I sprinted down the pitch-black hallway, relying on memory and the feel of the wall underneath my fingertips to navigate it.
When the glow of Jacques’ torch grew brighter, relief coiled into my belly. He was frowning at me, an incredulous expression on his face, when he saw me sprint towards him.
“Mina?” he asked. “What—what happened?”
I didn’t think I’d even be able to respond. My tongue was glued to the roof of my mouth and I was focused on one thing only. So instead of answering him, I snagged his torch from the wall, unlatched the door, and darted inside.
“Mina—”
I slammed the door closed.
Then I froze in shock. My eyes went wide.
The horde king was…gone.
Chapter Twenty-One
Sudden movement came from my left and I gasped, whirling around, my torch tumbling to the floor in my surprise.
Rowin loomed in the corner behind the door, his expression darkening when he saw the newest cut on my face.
My breath left me. I’d forgotten howmassivehe was. How tall and broad he was.
He’d…he’d managed to escape from the pillar? Had hecutthrough the stone?
I shook my head. We didn’t have time. Every second that passed, Benn was drawing closer and closer.
I darted towards him and fumbled for the key in my palm. His hands were still cuffed behind his back even though he’d broken free from the pillar. Had he been hiding behind the door to ambush whoever entered next?
“The key,” he rasped. “You got it?”
“You have to le-leavenow,” I breathed, going behind him. “He’s coming.”
My hands were shaking and it was pure luck when the key slid into the cuff’s lock. I turned it and a beautiful clicking sound filled the room. The cuffs clattered to the ground behind him.
His arms moved. Freed. The rope-like muscles underneath his flesh shifted and flexed, stretching. He wore gold cuffs around his wrists and I saw the skin was bloodied around them.
The moment his arms were free, however, there was a calmness that came over him, completely at odds with my own panic.
Dropping to my knees, I fumbled with the lock chaining his feet.
“I’ll guide you to the entrance,” I told him, my voice puffing out of me. I felt out of breath. Uncontrolled. “And then guide you through the fog.”
Just then, I heard a bang against the door.
“Where is she?” Benn roared to Jacques. But he didn’t wait for an answer. Because a moment later, the door crashed inwards so hard that it nearly splintered on the wall when it rebounded.
The key fumbled in my grip and dropped to the floor.
Shit.
Rowin didn’t move. His stance was almostrelaxed.
And when Benn charged into the room, the horde king’s sword drawn out in front of him, though his arm sagged with the weight…it all happened so fast. So blindingly fast.
Though Rowin’s ankles were still chained, his arm flashed out like lightning, the gold of his cuffs gleaming in the torch’s light, which was sputtering on the ground where I’d abandoned it.
A bone snapped. Benn’s wrist. And from it, the horde king’s sword toppled from his grip as he screamed in pain. Rowin snagged it neatly by the hilt, so easily, like he’d been born with that sword in his hand.
