I coughed as my eyes stung. I could not breathe, but I still had to try to get to him. “Derrick, we have to go!”
He still did not move. Was he even aware of what was happening?
Maybe Midnight could still hear me. Midnight spoke romance and not sense, but he was terrified of one thing more than Alastar.
“Do you want me to become ash with you, Midnight?” I fought through the smoke in my throat as embers swirled around us. “Fine. Hold me in your rage. Reduce me to cinders.” I coughed out smoke. “Keepsuffocatingme!”
Light flashed in Derrick’s eyes and he picked me up in his arms. My arms locked around his neck as he broke into a sprint. My face took shelter in his smoke-stained curls.
He kicked the garden doors open and I gulped in the cool, damp air of the night. He kept running, his feet crunching in the gravel.
My stomach lurched as we tumbled forward.
I laid on my back on the garden path for a moment, stunned. I rolled onto my hands and knees and tried to find my breath. The night breeze kissed my cheeks as I looked up, my eyes finding the rearing bull statue.
Derrick coughed as he kneeled in front of that deadly statue. He looked at me, his wide eyes searching for an answer as they watered.
But then he collapsed into the grass.
I ran to him, falling to my knees as I scooped up his limp body. My hand splayed over his slow-rolling heartbeat. Smoke stung my eyes as I cried.
I was losing him. He was losing himself. Was he too far gone even for me to heal?
I stroked his hair as his slow breath skated across my collarbone. He was fragile as glass in my hands. He would not let me into his mind. There was nothing I could do except…
“Help,” I cried softly. “Help! I have the Duke! Help us!”
Footsteps pounded through the dewy grass. Palace guards kneeled beside me, each trying to take Derrick, but my arms stayed locked around him as my tears wet his hair. Heavier footsteps broke apart the crowd of guards.
“Does he breathe?” General Hyton asked.
I nodded with my cheek pressed to Derrick’s temple. I was going to keep Derrick safe. I was going to make him well again. I was—
General Hyton grabbed me by the waist and tore me away.
“No!” I screamed through my sore throat. I only had enough time to see the palace guards pick up Derrick before the General’s deep blue eyes were right in front of me.
His thumb tugged on my cheeks as he checked my eyes. My head fell into his palm as he looked at the underside of my jaw and my neck. “Are you hurt?”
“No,” I said softly. “But Derrick—”
General Hyton glanced over his shoulder. “Take him to Baron Elvar’s house in the city! Make sure everyone standing at the palace gates sees him—they need to know their Duke is alive!”
He turned back to me and held my jaw again. “Is the fire contained?”
I coughed. “It was just in the ballroom. Doors shut.”
He let out a small breath. “Good. We will just wait until the fire has nothing else to eat.”
General Hyton picked me up and my head flopped onto his shoulder. My body swayed a little as he carried me through the garden. He patted my arm and I let out a ragged breath.
The General might have kept me safe, but I still needed to fix Derrick…somehow.
He took a few more steps before voices began to murmur around me. Then his voice smoothed and brightened. “I trust you can keep her safe for me while I take care of the palace.”
I lifted my head as the General lowered me to my feet. Brietta’s hands wrapped around my shoulders and pulled me to her side.
While she and the General argued in hushed tones about the state of the palace, my eyes searched for Annalisa. I found her alone, holding her arms near some tall shrubs.
