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The king’s brother might still be in Shelby’s mother’s house or he could have been moved. That didn’t matter though when Margo was lying so still. Rehan’s arms finally dropped away. Her body lurched forward, launching toward the table.
Please, please, please…Ace thought. Though the gods were far they were not gone.
“Margo. Margo!” Glass shattered as Ace shoved plates away from her body. Utensils sparkled in the sun as they slipped from cloth to dirt. Climbing the broken table, she hissed through her teeth as something sliced through her thin slipper. The pain was easy to ignore.
Margo’s body was limp as Ace pulled her up to her chest. She held the girl there, pushing away the braids that covered her face. Carefully she watched as Margo’s chest rose and fell with steady breaths.
Osiris was gone from the clearing but still, no one talked or dared to move. Their eyes watched Ace as she stroked the girl’s face and murmured her name again and again.
Do something!she wanted to yell.Somebody fight!
One long shuddering breath filled Margo’s lungs as the girl’s eyes blinked open. “Ace?”
“Are you hurt?”
The girl pushed herself up, the wood of the table cracking and groaning as their weight shifted. Margo’s hands patted at her body and then rubbed at the back of her head. No blood. “I-I’m fine.”
“Thank the gods.” Ace pulled her into a hug.
“But my mom—”
“We’ll go after her.” They were both already standing, turning to follow after Derfla and the king.
Rehan stepped in front of them, holding his hands up.
“He is our ally,” he whispered.
With a breath, Ace tried to steady herself. Margo’s warm hand in hers was a reminder of what there was to lose. And they’d only just gotten in.
“He does not look so much like an ally, right now.” She inched forward. “Get out of my way, Rehan.”
“Rehan, please!” Margo begged.
That smile he always wore was gone. His jaw worked and his teeth ground together. Time ticked away. Ace counted the seconds they wasted as they stared at one another. Holy fire was easier to grab and she could already imagine the sword in her hand.
“You’re risking your life and our alliance, for what?”
Witches and warlocks alike were watching them. Could they hear them as well? What would they think if they knew that Rehan and Ace had been working with the Fae king who’d just crashed their celebration?
“This is Shelby’s family.” There was a desperation in her voice that she hadn’t heard come from herself in a long time. Heat was quick to flood her cheeks.
Rehan closed his eyes, breathing deeply. His pressed lips curved down into a frown. “I am but a fool,” he answered calmly, before stepping aside.
There wasn’t time to coddle his wounded pride. If this marriage was ever going to work out, he would have to learn that he could not stop her from the things she cared about most. Hand in hand, she raced with Margo to her splintering home. The gate had been left swinging, the hinges whining with every shifting wind, but the door to the home was closed.
The racing footfalls turned into heels that dug into the dirt to pull them to a skidding stop as a roar shook the house. It was unlike anything Ace had ever heard before, a sound so deeply sorrowful and yet filled with righteous anger. Goosebumps formed along her forearms and the back of her neck.
Margo’s hand squeezed Ace’s fingers. The young girl shook as she watched a shutter peel off the side of her home and fall into the gardens. Wood burst from the doorframe, the door cracking into hundreds of pieces. Splinters cut through the air, leaving nothing but a heaving angry Fae standing in their midst.
Another unearthly roar poured out of King Osiris, his arms outstretched at his sides. It vibrated through the ground and traveled up the souls of their feet. Their untied hands were forgotten as they both pressed their palms to their ears.
And when the king’s deadly glare was pointed forward and magic was singing the air, Ace only had breath to utter one word.
“Run!”
The breeze had stopped as if it too was chased away by King Osiris’s magic. Every breath was a struggle but they were moving, pushing past the gate and darting around the home.
“Where is my brother?!”
