“Hello, Noc. Or should I call you Aleksander?”
Panic clawed at my throat. “What do we do?” Startled citizens yelped and backed away at the sight of Darrien’s shadows. There were offshoots and alleyways tucked between buildings, but they all seemed so far away. Noc’s tight gaze swept over the scene. His jaw ticked. Finally, he squeezed my hand once, and then let me go.
“Run.”
Nineteen
Noc
There wasn’t time to calculate or predict, simply to react. I pushed Leena toward Kost and bolted, running straight for Darrien. I had to trust that Kost and Ozias would protect her. That Darrien would focus his energy on me and not them. Shadows leaped around my body, and I delved into them, only to reappear behind Darrien. He turned on his heels spitting fire, but I kept running. I hoped he’d follow me and give the others a chance to escape the city.
“You can’t outrun this, Noc!” Darrien shouted. I glanced over my shoulder to watch Kost wrap Leena in a hug and step backward into darkness, Ozias a breath behind him. They’d still be in for a fight if the city went on full alert, but at least they had a chance.
Darrien glanced between me and my fading family, letting out a wordless shout of frustration. “After them. Keep the woman alive—for now.” The assassins waiting just out of sight, masked in shadows, took off after my brothers and Leena. Blood roared in my ears as panic took hold. This is what I’d feared. They’d get to me through her. I came to a screeching halt, weighing my options. Right now, it was just a handful of assassins tracking my family. If I followed to try to help, soon the Sentinels would join the pursuit. And then there would be no keeping Leena from Varek’s eyes.
As if reacting to my thoughts, a low, brassy grinding screeched through the air and shook the buildings. Blinding columns of light beamed upward into the sky throughout the city, and Sentinels stepped out of the blazing rays. A brute a good head taller than me manifested in the path of my escape. Shadows hissed as the unrelenting light lashed out and burned through weak points in the tendrils.
Fuck.I whirled back toward Darrien. With his bow already poised and an arrow nocked, he let the shadowed weapon fly. I ducked and slid, and the arrowhead whirred past to crash into the Sentinel’s armor. A sharp whistling screamed through the air, and the onyx weapon disappeared in a cloud of wispy smoke. Shadows never could lessen their light. Leaping back to my feet, I sprinted past Darrien into the open courtyard.
Growing up in Wilheim meant I’d spent my fair share of time around Sentinels. Regular human armies for outside threats, assassins for deeds too dark to be mentioned, Sentinels for the crown. Their prized jewels. As a prince, I wasn’t exempt from their constant presence.
Or blind to their abject power.
Shadows lunged toward me, and I careened into the world of darkness. People blurred into indecipherable swirls, and I blasted around them as I tore across the courtyard. It was faster that way, and my presence was nothing but a chill down their spine or a whisper of noise in their ear. Outside of the shadow realm, they were safe from harm, which is exactly the way I wanted it. Following my lead, Darrien bled into existence before me, very real and very tangible. Like called to like.
“Got you.” His wicked grin preceded a punch, and I ducked to the side.
“Not quite.” Cocking my arm back and letting it fly, I reveled in the crunch of his jaw beneath my knuckles. He stumbled, but righted himself quickly. With ease, he formed a glittering blade from the plethora of shadows and lunged. I raised my forearm just in time to protect my face. His weapon sliced through my skin, and blood swelled to the surface.
“Give up, Noc.” He aimed his blade toward my throat. “Name me leader, relinquish your powers to me, and I’ll let you live.”
Blood dripped down my forearm, and power pulsed through me with every beat of my heart. Cruor wasmine. One by one, the rivulets of blood falling to the earth shaped into fine needles. They hovered by my hand, waiting to do my bidding.
“You should have stayed away.”
Without any further warning, I sent them flying through the abyss. He dodged, spinning on his heels and using his blade to knock away my weapons, but one found its way home in his neck. The connection between us surged just as Darrien’s eyes went wide. It wasn’t much, but it was enough to force him to my will until my blood cycled out of his system.
Pure triumph soared in me. “Stand down.” It was soeasyto bend him to my will. Why had I fought against this power for so long? I wanted to pull back and force myself to breathe. To remind myself what it meant to be in control.
Or maybe I didn’t. This…this is what it meant to be the leader of Cruor. This is the power that I, and I alone, wielded. And Darrien didn’t deserve my mercy.
I snapped the connection like a band and Darrien buckled. He stumbled backward, and the darkness abandoned him, thrusting him into the Wilheim daylight. A twisted thread of joy sparked in me, but I didn’t have time to toy with him. Not in a city full of threats and far too much light.
Rushing past the fountain, I charged toward an open pathway just as a radiant beam detonated above and scorched my shadows from existence. Suffocating brightness pinned me, and I came to an abrupt halt.
“Stop.” A Sentinel crashed to the ground before me. The earth thundered from his weight, and he stood slowly while extracting a polished sword from the sheath at his waist. His helm was made of the same gleaming metal, leaving only the slits of his green eyes visible. No mercy. No room for arguments.
I tensed, and my gaze shot over the stilled crowd. Four more Sentinels had fallen to the ground around us, each one a blazing shrine of light that made it impossible to call forth my shadows. A rivulet of blood slipped down my finger and beaded at the tip of my nail. Zane’s blood. The black snake in my mind uncoiled and flared its hood wide. And then the droplet fell. When it splattered against the marble stones, an earthquake reverberated through my bones. This was my city. Zane’s city. Our blood wouldn’t be stopped.
With a quick swipe, I copied the wound Darrien had given me on my other arm. Blood swelled to the surface, and I reshaped it, forming long blades that coated my forearms and extended well past my fingers. “Give Varek my condolences.”
I thrust my arm forward and the blade sank clean through one of the few chinks in the Sentinel’s armor. One I’d learned about, thanks to years of training with them in the barracks at my father’s orders. The man groaned and doubled over, clapping both hands over his side.
Kill.
A familiar red sheen tinged my vision and stoked the fire Zane’s blood had started. The surrounding Sentinels surged forward, pushing past onlookers and encircling me with ease. Steady hands raised gleaming swords, each tip expertly poised at my chest. One wrong step, and I’d be skewered.
Bloodlust stirred low in my core and sped toward my fingers. An uncontrollable grin stole upon my expression, and I crouched low into my heels. Bulky armor clinked at the Sentinels’ joints. They were fast, but I was faster.
