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“I won’t go!” Running at Shadowsoul, I fell on him, and gripped his sword.
I turned on my attackers, weapon held high. I wouldn’t let the last thought my family had of me be that, in the end, I was nothing but a liar. “I promised,” I screamed, slicing the air and sending my chargers scattering. I darted through the space they stupidly provided me, racing for the doors. “Olene, Meliora, Gisela, Jaclan, and Savia!”
The guards stumbled over themselves chasing after me—torn between stopping me and blocking the cursed faeriken from the royal and noble fae.
I seized the door handle. “Olene, Meliora, Gisel—!” An unseen force hooked me around the middle, lifting me off my feet. I flew back and slammed against a hard chest—the wind whooshing out of me.
“Little bunny might be a more apt name for you.” His deep tremble sent a chill up my spine. “Dangerous little thing, aren’t you?”
My face hardened. “You have no idea.”
Spinning around, my stolen sword fell in an arc, swinging straight for his neck. The bastard may not have a heart to stab, but cutting the head off a snake always worked.
Alisdair was the slaughterer of millions. His selfish and greedy bid for power warped innocent fae into feral beasts, and the curse spreads farther still—dragging us all into his hatred. Every kingdom of the fae would rejoice and honor me for getting rid of our greatest threat, and even so... I wasn’t doing it for them.
Kingdoms had warriors and soldiers to fight their battles. My family only had me. I would not be Shadowsoul’s queen of the beasts. This was always going to end one way—either he left this palace a widower, or I left a widow.
Shadowsoul lazily threw up his palm, and the bronze blade halted just short of it—hanging still and obedient in the air. I tugged, wrenched, and pulled with all my strength. It didn’t budge.
“That is enough!”
Rough hands hauled me around. I had time to see Salman’s furious, purpling face, and the shadow of his backhand falling across it, before it fell.
Movement flashed out of the corner of my eye.
Shadowsoul’s claws shredded Salman’s sleeve and pierced his skin, staining the fine fabric with pinpricks of blood.
“That is the last time you attempt to lay a hand on my wife.” Alisdair struck his chest with an open palm, and Salman blasted off his feet and crashed through the wall.
Someone screamed. I think it was me.
No— It was everyone.
Through the man-sized hole, the palace harem wives bolted from their beds and lounges, running screaming for the door. Their cries were the only sounds coming from the room. Thefloating mound of silk, blood, and plaster in their bathing pool didn’t speak or move.
“And for your sake and the sake of that worthless parchment the treaty is written on,” Alisdair finished, “it’d better have been the first time.”
“Argh!” Guards, nobles, and Lyricans roared to life.
Coudarian crystals on their clothes, weapons, and staffs blazed with power, and the world lit on fire.
I stood stock-still as explosions burst and danced all over me, greedily headed for us, then forced away—streaming around an invisible barrier.
“Ah,” I cried when the world spun.
Shadowsoul tossed me over his shoulder. “Let us away, little bird. We’ve overstayed our welcome.”
“Put me down!” I clasped my fists and smashed them against his spine—kicking and fighting with all my might. “I’m not going anywhere with you! Let me go. Let me go!”
“No.”
He spoke so calmly and with such finality, my protests clogged in my throat. I could not make this man do a single thing he did not wish to do. I knew that as surely as the explosions crashing over our heads, repelled by an invisible barrier.
Alisdair Shadowsoul could not be touched. He could not be stopped. I was a dandelion before a storm. My only hope was for the soil to remember me after I was washed away.
A wave of exhaustion bowled me over. My lids drew heavy over my eyes, begging to close. This was no one else’s doing but his.
“And to think,” he said as black crept into my vision. “I had every intention of leaving you at the altar...”
