Grasping her skirt, she cursed the dress sheonce loved so much as she grabbed one of the rungs. Before shecould start to climb, her dad caught her wrist to halt her.
“I’ll go first,” he said.
Unwilling to waste time arguing with him,Lexi stepped aside. He climbed the steps and rested his handagainst the hidden door above.
With deft fingers, he found the latch andundid the lock. Lexi held her breath as the door opened an inch ortwo.
He rested his hands against the bottom andpushed it upward. It didn’t make a sound as it revealed more of thetack room, and smoke crept into the tunnel.
One of the horses kicked the wall, anotherthudded against their door, but they hadn’t started screaming…yet.
“Assholes,” Orin bit out.
Apparently, he was against saving the horses,but he didn’t like the idea of anyone setting them on fireeither.
She waited for someone to attack, but nothinghappened as her dad stuck his head further out. When he pushed itall the way open, the crackle of flames drifted down to her.
Lexi had seen and heard so many revoltingthings from the Lord and his men recently, but she still couldn’tbelieve these bastards had set the barn on fire with the horsesinside. That took a special kind of cruelty, one shecouldn’t begin to fathom.
She would torch anyone who tried to hurtsomeone here or who tried to stop them from saving the animals. Itdidn’t matter that she didn’t like inflicting pain on others; theydeserved it.
Her dad crept further up the stairs anddisappeared into the feed room. Before Lexi could follow him, Orinnudged her out of the way and swiftly ascended. She scowled at hisback before lifting her skirt, shooting Maverick a glare when hetried to go next, and following them up the stairs.
Once inside the barn, she crept to the feedroom door as her father slipped into the shedrow. The horseswhinnied and pranced nervously in their stalls; one of them kickedthe wall again, and another banged at their water buckets as thesmoke grew thicker.
When she stepped out of the room, she saw whyas flames consumed the side of the barn. The fire surged toward thehayloft, where it would gain more fuel to feed its ravenousappetite.
They didn’t have long before the fire fullyengulfed the barn, and while she could withstand the flames, noneof the others could. The only thing they had going for them wasthey were the only ones in the barn.
Maverick appeared at her side, and she lookedback as Varo emerged from the tunnels.
“Let’s be quick about this,” her dadsaid.
Running behind him and Orin, Lexi flung openthe first stall door. She released her skirt; she didn’t care if itwas completely ruined but hoped she didn’t trip over the damnthing.
She dashed inside as smoke grew thicker inthe air. The horses weren’t completely panicking yet, but theywould soon, and they’d be a lot more hazardous to rescue once theywere.
The horse stood at the back of the stall withits head down in the straw. Grasping its halter, she led it out ofthe stall as her dad, Orin, and Maverick emerged with the otheranimals.
When Orin started for the back door with hishorse, Lexi stopped him. “That leads to the paddock. If we turnthem loose out there, the guards can still get at them, and thedragons will probably eat them. They have to go out the frontdoors. That’s the only chance they have to survive.”
“Have you lost your mind?” Orin demanded.
Maybe she had, but the only thing she couldthink about was getting these horses out of this barn and free ofthis fire.
“Let’s take them with us to the prisonrealm,” Varo suggested.
“Good idea,” her dad said as Orin mutteredsomething about horse shit in his halls.
“You’re a miserable prick,” Maverick toldhim.
Orin shrugged, but with a wave of his hand,he opened a portal before him. He slapped the animal’s rump andsent it racing toward the portal.
Lexi sent hers through next. Her dad andMaverick were about to send theirs through when something crackedoverhead, and a large beam crashed into the ground.
Flames shot toward them as an echoing crashfilled the air, and the whole building shook. Her dad’s horseveered away from the portal while Maverick’s reared. Its front legskicked at the air as it screamed, and another flaming beam fell tothe earth before it.
Maverick managed to keep hold of Cricket, butthe buckle on her halter broke when she jerked to the side. Cricketslipped free of the broken halter and joined Darby. They bothcharged toward the closed door before spinning and bolting backtoward them.
