“Selena? Pretty boy?” Isera calls back to us over her shoulder. “Any time now.”
I look to Orion again and give him a nod. “Let’s do this.”
A villainous smirk spreads across his lips, and his eye begins to glow as he channels his magic.
Summoning my own, I throw it out across the entire Ice Palace in search of yellow sparks of panic. It connects to a mass of flames now that Orion is flashing nightmares through all of their minds. With a shove, I blow those flames into wildfire.
Chaos erupts across the castle grounds.
CHAPTER FORTY-FOUR
Screams echo through the glittering ice halls as servants stampede towards the exits. I let out a huff as a messenger slams right into me while skidding around the corner. The impact makes me stumble back and hit the wall, causing the liquid in the small barrel to slosh loudly against the wooden sides. For one single second, the messenger stares at me with terrified eyes.
Then he bolts down the corridor.
“Watch it,” Isera growls as a group of panicked dragon shifters dart past, jostling her in their haste.
But none of them stop, or even look back at her. With my and Orion’s magic wreaking havoc with their memories and their emotions, the entire castle is lost in blind terror and a mad scramble to get out. I keep my magic connected, increasing all those flames of panic.
Pounding feet and screams of fear echo all around us as everyone we meet rushes for the nearest exit. And not one of them tries to stop us as we weave through the throng in the other direction.
Alistair jumps out of the way as two male dragon shifterscome hurtling around the corner before sprinting down the corridor in the direction we came. After adjusting the small barrel in his arms, he shoots me and Orion a look.
“I knew thatyouwere scary from the moment I saw you standing there smirking on the other side of your wards,” he says to Orion before shifting his gaze to me. “Butyou, I can’t believe I actually tried to pick a fight with you during the Atonement Trials. You’re terrifying as hell, Soulstealer.”
I laugh. Warmth spreads through me when I think about how far Alistair and I have come from where we started. When this is all over, I look forward to just sitting down and sharing a drink with him. With them all. Goddess above, we really do deserve that.
“It’s here!” Isera suddenly calls.
I’m just about to turn towards her, but right then, an entire group of servants pours out of the stairwell to our right. Leaping backwards, I press myself flat against the wall as they crash into the corridor so fast that they just end up shoving each other and not getting anywhere. I decrease the strength of their panic a little.
The chaotic shoving stops long enough for the first couple of people to untangle themselves from the rest and start sprinting down the corridor. Once that gap has opened up, the rest finally follow as well.
I suppress a chuckle and shake my head.
Next to me, however, Orion is swaying slightly. But he quickly braces his back against the wall to hide that fact. We all saw it, though.
“Orion,” Isera says, her voice sharp. She is standing on the other side of the hall, holding open a door that reveals a staircase leading downwards. But her blue and silver eyes are locked intently on the Unseelie King. “Save your strength.”
“Save my strength?” he huffs, trying to look indignant whilealso battling exhaustion. “Who do you think I am? Some kind of damsel in?—”
“Don’t make me threaten you.” She gives him a pointed look. “And besides, we’re already here.”
He draws his dark brows down in a scowl. But then the glow fades from his eye as he cuts off his magic. Dragging in a deep breath, he pushes himself off the wall and tries to walk as steadily as possible to the door she’s holding open.
Because Orion is larger than life in so many ways, I sometimes forget that we have a lot more raw magical power than he and the other Unseelie fae do. He’s powerful. Incredibly powerful. And if it was just one person, or a handful of people, he could keep going for hours. Like he did with me in his dungeon. But now, he has been using his magic on an entire castle full of people. At the same time. Without pause. Ever since we got here. No wonder his magic is draining unusually fast.
“Let’s go,” Isera says, and jerks her chin at me and Alistair. “The archives are apparently not the only part of this basement. Lavendera said that there are lots of storage rooms as well, and if we’re going to have time to set these explosions in every corner and get out before it all blows up, we need to get a move on.”
Alistair and I leap into motion. After cutting off the flow of my magic as well, I jog after Orion through the doorway, followed quickly by Alistair and then Isera.
Our feet thud against the steps as the four of us hurry down into the basement.
Once we reach the bottom, we end up in what looks like a library. It’s not as massive as the Green Clan’s archives, which occupy an entire building down by the barracks close to the city, and it’s not nearly as neat either. Rows upon rows of books look to have been shoved onto shelves in a haphazard fashion, and several of them even have loose papers sticking up from the pages. I sweep my gaze over the chaotic space until it snags on a map that has been pinned to the back of one shelf.It’s crooked, but it clearly shows this city. The nameStonehollowis written at the top in ink so faded that it’s barely visible.
The humans were right. This city used to be called Stonehollow before the Icehearts claimed it as their own.
“There are four corridors,” Alistair points out, and nods towards the four doorways that lead away from the archives in every direction.
