But neither of them gave the lordling a second glance. They were here for me, and he was likely safer if I left him behind.
“Don’t move!” I yelled at Nathaniel. “Anddon’tfollow me!”
Each creature lunged for me, and their timing was aimed perfectly with my footsteps.
Magic erupted out of me, seizing both of them before their feet hit the ground. I leaped out of the way at the last second to avoid being landed on by them, but my gown caught in the hedge and ripped.
Gemstones cascaded to the ground around me, but I gripped the fabric and tore it more until it’d ripped clear to my thighs so my legs were at last free of the tangling garment, then I took off sprinting. Soil kicked up behind me, and my bare toes sank into the ground, helping to give me momentum.
“Lillith!” I screamed, searching for my sister with my magic.
My power locked onto Kole’s essence first. He’d nearly reached me. “Keep following my voice, Kole. I’m running to Lillith!”
“Primelle, stay put!” he yelled back.
“I can’t! She’s my sister!”
Power emanated from me as I raced through the maze. I catalogued each creature’s location, seizing their minds and rendering them immobile as quickly as I identified them. Screams from surprised and terrified fae came from everywhere, and I thanked the gods that I’d met my sisters enough times to recognize their magical essences.
Lillith was growing closer, but I cursed the maze each time I reached a dead end and had to backtrack.
Sweat poured down my back, and my heart thundered. The creatures kept coming, and I had the vaguest realization that they were entering the palace grounds through the maze. Each of them was coming from beneath the soil, in the same spot, and the understanding hit me that they’d either breached the palace wards, or wards weren’t placed underground, and the creatures had taken advantage of the shifting hedges in order to penetrate the palace’s defenses.
That theory formed in my mind just as a flash of magic flared at my side, and then Kole materialized.
Tousled hair covered his head, and his eyes shone like sapphires in the moonlight. Chest heaving, he clamped a hold of my wrist. “I’m getting you out of here. Now.”
I wrenched out of his grip. “No, you’re not. You’re going to help me find Lillith.”
My magic told me that she was standing between me and one of thethings, and I knew the creature wouldn’t think twice about slicing through her to get to me.
I took off running again. Kole cursed but followed behind me.
Moonlight lit the way, and around the third bend, I stopped short. Lillith lay on the ground, tears streaming down her face. Another fairy, a male who’d been with my sister and Koraline inside the ballroom, was also with her, but my oldest sister was nowhere to be seen.
Blood trickled from a long gash on Lillith’s arm. It looked deep, and my stomach lurched, because if one of the creatures had slashed her with their black claws, hadinfectedher?—
A low snarl had my attention snapping upward. My stomach tumbled. One of the creatures stood behind Lillith and the lordling, then another, and then another behind it.
My eyes widened to saucers when I spotted the hole in the ground at the end of the maze’s pathway. Creature after creature emerged from beneath the soil.
I stumbled back. “Kole, there are so many.”
The warrior was in front of me before I could blink, his movements blurring as his lethal magic flared. He didn’t hesitate. Didn’t think twice about putting himself in harm’s way to protect the royal family.
Sharp awe and gratitude squeezed my chest, and I rushed to my sister just as half a dozen sword tips cut through the hedges around us. Branches were thrown out of the way, and Imperial Warriors were suddenlythere, flooding the space around us. They had all hacked their way through the maze, and once they surrounded us, the six males moved with perfect synchronicity.
Within a blink, Kole and the warriors had formed a protective barrier around Lillith and me, their backs to us. Above the commotion, I heard Koraline yelling for Lillith in the distance, but she sounded far away, and I imagined they’d been separated by the hedges too.
I sank to the ground at my sister’s side, letting the warriors take over. They tore down creature after creature as each one emerged from their underground tunnel.
In a burst of self-cleansing magic, I washed my hands, then reached for Lillith.
“We need to stop the bleeding.” I tore off a portion of my skirt that wasn’t covered in grime and wrapped it around her armin quick movements, then knotted it and held my hand to the wound, applying pressure too.
Trembling, Lillith stared at me with dazed eyes, shock apparent in her expression.
“Did any of them touch you?” I asked and also looked to the male at her side.
