At last, we tumbled into the open gate, just as a deluge of flame and smoke landed behind us.
Falling to his knees, Ciaran still held me close, but I pushed away, onto the ground.
“Thank you,” I rasped, the only one of us not gasping for air.
Darya’s hands were still on the crank. She wasn’t shaking.
My stomach twisted.
Too calm. Too steady.
“No,” Darya murmured, and I barely heard the shift in her voice before she moved. “Thank you.”
The blade flashed.
My breath caught—too late, too late. I saw the blade coming, but I couldn’t move fast enough.
But Ciaran could. Did.
His hands slammed into my shoulders—a hard, desperate shove that sent me crashing against the tunnel wall. My head snapped back, pain ricocheting through my skull. My fingers brushed his sleeve before Darya’s blade found him instead.
The sound it made was sickening. Soft, almost.
Ciaran gasped, his fingers jerking around the blade buried in his chest. Darya wrenched the sword free. Blood sprayed, a warm mist against my skin.
And Ciaran staggered. His mouth opened, lips forming my name …
Then he crumpled.
Chapter 43
Rykr
“Rykr, help us!”
Seren’s voice, which had gone quiet for a while now, came into my mind unexpectedly clear.
But weak.
Fading.
A rip went through the fabric of my soul.
Seren was dying.
Concentrate. I couldn’t let myself slip into her thoughts now. Leaving Seren had been foolish, but I had abandoned my duties to my people too many times over the last month not to take this opportunity.
I jerked my chin up, grabbing on to a handhold on the cliff I’d scaled as I followed Haldron and his council taking a mountain path back into Emberstone. If they reached the protection of the city, I might lose the chance to strike.
Conveniently, my ability to climb seemed to have improved, along with every other skill I’d once possessed.
The possibility existed that my uncle was unaware of the fact that I’d followed him—which I doubted—but there was an equal chance that he lay in wait for me.
I was willing to take my chances, but I prepared myself for the second option.
With the added protection from my powers, a sense of indestructibility had settled into my bones. Reckless, maybe, but what did it matter? Going after my uncle was the best way to strike a blow for my kingdom.
My kingdom.
