“Go,” I said, dismissing him.
He turned and ran to the woman, and together they disappeared down a side street.
Anger stoked in my gut and I reached for my magic.
I may not have the men to match this rebel army, but I was a force to be reckoned with. I would crush the insurgents with my darkness. They wouldn’t be able to see who they were fighting, giving my troops the opportunity to pick them off, one at a time.
But as I tried to gather my magic, I found the well dry. I couldn’t do more than create a few small puffs of darkness.
The blood chilled in my veins.
The shadow dragon.
I’d been stabbed with the tail spikes. No wonder it had taken me so long to regain consciousness. I must have lost a ton of blood, for the magic that regenerated and healed me was carried in my blood. For all intents and purposes, I’d been as weak as a magicless fae, and forced to recover as slowly as one. Even now, my muscles felt feebler than they should and waves of dizziness hit me, telling me I wasn’t fully recovered.
I didn’t fear that I’d lost my magic. I knew it would return along with my strength, but it would take time.
Time that I didn’t have right now.
I looked up at the city wall nearest me. It hadn’t been breached yet, so the bulk of my army was still up on the ramparts, keeping the rebels from overrunning the city.
Since the castle staff were all missing, I needed to find one of my captains. Immediately. My top priority should have been protecting Easteria, but the truth was I needed to know that Aribella was safe. One of my captains would surely be able to tell me where she was. I hoped they’d sent her away to the safety of Noreum before this attack.
After I’d come back to Easteria and realized the mistake I’d made by leaving her,I’d given my captains strict instructions that if she were ever to return to the castle, she was to be afforded every privilege as the lady of the house. It was clear they hadn’t understood my reasoning at the time, but I trusted that they’d followed my orders. Once I knew she was safe I could focus on saving my kingdom.
Taking off for the closest city wall, I spotted one of my captains shouting orders at the base of the west wall.
Shock showed on his face when I reached him, but it quickly morphed to relief. “My lord, you’re well again! We’re saved!”
Not quite.
“Aribella, where is she?” I asked, hoping against every hope that he said somewhere far from here. But to my dismay he lifted a hand and pointed in the direction of the north wall.
“Last I saw of her she was up on the wall, fighting beside the rest of the army.”
No!
Dread tore through me, and without another word I raced to the north wall. Every step I took felt like I was running underwater. I couldn’t get there fast enough.
The wall and my soldiers upon it finally came into view. I started to frantically search for Aribella, when out of the corner of my eye I spotted a splash of red hair. Turning my head, my heart skipped a beat.
There she was.
I couldn’t see her face because she was looking out over the battle beyond the walls, but I’d know her anywhere. Her deep red hair hung in tussled waves down to the middle of her back. Mismatched armor hugged her petite frame as she shouted commands to my men that they rushed to obey.
She was magnificent.
I started for the nearest stairs, my gaze fixed on her, when a rebel crawled over the wall in front of her.
Terror like I’d never experienced before slammed into me like a raging bull.
“Aribella!” I shouted, my hand outstretched to send a wave of shadows to take down her attacker before he could strike, but nothing happened.
As he lifted the blade in his hand and angled it at her, I was powerless to do anything but watch.
Chapter 24
Arebel popped up in front of me, a dagger in his hand, but I punched out with my fist, connecting with the side of his head and sending him backward.
