed an uncomfortable chuckle. Ezra and I had been attached at the hip since I was sixteen. Maybe Rowan’s observation was valid. It took me a moment to realize that the beefy fighter was dead serious. He already had his hands out, ready to haul me over his shoulder like a sack of grain. The mental image that followed was… less appropriate than I’d like to admit.
“Thank you.” I reached out and squeezed his shoulder.
Rowan gave me a knowing smile, and his white gaze twinkled.
“I can run.” I stepped toward the sound of fighting. “I’ll explain as we go.”
We squeezed through the gates before my men locked them, keeping the fight inside my walls. My second gate, the medieval portcullis I rarely closed, rose just enough for us to slip by before booming shut once more. We rounded the bend.
A hint of slime brushed my cheek, along with the smell of roses. I cursed. This was not the time for Professor Holiday’s experiments unless this was the perfect time for him, just not for me.
The sounds of battle came from The Happy Rooster. Winston’s monster form howled, though I couldn’t see it. A woman screamed, and dark forest-green magic flashed.
Men were inside my home. Boots pounded my stone floors, shouts ricocheted off the walls, and the tang of magic burned the air. Every sound was a hammer blow to the foundation I’d built with seven years of sweat and scheming.
My walls had never seen blood spilled like this, and I’d never wanted them to. I hadn’t taken the castle by force. I’d walked in and, without spilling a single drop, convinced the Westwaters currently occupying it that they wanted to leave. I’d staged a grand display with my monsters, seeded a few false memories to make the story stick, and shut the gates behind them.
It had been a mistake. No one wanted their free will stolen, and that’s exactly what I’d done. My false memories hadn’t survived the first real questions, and I’d been left with a target on my back, walking on thin ice even among my allies. I’d wrapped myself in my code as if it were armor, convincing myself that restraint could fix everything.
But it hadn’t. The code had only made me weaker and easier to corner.
I didn’t have time to catalog the mistakes that led here. I could fix all of it… with the snap of my fingers.
Rowan tried to charge into battle, and I pulled him back.
“Sir?” Rowan questioned.
I opened myself up to the magic of the world and called on the mental powers that I liked to pretend I didn’t have. Baby blue dripped out of my eyes as every mind within my walls opened up to me.
I wasn’t going to toy with anyone’s thoughts this time. This wasn’t about control for power’s sake—this was about survival. My people’s survival. Mine. I reached for the invaders’ thoughts like a drowning man reaching for air.
A body charged me. Rowan bellowed, wind and water bloomed in each of his fists. He stepped between me and the attacker. Before our enemy could charge, I took control of him and every mind working to break what I had built.
Chapter 43
Ezra
UnabletofollowCayden,I slipped into a dark, lifeless mansion. Without a tether to Quinn, her location was a void in my mind. I needed information. An explosion ripped through the building, shredding shadows into dust and birthing new ones in the blast’s wake.
