Atlas shoved past him, hard. “You can explain when I haveElowynne back!” he snapped, already storming down the corridor, shouting for his guards.
His voice boomed through the castle as he bellowed, “Get me a horse and double the guards at the gates! They will not escape Lephyrin. Kill them on sight!”
Draevyn rushed after him. “Atlas, wait! You don’t understand.”
Atlas didn’t give a fuck. Not anymore.
His bride was gone. The enemy was loose. And someone would pay for it.
Before Draevyn could say anything further, Atlas raised a hand, shadows slithering up his arm. “I’m done with your secrets, Drae.”
He launched the shadows at his brother like black whips. Draevyn countered with a wave of heat, pushing the shadows back. Atlas gritted his teeth and shoved more power into the wisps of darkness, slamming the tendrils into Draevyn. They wrapped around his arms and chest like coils of cold steel, and a look of horror warped his face.
“I don’t have time for yourlies,” Atlas spat, loathing that his voice cracked from the hurt of his brother’s betrayal.
The shadows yanked Draevyn against the wall before they bound his mouth and legs.
“I’ll deal with you later,” Atlas whispered only loud enough for himself to hear as Draevyn tried to break through the bindings.
He turned on his heel, ignoring the sounds of his brother’s struggles as the remainder of the guards funneled out of the castle doors. At the bottom of the steps, he was greeted with his horse and wasted no time as he pulled himself into the saddle and ordered the beast into a gallop.
CHAPTER 25
Draevyn
The moment the castle doors slammed shut behind Atlas, an eerie silence fell over the foyer.
Draevyn lay still for a breath longer, seething beneath the tendrils of living shadow wrapped around his limbs and chest. They encased him like chains, tightening whenever he shifted.
He was so utterly fucked. The look in Atlas’s eyes when he put it all together, that Draevyn had something to do with the prison bells, would surely haunt him for the rest of his life. But the first half of the crew was free, and there was no turning back now.
Especially with the damage already done.
Sucking in a slow breath, heat rippled off his skin in waves as a pulse of flame pushed outward. The shadows slowly loosened their hold as they sizzled, hissed, and writhed, until finally his flames burned through the bindings.
Draevyn pushed himself to his feet the moment he was freed and sprinted down the corridor. He needed to get to a horse, and he needed to do it fast. It was bad enough Atlas already had a head start, and if he saw that it was Sam and Tommy freeing Esmyra’s crew, Draevyn would never be able to live with himself. He may as well tie their nooses himself.
As he raced through the courtyard’s door, he caught the faintestglimpse of the last of the riders disappearing into the dark, torches in hand.
The stables loomed toward the back of the yard, the scent of hay thick in the air as he shoved open the wooden doors. Inside, the horses whinnied nervously, their hooves clattering in protest.
Draevyn rushed in, eyes scanning the rows. He reached for a tall black stallion, its eyes wide and gleaming like onyx in the darkness. “Easy, boy,” he said softly, holding up a hand.
The horse stomped and huffed but allowed Draevyn to rest his hand on his snout.
Grabbing a worn saddle from the wall, he flung it onto the stallion’s back and cinched it tight, his fingers fumbling in a rush. His pulse quickened as the sound of distant bells continued to ring faintly beyond the walls.
Draevyn heaved himself into the saddle, and the horse reared, his mane swooshing wildly before he surged forward. They burst from the stables, the hooves pounding across the castle grounds, echoing into the dark. Wind tore at his cloak, snapping his hair back from his face as he squinted against the chilly air.
Torches flickered as he burst through the castle grounds, riding into the lower city. The narrow cobbled streets filled with startled cries and the blur of people darting out of his way.
“Everybody,move!” he boomed.
The prison rose in the distance, the bells still tolling overhead. As he charged closer, guards were shouting and scattering, forming chaotic lines.
Draevyn yanked the reins, turning sharp into the side street that led to the rear—where he told Sam and Tommy to bring them. When he finally made it around the last bend, the horse skidded to a stop, mimicking his heart as it halted in his chest.
The prison yard’s rear gate was wide open. Smoke-like shadows curled in the air, the metallic tang of blood thick, stinging his nose.
