“Wait, it’s dangerous-” Aurion started.
But I was already moving. Already pushing through the crowd toward the door. I didn’t want to hear explanations. Didn’t want to see Mal or that woman or any of these people. I just wanted out.
Luckily, everyone was too focused on the drama unfolding in the center of the room to pay attention to one human slipping away. I made it to the hallway without anyone stopping me.
I turned left. Or was it right? Fuck. The corridors all looked the same. Stone walls. Torches. More stone walls.
I kept walking, trying to retrace the path we’d taken from the secret passage. My vision was blurry. My chest was tight. My hands were shaking.
So stupid. I’d been so incredibly stupid.
Of course he had a fiancée. Of course there was a wedding planned. He was a king. Kings had political marriages. I’d read enough fantasy novels to know that.
But he’d never mentioned it. Never told me. Just dragged me through a portal into his world without warning me that-
I slammed into someone.
Hard.
Strong hands grabbed my arms to steady me. I looked up into the face of a guard, tall and broad with a sneer already forming on his lips as he stared down at me with obvious disdain.
“What do we have here?” His voice was oily. Mocking. He leaned closer, sniffing at me like a dog. His nose wrinkled.
I tried to pull away. “Let go of me.”
His grip tightened. “I don’t know you. What are you doing in the royal wing? You smell... wrong. Whatareyou?”
“None of your business. Now let go.”
“I don’t think so. The king has been gone for weeks. Strange things have been happening. And now some creature is sneaking through the halls?” His sneer widened. “I think the council will want to question you.”
Panic flared in my chest. I twisted in his grip, trying to break free. He just laughed and pulled me closer.
“Let go of me!” I brought my knee up hard between his legs.
He doubled over with a gasp. His grip loosened.
I wrenched free and stumbled back. My heart was pounding. Adrenaline flooding my system.
The guard straightened slowly. His face was red, furious.
“You little bitch-”
“Little mate-”
I froze.
The voice was in my head.Actuallyin my head, not through my ears but somehow directly in my mind.
Was I losing it? Was the stress finally making me hallucinate?
The doors behind me slammed open and I didn’t have time to process what was happening because suddenly the guard was raising his hand to strike me.
“What the fuck do you think you are doing?”
Mal’s snarl was pure rage and alpha dominance that filled the entire corridor with menace. The guard actually flinched backward, his hand dropping.
Then Mal was there. He moved faster than should have been possible, inserting himself between me and the guard with a violence that made my breath catch. His fist connected with the guard’s face and I heard the crunch of breaking bone. The guard flew backward from the force of the blow, his body hitting the opposite wall before crumpling to the floor in a heap.
