“That was a short reign,milord,” he spit the word “milord” as if it were a foul taste on his tongue.
Cole grinned back at him as he leaned forward and plunged the dagger into the fae’s heart. The man’s eyes widened; a gurgled sound issued from him as blood bubbled out of his mouth.
Cole punched the man in the face, knocking him away from the sword. He didn’t grasp the handle to rip the blade out as he staggered forward and went down.
Chapter Seven
“Oh no,”Amaris whispered before gripping Lexi’s arm. “Come, we must get you out of here.”
Lexi pulled her arm free of Amaris’s hold. “No.”
“Miss… Lexi. You shouldn’t be here when the council arrives to claim the palace. They won’t… they won’t appreciate your presence here.”
Becca really wouldn’t appreciate it, but Lexi didn’t care what they wanted as she watched Cole go down. She’d never experienced such terror and sorrow as a steel vice gripped her heart and squeezed until she was sure she’d go to her knees as Cole had.
But she couldn’t do that. He needed her to remain strong, and she would.
“The council is not coming in here,” Lexi stated.
“With the king dead, the council has a right to the palace.”
“He’s not dead!” Lexi retorted.
When Amaris recoiled, Lexi regretted the harshness of her words. But hewasn’tdead. He wouldnotdie.
“Lexi,” Amaris said tenderly. “I know you aren’t of our world, but a dark fae cannot survive fae metal through the heart. And that sword was fae metal.”
But a lycan can.Or at least she hoped they could. Brokk was half vampire, and he’d survived when he took a fae sword through the heart; Cole would too.
If she could get him off the battlefield. The others would all think him as good as dead. Some might try to retrieve his body, but with everything going on out there, not many of them would risk their lives for what they believed was a dead man.
Amaris rested her hand on Lexi’s arm again. “Lexi—”
“I have to go.”
Except she didn’t turn and flee into the palace like Amaris wanted. Instead, she ran out the door and into the courtyard. If she somehow survived this, Cole would kill her, but she couldn’t leave him out there.
The others would all count him out, but not her.
Sprinting across the open courtyard, Lexi grasped the reins of a large, gray horse that had trotted back in with some of the other riderless animals. She’d homed in on the one least covered with blood, grasped its reins, and vaulted onto its back as her mind raced and her heart hammered.
Cole has a blade through his heart!
And so did Brokk.
She kept reminding herself of this as time crawled by. If Cole survived the blade through his heart, the longer he was out there, the more vulnerable he was and the more likely he was to die.
Seconds became hours as all the minute details around her stood starkly out. The earth and blood scent of the battle became so acute, she could taste them both. The screams of the dying faded as the rapid beat of her pulse drowned them out.
She turned the horse toward the open side door that the horses, and some of the injured had returned through. The main gates remained locked, and she suspected the palace wouldn’t open them for her or the council.
She didn’t want them to open anyway. She would get to Cole, but she couldn’t leave those inside the palace vulnerable to an attack. That side door was her only way out.
“Lexi, no!” Amaris shouted after her as she dug her heels into the horse’s side.
The small sword and throwing stars bounced against her sides as she nudged the horse into a gallop. Its hooves thundered across the earth as she neared the small side door. When she was still twenty feet away, it started to close.
It didn’t surprise her. The palace had protected her against Becca and whatever lay in those woods. It was seeking to protect her now, but she would not have it.
