“Grigory,please,” Annalisa cried. “I am trying to protect you.”
I yanked out of Brietta’s grip and flung open Annalisa’s bedroom door just as an agonized scream filled the air.
Grigory stared with wide eyes at his trembling hand. His palm flared red like he had just grabbed molten iron. Annalisa had her back to the wall and her arm in front of her like a shield—frozen in place from when Grigory had grabbed her wrist.
Grigory looked from his burned palm to Annalisa. “What did you do?”
My arms were shaking with rage as I lifted my hands. “Not enough.”
His wide eyes met mine and my power flared. The tears in the water bowl on Annalisa’s dressing table braided themselves into a rope of fire.
Grigory was a different kind of giant, but he would suffer just the same.
“Burn.”
The rope wrapped around his neck and he screamed. His hands flew up to his throat but he tore them away when they touched my flames.
My heart pounded. I could not kill him without killing Annalisa, but I would make him pay for what he did to her.
Annalisa’s palms pressed into the wall behind her. She looked down at Grigory speechless, her eyes brimming with fear and pity.
“Come on, Anna!” Brietta cried. “The lionesses run together!”
Annalisa closed her eyes and pushed off the wall. She ran past Brietta and I, screaming her sisters’ names in the hallway.
Grigory was on his knees and screaming when I released the rope.
Brietta pulled me out of the doorway and slammed the bedroom door shut with both hands. “How do we run? Where do we go?”
I took her hand and pulled her along the hallway. “Through the walls. Follow my lead.”
Annalisa burst out of a bedroom door. “I cannot find any of my sisters!”
Brietta snagged Annalisa’s hand as we ran past her. “We cannot wait! We have to go now!”
I had just turned the iron sconce to open the panel in the wall when a scream filled the halls. It was not the pained groans of Grigory as he nursed his wounds, but the broken, anguished cry of a man who had lost everything.
Derrick had just awoken into his worst nightmare…and now Alastar was fully in control.
I gritted my teeth and pulled Brietta and Annalisa through the wall. I led us through the dark halls, following the sparkles of magic I had left on the bricks until we saw moonlight.
Annalisa tore through the tight wooden door first, sprinting through the grass faster than I had ever seen her run. Brietta and I huffed as we struggled to keep up with her.
Tears streamed down Annalisa’s face as she panted, her blonde curls flying out behind her as she ran into the night.
She ran so fast I swore she grew wings.
Annalisa ran right to the stables. I followed and the strong scent of hay hit my nose. Brietta caught up to me as soon as we were in the darkness of the stable.
“I…hate…running,” Brietta panted.
“I hope you are ready to ride then,” Annalisa said. She led a white horse out of its stall, it had already been reined and saddled.
“Sera, ride with me.” She pointed to Brietta. “Brie, take Derrick’s horse.”
Merri led another white horse out of its stall. Her eyes glistened as she held out her hand.
“Here, Your Excellency,” she whispered. “Let me help you up.”
