“Where’s Elise?” I ask Reisha as we dash through the corridors out into the courtyard.
She hesitates long enough that I know I won’t like her answer. “The Elven Command called her to see them. It’s about the final battle.”
My heart can’t possibly plummet any further than it has already. “Did they say anything else?”
She shakes her head. “I’m sorry, Princess. I don’t know anything else.”
I grind out my words in between sucking in breaths to continue running. “I need her.” She’s a healer as well as a spellcaster and if Mai’s hurt then I’m going to need one. “Reisha, we need a healer. We need… Sahara Splendor!”
I don’t have to say anything else. Reisha calls out a command to the elf on her left and the female breaks off, sprinting away. I can only hope that Sahara hasn’t left the city yet to return to her home. That would be unlikely since Jordan and Sebastian are staying here for now.
We race across the square and through the outer wall of Mai’s quarters, finding her advisor Rebecca lying on her side beside a sculpted stone ornament in the garden. Reisha checks her. “Unconscious,” she says.
My Storm Command splits open to reveal that Mai’s door is closed and her windows shuttered. One side of my Command opens even further to allow Baelen to step through to me. It surprises me that he doesn’t have to say anything to them. They just let him through without question and I’m not sure how I feel about that. But I told them to protect him, so a very large part of me is grateful that they’re treating him with trust.
I return my focus to Mai’s closed door. An open door means no threat, but a closed one like this…
Reisha strides up to it, gasping when her hand connects with the wooden paneling. She snatches her hand back. “There’s something very dangerous inside this place.”
Baelen morphs into a Rath as Reisha speaks. He doesn’t draw the dagger he carries at his hip, but he doesn’t have to in order to appear fearsome. My lips almost lift at the memory of him standing outside the Storm Vault, standing way too close to me that first day, telling me that danger doesn’t bother him. I’ve never seen fear in his eyes except once and that wasn’t fear for himself.
I must be channeling his fearlessness, because I say, “Then we’re going in to find out what it is.” I signal to the rest of the Storm Command. “I’m going to open this door. Once I’m inside, follow me. Carefully.”
Reisha nods and copies the signal to those around her. The door is sealed with magic. It feels like the storm’s power but there’s something off about it, something not quite right.
I press my palms flat against the door, feeling the same electrical zap that Reisha must have felt. It bites my hand, unpleasant and unnatural, resembling lightning, but I can tell the difference. It’s not genuine lightning. The storm was right—this isn’t the storm’s doing.
I trickle real lightning through my fingers, allowing it to flow through the wood. Scorch marks spark on the door’s surface as the force flowing from me targets the lock and hinges keeping the door closed and upright.
The hinges warp, buckling under the force I’m exerting. With a blast of wind from my hands, the fastenings at either side of the door give way with asnap. My ladies don’t even flinch. They’re already focused on what’s inside the room, taking up fighting stances, weapons drawn and ready.
The door falls downward like a closing drawbridge, literally falling on its face toward the inside. But halfway down it stops, floating there. An outward force pushes back at us from inside the room. I harness the wind again and push against the door, harder, and it slams down like a welcome mat at my feet.
My now clear view into the room shows me that it’s been destroyed. The table has been thrown onto its side, books strewn across the floor, pages ripped out. Scrolls float in the air, suspended. The golden curtains are drawn and billow against the windows as if the room is full of wind. But like the force keeping the door closed, this isn’t from the Storm.
“The storm,” Reisha whispers while Baelen hangs back, allowing me to make my assessment.
“No. This is not the Storm.” Anyone else would think that the storm was at work here, that a hurricane has ripped through Mai’s quarters, but I can tell the difference. “This is spellcasting.”
There’s a groan from what looks like a pile of material in the center of the room. The material shifts, rising a little to reveal that it’s Mai herself bent forward over her knees.
She rests in a puddle of silk. Her slender arms flop at her sides, her shoulders slumped. Her hair is draped across her face. Like her Reverie kin, her hair is as red as blood, but there’s something very wrong with it. Something very wrong with her skin, too. Liquid drips from the top of her scalp all the way to the floor, pooling in the silken crevices of her dress. She’s raining from the inside. Except that it’s tainted with blood.
I race to her, sliding in the debris, skidding to a stop before I touch her or come into contact with the strange liquid pooling around her knees. I don’t care about the rules right now, but I’m worried that I could hurt her. Just because she was a Storm Princess once doesn’t mean she can handle the storm’s power, especially not now when something’s clearly hurting her.
“Mai, talk to me! Are you okay?”
I can’t see her face behind all her hair. Her voice is forced. “You need to leave.”
I frown, trying to detect her intentions from her body language. My instincts are screaming that she’s a threat to me, but I won’t leave her, not when she needs my help. “Mai, tell me what happened.
“Make them leave!”
I glance back to my Storm Command as they file into the room, forming a shield at my back. They’re staring at something to Mai’s left and I risk a quick glance in that direction. Partially hidden behind Mai, a body floats inches above the floor. It’s Mai’s husband, Darian. His hair hangs across his face and I can’t tell if he’s alive or dead.
I don’t want to tell my ladies to leave because I don’t want to be alone with Mai. Not because I’m afraid, but because the storm is an angry force inside me and it’s rising to meet the dark spell that’s been cast over Mai. Lightning crackles under the surface of my skin and I don’t know whether that’s a good thing or bad. A fight between these two forces can only lead to destruction.
I hesitate too long.
