Elena
There was a moment’s pause before Rhys shifted, his claws and teeth elongating and the scales on his skin hardening and losing their translucence.
“Stay behind me,” he ordered.
I gave one last look to the cave where our future lay and reassured myself that the magic protecting the eggs would hold. It would have to.We would have to.
We didn’t make it far before Rhys paused, holding a hand to my stomach to stop me in the middle of the hall.
“Someone’s coming,” he said.
“Humans?” I asked and hoped my fear wouldn’t translate through our bond.
If it were humans armed with dragon’s bane again, Rhys was as good as dead. Soren was long gone, and it wasn’t like we could round up another vampire on a whim.
“I’m not sure,” Rhys said. “Whatever we do, we can’t let them get to the eggs or the clan.”
“I’m ready,” I said. “We won’t.”
We crept through the caves as quietly as we could, but it didn’t matter. The noise coming from the exit was deafening and covered any sounds we made. Screams and shouts echoed off the stone walls. The sound of pinging arrows and cannon fire made it seem as though shots were coming in all directions. Each time I heard the loud rapport from a cannon followed by thethunkandboomI ducked instinctually. Rhys took me by the shoulder, hauled me to my feet and kept moving.
It was the thought of all those little lives behind me that kept me moving forward toward danger instead of running in the opposite direction like I wanted to do. Finally, we made it to the exit, but I dreaded seeing what was on the other side. With a signal to me to keep back, Rhys crept forward and peered around the door’s edge.
I waited impatiently, my hands clapped over my mouth, body wracked with shivers as cannons blasted relentlessly. I wanted to cover my ears as well, but I didn’t want to miss it if Rhys gave me any instructions. As I waited, my muscles so tense they ached, I remembered Rhys telling me about the entire town they had massacred. In their weakened state the Dragon-Clan was an easy target for those armed with dragon’s bane. To what end and for what reasons, I couldn’t say. But we would find them. And we would stop them, whatever the cost.
Rhys came to my side, and all I wanted to do was take him in my arms, but I forced myself to recall the steadiness I’d learned as a healer. I could help them. I had to.
“Stay behind me at all times,” he said in a low voice. “We’ll lead them away from the caves and to the outside, if we can. Away from the castle and the village to decrease fatalities. I need for you to find Alaric and tell him to have the guards circle around. We’ll get them in a bunch and I’ll turn the lot of them to ash once and for all.”
“I can do that,” I said with a certainty that surprised me. Since when had I become the sort of person to rush into danger instead of run from it?
Rhys gathered me close, his expression fierce, as he pressed a hard, urgent kiss on my lips. “I love you,” he said.
Before I had a chance to respond, he was rushing into the melee with a battle cry that drew all attention to him.He shifted in an explosion and burst into the sky.
This was my chance. I didn’t have a moment to think about how scared I was, how I was the wrong person for the job, a coward who’d run from her own family, her own kingdom. Instead, I threw myself into the fight. All eyes were on Rhys as he battled a path through the army of humans.
I hadn’t gotten a good look at them the day they nearly killed Rhys, but they were unmistakable. Shrouded in dark-colored swaths of fabric, they were dirty, unkempt, and reeked of sour skin. I hoped they would be easy to track based on smell alone.
The thick of the fighting was centered at the front of the castle. Those I recognized from the Dragon-Clan emblem they wore on their chests were knotted with the foul-smelling humans. But it was the bloodied maids uniform that gave me pause. Near the rose garden, a telltale skirt with a white apron peeked out from around the corner. At first I thought it was just arose, until I drew closer and recognized the skirt.
It was just like the one Leisha and Merry wore.
My heart froze in my chest and I inched around the grand columns that decorated the main hall until I got close enough to the garden for a clear view. I shouldn’t have. The sight of the mangled body brought bile rushing to my lips, but I managed to keep it down. Leisha’s face was imprinted on the back of my eyelids as I tore my eyes away from the sight of her battered face.
Find Alaric, came Rhys’ voice from my memory. I latched onto it and used it like a lodestone to distract me from the horror I’d just seen.Find Alaric.
I spotted his golden hair battling two humans on the grand staircase and slinked my way around two columns to get a closer look. He moved with an inhuman grace that the two clumsy humans could barely match. Within seconds, he’d skewered one, then used his boot to remove the sword from his chest. It released with a distinct sucking sound. Then, he pivoted to the other, who’d watched the entire scene with his mouth bared in a grimace revealing blackened teeth. Alaric took advantage of the human’s surprise and slashed a gaping smile into his throat. By the time I regained my wits, he was bounding down the stairs.
Before he could escape, I yelled as loud as I dared, “Alaric!” and thanked the stars for his enhanced hearing because fear had choked my scream to a croak. He turned at his name and searched the shadows until he landed on me. His eyes widened in surprise and he changed directions.
“Where is he?” he asked without preamble.
Somewhat out of breath, I said, “He’s fighting them off, he wanted me to find you.”
Before I could finish explaining the plan, he’d already made off toward the cluster of humans and guards. I had to race to catch up to him and even then he tried to shake me off and swat me away like an annoying fly.
“Alaric, stop! Rhys said we need to gather the guards and herd the humans outside. He’ll attack them from the skies and pick them off.” But Alaric wasn’t listening. He was too busy studying the fight.
