Galen’s wind cuts off abruptly, and the sudden silence is resounding.
Cerberus rears back just as the deep crack bangs shut with a cloud of stone dust and billowing grit. The room stops shaking. Cerberus opens his mouth and tosses Griffin at me. Griffin slides on his hip across the wet, debris-littered floor, twisting to a stop next to me. Gasping for air, he shakes damp, plastered-down hair out of his face. The leather and clothing from his shoulders to his waist are half eaten away by poisonous dog slobber, but Griffin himself appears to be fine.He’s even immune to that!
Cerberus starts pouncing on snakes again, and we scramble to our feet, Griffin inevitably putting himself in front of me.
Galen blasts his wind again, and I huddle behind Griffin’s back. I look behind and see the violent swell of air stop Flynn’s advance and send the big warrior crashing back against the throne room doors again with the others.
To the right of the dais, Bellanca and Lystra stay crouched over Ianthe’s unmoving form. From the way they’re carefully touching her, I think she might be alive, and I send out a fervent prayer to the Gods that I haven’t lost her just when I found her again.
A sudden, deep boom resonates throughout the room. The double doors shudder, and our friends struggle to move over to the side. The guards have brought a battering ram.
Galen cuts off his wind again, stopping the monumental force barreling down the throne room and driving into the heavy doors. The battering ram’s next hit cracks the crosspiece holding the doors closed. The hit after that sends the panels crashing open. Eight soaking-wet guards rush into the room. A dozen others are sprawled in the hallway beyond, still knocked out by Ianthe’s wave.
Flynn throws Jocasta at Carver, Kato plants himself in front of the two of them, and then Flynn charges with a roar.
“Go.” I push Griffin toward the others. “I have Cerberus.”
He looks at me, clearly torn, but then takes off running. Cerberus is no joke.
I turn back to face Galen and Acantha. My eyes widen.What in the Gods’ names is Appoline doing in the middle of things?Her expression oddly vacant, she wanders in front of the royal dais, looking lost.
I dart a glance over my shoulder again, keeping Cerberus as a buffer between the Tarvan royals and me. Flynn has fallen back to protect our weaker elements while Griffin rams into the guards single-handedly. He takes a hit, and blood washes down his arm. Anxiety tears through my chest, but Griffin got in close enough to grab the guard and take away his sword. He throws the blade to Flynn, leaving himself weaponless again. My stomach does a nauseating somersault as Griffin powers forward once more, using the guard as a body shield.
I turn back around. I know Griffin. He’ll do whatever it takes to get a sword, and then he’ll be unstoppable.
Galen looks on, his expression tense and furious. Fuming as well, Acantha keeps sending out snakes, which, along with her conniving intelligence, is apparently all she’s got. Cerberus snaps them up as fast as they come, sometimes shaking them like giant rope toys before throwing their mangled carcasses back at Acantha’s feet.
A marble statue on my left shudders and then cracks in half. The bust hurtles toward me on a driving wind, and I dive out of the way. Galen throws the bottom half at me before I’m even on my feet again and then breaks another statue in two with his stone-shattering power.
I leap left, then right, dodging, but my feet slip on the damp floor and catch in rubble. Panting and clutching my aching ribs, I try to take shelter behind Cerberus again, but he’s chasing snakes and moving too much to really cover me. Since I don’t feel even a hint of my lightning inside me, I grit my teeth and reach out for Galen’s magic instead. If I can crack stone and drive wind, maybe I can toss some of this wreckage back at him.
Within seconds, I know it’s a useless effort. I’m too weak to access my own magic, let alone steal his.
I underestimated Galen, and he was smart all these years to not call attention to himself apart from his initial outburst. He’s probably the most powerful Elemental Mage of our time. Air. Rock. Ground. Astounding control over it all. No wonder Acantha was sneaking her way toward the Sintan throne. She knew better than to take on her older brother. All this time, we were following her moves when we should have been watchinghim.
With just the power of a thought, Galen’s marble throne comes spiraling toward me on a surge of wind. I dive, but there’s no getting fully out of the way. The heavy chair clips my legs, sending me spinning across the floor. Loose stones scrape my arms and jaw as I skid, sprawled out, thrown even farther from Cerberus. The impact jolts me all over, but something searing and harsher burns through my legs. Gasping, I try to stand and collapse back down, my feet sliding out from under me.
“Cat!”
I turn, my breath hissing between my teeth. Frantic gray eyes meet mine. I don’t move—Ican’t—and Griffin turns into a raging animal, a sword in each hand, his entire body a weapon. He’s coming, but he’s outnumbered. And nowhere near me.
“Cerberus!” I yell. The hound keeps jumping on snakes. They’re wriggly and crunchy, and he’s having the time of his life.
Galen saunters over, unhindered by man or beast, and pulls a dagger from his belt. Fear trips through me at the look of self-satisfied calculation in his eyes. I remember that look from when his family visited mine. I remember his cruel laughter, the flash of rubies and gold on soft fingers that never saw a day of labor, and the way he callously boasted whenever his father wasn’t around that he would soon become Alpha. I remember Galen, a young man at the time, disappearing into a bedchamber with my mother when I was hiding in a little-used hallway, and then Thanos explaining to me why.
The dagger flashes, catching the ray of sunlight spreading through the new floor-to-ceiling crack in the wall. My nails scrape over marble as I use my arms to drag myself away. My legs slowly start to regain feeling, and I dig in my heels, scooting back another foot. Nerve endings up and down my legs catch fire, and I clamp down on a cry.
My feeble attempt to flee puts a malicious smile on Galen’s face. He actually grins at me, revealing a healthy set of teeth.
“The Lost Princess.” His ruthless gaze sweeps over me with chilling interest. “Your mother had such high hopes. We made a deal, years ago. She was going to give me the Kingmaker once you were more grown up. The deal stood because neither of us ever believed you were dead. When the time came, I would have conquered the world.”
My jaw goes slack.Is that why Mother wants me to go home so badly? Because she bargained me away to Alpha Tarva?
I stare at him, horrified. “The leveled neighborhood in Kitros. You showed her what you can do. What you’re willing to do in your own backyard.”
Galen’s blue-green eyes gleam, like he’s pleased I have a quick mind.
There’s nothing but acid in my stomach, and even that curdles. Everything is suddenly so clear. He promised to leave Andromeda alone until a reasonable old age, and she promised to turn me over, willing or not. He threatened her, and she offered up the Kingmaker to secure her own safety. Galen couldn’t resist. With me under his control, he’d never be duped. He’d always know who was trying to cross him.
