“Stand down!” He shouted.
“Give me the girl,”the guard snarled.
Wind whipped around us, carrying our shouts through the circular streets of Acsilla. My own screams were drowned out in the maelstrom, but my throat tore with them.
I tried to stand, but the chains were like live serpents, biting into my exposed skin and constricting around my middle. I was forced to watch from the sidelines as Harkin fought for both of our lives.
The guard parried another blow and swept his arm in an arc, sending Harkin’s blade ripping from his grasp. It skittered along the uneven ground, metal sparking against stone as it went. The dagger was his favored blade, and I was thankful when it came to a halt near my foot. I nudged it closer, just managing to wrap my fingers around the hilt.
Harkin let out a cry of pain as the man clipped his temple with his sword. He swayed, and his fingers drew away bloody when he touched them to his head.
Lightning spiked through the sky, and I could not help but wonder if I was summoning another storm. My fear and anger had certainly grown strong enough. The fight continued as rain began to fall. I kept the storm from them as they battled, knowing that slick cobblestone and rain-blurred vision would only further disadvantage Harkin.
The guard sliced forward with his sword in what should have been a killing blow, but Harkin stayed his hand with a wall of impenetrable air. They were at an impasse, and it could only go on for so long. I could not watch for another moment.
“Harkin!” He turned at the sound of his name, and I summoned a ribbon of blinding silver light. His dagger launched into the air on my whim and landed directly in Harkin’s waiting hand.
The guard was distracted, eyes on the silver glow which surrounded me. He did not even see it, the moment Harkin drove his blade between the gaps of his armor.
He clutched his throat, but there was nothing to be done to stop the spill of life blood—black in the darkened night. He fell to the ground, his armor crashing loudly in opposition to the quiet manner in which he died. When the last of his life escaped him, the chains fell away from me. I untangled myself from their weight with Harkin’s help and blinked against the darkness. The stars had been washed away in the storm.
“You killed him.” I spoke with a breathy, airless quality as adrenaline pounded through me, constricting my lungs.
“Yes,” he agreed, mindlessly, searching me for injuries that I did not have.
I ran my thumb along the cut at his brow. It was shallow, and the blood flow was already slowing.
“You killed himfor me,” I clarified. The weight of his sacrifice was a tangible thing. I knew he did not wish to harm others anymore, but for me he had.
“Yes,” Harkin repeated, his tone heavy with meaning. “And I would do so again.”
It was perhaps the first moment that I understood the truth of how far he was willing to go for me.
Chapter thirty-four
Seren
The night dark streets of Acsilla were too silent, the echo of our harried footsteps too loud. Dimly lit stones roiled under our feet, reaching their tilted edges as if to catch on unsteady toes. Still, I did not waver. I did not stumble on cracks and yawning crevices.
I followed a breath behind Harkin as he wove through the narrow alleys, favoring their darkness to the ever growing light of the main roads as we approached the palace.
Though I was strong and nimble enough from my time training with the Guardians, my heart pounded and my bloodstained hands quaked. I could not quench the anxiety which washed over me in trembling waves.
Time had slipped away, the moon rising in our wake.
The remaining guards had surely reported back to Prince Claudian. He would know of my presence in the kingdom, and he would be expecting me. Worse, the prince would know of Harkin’s betrayal.
He had chosen me—betrayed for me,killedfor me—and there was no going back now. Claudian would not forgive him of his disobedience. Harkin was in grave, bodily danger. His mother and sister—innocent from the tumult of this kingdom, blameless in the tide of the war—stood, feet at the edge of the gallows.
I would not let them hang. I would not let him suffer for me.
Because I cared for Harkin. Despite my heartiest efforts, he had convinced me that he was a person worth knowing. It was why I had come with him. It was why I had kissed him.
I could no longer deny that I wanted him, and I could not help but wonder if he felt the same. My heart ached at the not knowing, but as the stone walls of the palace rose around me, I knew the time for those questions had passed.
Harkin took my hand, drawing me close in the shadows. The words were a warm whisper against the shell of my ear—breath curling against me like a caress. “I sent word ahead. My friend will meet us on the western wall. There is a trick pane of glass by which we will enter the palace unseen.”
I swayed closer, voice low. “And then?”
