I couldn’t do anything about that, but I could get to my mother. When she lifted her head, her eyes met mine, and joy lit them. Despite my misery, I smiled at her and moved a little faster.
Once I got to her, we would figure out how to get out of this mess and go somewhere safer. It didn’t feel like there were any safe places anymore, but if we could make it to one of the pillars and slip behind the tapestry, we could hide there or move into the servants’ tunnels.
Those tunnels most likely led to the kitchen, laundry room, and the other facilities the servants required to help them run this castle. They might not lead to an escape, but all those places were far safer than this one.
“Ellery.” Sadness and relief emanated from her voice as her eyes flicked over me. “Oh, Ler Bear, what did they do to you?”
“I’m okay.”
And I was. Every part of me ached, but I was much better now that I was with her. Reaching for her hand, I was desperate to connect and feel the reassurance of her warmth as we sought each other out.
When her fingers wrapped around mine, we grinned at each other. Everything was going to hell around us, but we had each other again, andthatwas what mattered.
“We have to get out of here!” I shouted over the tumult.
She crawled closer as more debris whipped out of the air to pummel us. I had only a second to glimpse the spear before the gale propelled the weapon through my mother’s back and out her chest.
For a second, I had no idea what happened as my brain refused to acknowledge what it was seeing. That wasn’t my mother with the pole sticking out of her back. That wasn’t me screaming when there was no reason to scream. That wasn’tuson the floor, trapped in this maelstrom of death.
That wasn’t my mother’s heart embedded on the tip of the spear, only inches from the marble floor and too far from where it belonged in my mother’s chest.
And then it was her as reality slammed down around me. It was me. Her.Us.
And it was all wrong. She was all wrong. Broken, in pieces, my mother, but not my mother. Not anymore.
Blood spilled from her mouth as her gaze met mine. She spent the last few seconds of her life staring at me. I couldn’t stop screaming as I reached for the spear, determined to pull it free like I could fix this.
“Love.”
The gurgled word spilled from her mouth before she slumped forward on the spear to hang heavily against it.
“NO!”
The roar of the tornadoes buried my wail of anguish.
CHAPTER FIFTY
Ryker
I couldn’t seeanything through the dozens of tornadoes tearing the room apart. Rain, wind, and hail battered me as I fought through the rebels and guards.
The urge to throw both sides out of my way pummeled me, but I restrained myself from using my abilities against most guards. I did throw some of the rebels out of my way, even if I was on their side.
Many of the rebels were retreating, but some continued to stand their ground against their oppressors. I understood why they were pissed enough to try to pull off this idiotic, ill-planned coup, but I wanted them to get out of my way.
Too much time had passed since I last saw Ellery; I had no idea where she was in this maelstrom. A loud whistle drew my attention to the sword flung from a tornado and straight at me.
Stepping back, I avoided having it impale me, but a cry from behind alerted me to the guard who had taken the blade through his throat. His fingers clawed at the handle as he tried and failed to rip it free.
One of the rebels emerged from the turmoil. Their mouth opened, and I assumed a battle cry issued from them as their eyes took on a determined gleam, but I couldn’t hear them over the raucous.
Their size caused me to believe it was a man as they ran toward me with their spear leveled on my chest. I rolled my eyes at the idiotic fool and the improper way he held his weapon before stepping to the side, grasping the end of the spear, and ramming the pole into his belly.
The impact knocked him off his feet, and I ripped the spear away from him before breaking it over my knee and tossing it aside. “Fucking idiot.”
The tornado of lightning I’d created tore my words away from me. It spun behind me and to the side to keep away any attackers who might come at me from behind.
I’d created tornadoes like these before, but I’d never anticipated unleashing one within an aristocrat’s home or againstmykind. Once the other amsirah decided to turn their powers on each other, there was nothing to hold me back.
