Without a word, they both kicked their horses into a gallop.When Istoria was nothing but a speck on the horizon behind them, the skin on the nape of Zane’s neck prickled.Pulling Ryunn to an abrupt stop, he glanced around them.Nothing seemed out of place, and yet…
Talon trotted back towards him.“What’s wrong?”
“I’m not sure…” Zane’s gut instinct had him drawing his sword from the scabbard at his side.Talon immediately did the same.Ryunn pranced to the side skittishly.He was never like this.The last time Zane had seen his horse so spooked was in Imothia, when—
Six stars appeared out of the air, standing on the desert sand and surrounding the two men.Zane had to fight Ryunn from bucking and tossing him off.
There were four men and two women.All of them were tall, lithe, and gorgeous, with a slight glow about them.Cocky little smirks were on all of their faces.None of them carried any visible weapons, but Zane supposed they didn’t need to when they had magic.He’d seen Altair wield a sword made out of fire, so who knew what these six were capable of.
Fuck.
Zane and Talon rotated so that their horses were facing opposite of each other, able to keep an eye on all the stars.The emperor squeezed his sword a little tighter.It had been a while since he’d been in an actual fight, and he had to say he missed it just a bit.
“Talon, I want you to—”
“If you’re about to tell me to leave you, Zane, then you can fuck right off.I’m staying.”
“I appreciate the sentiment, my soul, but I was going to say I want you to take those three and I’ll take these.”
“Oh,” Tal said.“In that case, I’ll race you.”
Zane smiled wickedly at the stars before him, the persona he’d perfected over the previous twenty years coming out to play.One of the women raised her brow at his bravado.She didn’t know it was only surface-level, and that deep down, he was panicking.But they could do this.They had to.
“The itty-bitty emperor thinks he’s a big boy,” the female star said, pouting.The rest of them laughed.“Let’s see you play with the real big kids, hmm?”
“Sorry, doll,” Zane drawled, looking her up and down with a sneer.“You’re not my type.”
She bared her teeth at him and then all six rushed in, faster than they had any right to be.Zane swung his sword at one and connected with his shoulder.Ryunn kicked out behind him, catching the female in her stomach and knocking her backwards.Gods, he loved his horse.A strong current of air threatened to unseat him, but Zane took his hand off the reins to grab a dagger from his boot and hurled it at the star, creating the gusts.The blade struck true, right in the middle of his chest, and he crumpled to the ground.
Zane heard the sounds of fighting behind him, but he couldn’t spare a glance to see how Talon was doing.The female had recovered and the other star—who Zaneknewhe cut almost clean through his shoulder—appeared whole.The male star grinned and motioned to their comrade currently bleeding out into the sand.
“That’s not a fatal wound for us, young emperor.”
Zane couldn’t believe that wasn’t fatal for anyone.He was certain he had pierced the heart.
“You’re going to have to try harder than that,” the star taunted.
Was he bluffing?The star on the ground certainly didn’t appear to be breathing, but Zane had never thought to ask what it would take to land a killing blow.Fuck.
There was a cry of pain behind him, and Zane whirled around to see Talon tackled to the ground.Zane bellowed and kicked Ryunn’s flanks, charging at them.Before he could get anywhere near the man he loved, a large rock hurtled towards him and hit his temple.Dazed, Zane could do nothing to stop himself from tumbling from his saddle.His head struck the hard-packed desert sand and black spots danced in his vision.
He thought he heard someone screaming his name in the distance.Zane needed to get up.Get up.But when he moved, those black spots only intensified, and he felt like his stomach was trying to escape his body.A boot tilted him to the side, and he groaned as he was rolled onto his back.
The female star crouched before him, her gold eyes sparking with malice and glee.
“Nighty night, emperor,” she sang.Zane felt all of time and space ripple around him and a tugging sensation in his navel.Then those black spots converged and unconsciousness dragged him under.
Zane!
Someone was calling his name.He swam towards the sound, the world slowly coming back into focus.With consciousness came the worst headache of his life.Zane groaned.
“Zane?”It was Talon’s voice.“Are you awake?”
He groaned again, rolling onto his back on the chilled floor.
“Oh, thank fuck,” Tal said.“You’d been out for so long, I wasn’t sure if you were going to wake up.”
Why did he sound so far away?Peeling his eyelids open, all Zane could see was cold, gray stone.
