There’s pause, and I wish I could see what was happening. Is he going to fight Tharael? I grow chill just thinking about what might happen.
Then Kaelun calls, “Jah’ruud?”
Jah’ruud’s reply would make me laugh under other circumstances. “Would you stop fooling around and wish?”
“You always know how to spoil a climax. Fine, then. I wish for you to be free.”
“About fucking time!” There’s a roar of wind and all the windows shatter at once with a great crash.
Tharael yanks me to my feet and presses a sharp claw to my throat. “Make one wrong move and she dies.”
Everything freezes. Thousands of tiny shards of glass clatter to the floor with a tinkle. I can finally see Kaelun and Jah’ruud, both in the process of attacking surrounding guards.
Tharael’s claw presses against my throat, cutting off my air. His other hand is so tight in my hair my scalp stings.
There’s a ferocious snarl behind us. Then, suddenly, the hand around my throat is gone and I can breathe. “Do not touch my mate. Any of them.” Aurelion’s voice is colder and deadlier than I’ve ever heard it. He clings tight to Tharael’s back, rendering the king’s wings useless. Tharael scrabbles at his brother’s hold, butI know that determined look in Aurelion’s eyes. Then Aurelion jabs a claw through the thin membrane on the king’s wing and tears. There’s an awful roar.
Chaos breaks out again in the rest of the room. Shouts and the whoosh of wind and smashing furniture. Something flies past my head and I duck, covering myself with my arms as best I can.
Kaelun appears beside me and gathers me against his side. “Let’s get you out of danger.”
I’m about to ask him how, but he simply sidesteps a swinging tail, dragging me out of the way of a flying chair. Then instantly we’re six feet in front without feeling like we moved at all.
A guard howls as he crashes against the wall and falls to the floor, still and silent. Behind us Aurelion and Tharael wrestle desperately, but I cannot watch. Kaelun just keeps moving us through the destruction, somehow narrowly avoiding being hit with anything.
We make it across the room to Jah’ruud’s side. With a sweep of Jah’ruud’s hand, the rest of the guards are cast aside. The walls tremble.
At that very moment, Aurelion grips Tharael’s head with both his hands, clawed feet digging into his brother’s shoulders. Then he sinks his teeth into the flesh there, tossing his head until the king lets out a choked cry. Aurelion clings on until the king’s arms stop flailing and he shudders. Then he spreads his wings and leaps away, letting his brother’s body drop to the floor.
Another two guards come charging into the throne room. Jah’ruud lifts a hand and they drop to their knees, clutching at their throats. A moment later they join the other bodies littering the floor.
I stare around us at the destruction. The throne is smashed in pieces. None of the window glass remains. One of the walls is a crumbling mess.
I feel nothing, only a slight chill at the ends of my fingers.
Jah’ruud’s strong hands grip my arms lightly. “You are safe, precious one.”
I turn to him, trying to shut the image of the king’s death and the feel of his claws on my skin from my mind. “And you are free.”
His smile is slow and fierce. “I am free to give myself to you properly.”
I look up at him with the best smile I can muster. “I will cherish your vows on another day less tainted.”
Aurelion strides over, running his hands over my body. “Are you hurt, rhkash? I am sorry I let him touch you at all.”
“I am fine.” I pat the hand that caresses my face, but the room spins, and I suddenly feel weary right down to my bones. “I just need to rest a while.” I look around but there is nowhere to sit down. None of the furniture survived. One of the marble columns is cracked through the center, and there is glass everywhere.
“Where is a bed?” Jah’ruud asks gruffly.
A moment later I’m scooped up into arms I belatedly realize are Aurelion’s red scaly ones. He holds me close to his chest. “Follow me.”
I’m carried out of the chaos we made of the throne room into a dark corridor and down a set of steps into a cool white room with a shallow pool at the center and a daybed below a mural of the sea.
Aurelion lays me down, and they all hover next to me as if I’m an invalid.
“Some water. A wet cloth for her face. She is too hot.”
With a flick of his hand, Jah’ruud summons a breeze full of cool water droplets that kisses my cheeks and forehead. Kaelun fusses with my dress, pulling the strip that Tharael tore up so I am covered. I do not know what became of Vahn’s body or why I think of it just now. I wonder if I should have it brought home.
