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Bradach didn’t.
“Ferramenta!”
The dais rushed to meet him. Out of nowhere, a large mass erupted beneath Bradach and the platform, catching, then bouncing him groaning to the floor.
A sofa? Where did that—?
His hold on his magic broke, and I plummeted. A rain of stone fell to meet me.
“Ana!”
Arms caught and held me to a hard chest. We collapsed on the dais, and the rocks fell—pummeling his body too hard and brutally, I felt every strike resound through his body into me.
Alisdair pulled me in tighter, shielding me so completely with his arms and body, he had no protection for himself.
The last stone struck... and silence fell.
My chest heaved—eyes rolling in my head.I almost died. They tried to kill me! If it wasn’t for Bradach. If it wasn’t for... Alisdair.
He saved my life. Protected me. When only minutes before, he glared at me like he hated me, and wanted nothing more than to go back and plunge the sword through me at the altar.
“A... na?”
My breath caught. I didn’t dare to move. To think.
Alisdair lifted his head as far as he could, resting his forehead on mine. A true grimace of pain ravaged his features. “Are you... okay?”
“Yes,” I whispered.
I tried to stop myself. With every ounce of will and hatred in my soul, I rebelled against my body, but I couldn’t stop the hand cupping his cheek. I couldn’t stop the words leaving my lips.
“Thank you.”
Yes, he was a terrible, brutal monster who killed innocents and chopped off children’s hands, but I couldn’t get back to my family if I was dead. He saved me. He saved them from believing for the rest of their lives that I ran away and abandoned them. How could I not say—
“Thank you, Alisdair.”
He tensed.
“Alisdair?”
Head snapping up, he inhaled deeply—growls leaking through his growing fangs.
“Shit!” Bradach shouted.
Alisdair leaped off me. I flipped over as he launched at Bradach, claws lengthening to tear him limb from limb. Bradachtook to the air and flew out the village entrance—Alisdair hot on his tail.
I pushed up on shaky knees. A guard—a female guard—came quickly to help me on my feet.
Leaning on her, my eyes took in the sight before me. “Furniture,” I blurted. Nothing smarter came to my lips, but it didn’t have to. Furniture summed it up.
All of a sudden, the throne room was filled with chairs, tables, chaises, and lounges. I blinked to see those were the large pieces. A broom and mop leaned against the wall where there previously were none. Two new rugs fell across the dais. Resting on the remains of my throne was, of all things, a teapot. Sprinkled around the pot were the smashed remains of a few teacups.
The strange new additions scattered about the throne room, and everywhere they were, a purple bud grew out of fiber or stone, flowering in the most impossible place.
“Is this—?” I croaked. “Are these the...?”
“Villagers,” the guard said, leading me out of the room. “Yes.”
