us on his end, and we hope your king will do the same.”
Marcus kneeled in front of me and removed his cloak before wrapping it around my shoulders. The rain was still pouring
heavily, but didn’t seem to be hitting us anymore. Perhaps another one of Karim’s spells.
“Nicholas may be difficult to rely on if he’s angry, especially if he sees I am hurt.”
“We are hopeful you will convince him to help. No one wants a war. The rest of my men surrounding Dorian’s camp will
keep his soldiers at bay. Hopefully your sister, Talia, will convince your king's men to stand down as well.”
Marcus was one of the oldest and most skilled soldiers within my father’s army. It was why he was given the job to protect
me. Wherever I went, he wasn’t far behind. I treated him poorly in the beginning, but we grew to tolerate each other and
perhaps grew fond of one another as I grew older.
“Sleep now, princess. We will keep watch and protect you till our last breath.”
Karim nodded in agreement to Marcus’s words. Then for the first time in days, I slept, dreaming of nothing.
A hand pressed gently on my shoulder to wake me up. Marcus and Karim were already up and waiting to make the journey
back to Nicholas’s castle. We were at a disadvantage as the land separating us and the castle barely had any cover. We
would have to rely on the night sky to cover us and shield us from prying eyes.
“We will go around the edge rather than straight though the middle,” Marcus said, as if he were listening to my own
thoughts.
“But what of Dorian’s guards? Surely they will be keeping an eye out for us?” I asked as I was helped down from the cliff's
edge.
“I will have us protected, and my sister will keep them blinded from us. We have you, princess.”
Karim stepped ahead of us, waving his hand slowly in front of us creating a circular motion. As he muttered in a strange
language, a glow of pale white light flowed through the air, surrounding us. “This will hold until we reach the castle.”
All in agreement, we set out towards Nicholas’s home.
My home.
Chapter 63
NICHOLAS
“B rother, I need to stop. Just for a few moments,” Vanessa shouted over the roar of the waves.
We’d taken the route around the mountains towards the sea’s edge. Morgana suggested this route as she tried to use
the small link she’d managed to pick up from Ornella during that ritual. It was fading fast. We had to keep up, trying to
close the gap behind her and her abductors.
“We will rest when we arrive,” I shouted back.
