Lillith remained mute, but the male frantically shook his head. “No, we were running from one when a sharp branch cut her. The cut was from the maze, not those—” He gulped.
I nodded. “We need to get her to a healer. Can you carry her?”
Pale and shaking, he dipped his head and got to his feet, being careful to avoid the warriors’ swinging arms as they fought around us.
I laid a hand on my sister’s arm. “Lillith, it’s all right. We’re going to get you inside and somewhere safe.”
She glanced at where I’d touched her. Recognition sprang into her eyes, and some of the fogginess in her features lifted. “Primelle?”
“Yes, it’s me. We’re going to get you back to the palace.”
The fighting around us slowed, but the scent of death and decay remained heavy in the air, and I suddenly wonderedhowI would get my sister inside. I didn’t know how to get out of this maze, and I still couldn’t mistphase.
“Are any more coming through?” one of the warriors yelled. He was tall with skin as black as the night and had an aura brimming with fire.
“No.” Kole’s terse reply followed. “We need to get the princesses out of here now. Lucus, Onix, and Jamie, guard the tunnel and burn these bodies. I’ll contact the palace’s spellcaster to fix this breach as soon as we’ve ensured Primelle and Lillith are behind warded doors.”
“Yes, sir,” they all replied in unison.
It vaguely hit me that Kole was issuing orders to his fellow Imperial Warriors, but before I had a chance to contemplate that, Kole was back at my side. Blazing irises met mine, and another warrior brushed off Lillith’s friend who’d been struggling to lift her.
“We’ve got this,” he told the lordling.
I shot to my feet and reached for Kole just as fast. His hand clasped mine, his grip tight and hot.
Eyes blazing, he growled, “You’re not leaving my sideeveragain.”
I sagged against him. I’ve never felt happier to have someone with me. Never felt suchreliefthat of all the fae here, it was Kole who guarded me and could get my sister out of here. “Let’s get her inside. She’s lost a lot of blood.”
I didn’t have to ask twice. The warriors, Kole, my sister, and I disappeared in a blast of mistphasing magic.
CHAPTER NINETEEN
Kole mistphased us to my private chambers, and once we materialized, he immediately released everyone to assess the doors and windows. “Check the courtyard outside, then the hall,” he barked at the two other warriors.
The warriors took off in a blast of speed, and quick strides had Kole moving from window to window to verify that the extensive wards around my personal chambers were still intact.
I swung to my sister. She looked so pale. “She’s lost a lot of blood, Kole. We need a healer.” I kept my hands pressed to her wound and crossed my dirty legs and feet beneath me. Fear zinged through me. If she died... All because those creatures had been after me... It would be no different than what had been done to Timith.
“Stay behind these walls. The other warriors will keep guarding you.” Kole looked at me firmly, waiting for my affirmation that I’d heard him and wouldn’t leave my chambers, and then he disappeared in another blast of mistphasing magic.
Alone in my chambers, with only my sister lying on the floor, I settled more onto the rug at her side. “Lillith, can you hear me?”
My sister’s eyes fluttered open. They were foggy, and I wondered if she was in shock over what had happened, or if it was from pain, or if she’d truly lost too much blood.
When she nodded, relief billowed through me that she was still coherent enough to understand my question.
“Just hold on. Kole went to get a healer.” I kept my grip tightly pressed to her wound but cursed myself for never learning more than basic healing arts. Not that it would have done me much good given how deep her wound went, but I felt so useless and entirely out of my element. Despite tears brimming in my eyes, I gave Lillith an encouraging smile.
She hissed, obviously in pain, so I quickly said, “Do you know that once when I was a child and living in the Clawfur Mountains, I fell from a tree I’d been climbing? Uncle Timith was with me, and he had to carry me all the way home. My arm had broken, so I cried and wailed the entire way as it hurt dreadfully, but do you know what Gwenery said when we burst through the door, and she saw my arm dangling at an odd angle?”
Lillith cocked her head, and her brown curls shifted on her shoulders. A moment of clarity filled her eyes, cutting through the pain. “What did she say?”
“She said, ‘Oh, Primelle, it looks like you have abone-afide injury.’” My smile strengthened, and Lillith’s lips curved too. “Gwen was my tutor at the time, as well as my caregiver, and we’d been working on vocabulary words that week. I’d just learned whatbona fidemeant the day prior, and her joke made me laugh so hard that I forgot about my pain in that moment.”
Lillith laughed softly. “I don’t know her, but she sounds lovely.”
“She is. She’s like a mother to me. I love her very much.”
