I swallowed, trying to breathe through the overwhelming fear coursing through me.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” It was the only thing I could say as I stared at Lucanus in confusion.
“The Wall!” His face was contorted with rage as he shook me. “How did they destroy The Wall? HOW?”
I wanted to laugh at the absurdity of the moment—or cry, or run. Honestly, there were lots of options. Still, I couldn’t help the slight grin that tilted up on my lips as I realized Callum and the Guild had managed to break down The Wall.
That they’d gotten through. That my family would be safe.
Hurried footsteps raced down the hall before a panting, measly-looking guard burst into the room, terror in his eyes as his words fell out in a rapid rush.
“Your Majesty! Majesty, they’ve infiltrated the court! The Guild is here, sir.”
Lucanus roared in rage, his fist slamming into my side in a burst of fury that had me crumpling to the ground in agonizing pain as he released me. I clutched my side, pain stabbing through me as Lucanus began shouting orders to the guards surrounding him.
I could hear it now—the sounds of shots ringing out in a closer proximity. The screams. The fighting. It was an all-out war, the sounds of destruction coming from outside the small window in the room.
And that’s when the panic truly rose within me.
Fear spiked through my veins as Callum’s words played in my head.
“Listen to me, starlight.” His voice was commanding as he softly tilted my chin up toward him. “When we infiltrate the Quarter, there will be nothing stopping us. Nothing will hold us back from destroying the corruption and darkness spreading through the Quarter. I can only promise you protection inside your apartment. I will have a group of spies come and take you to safety, but I can only safely say that you will be safe if you’re here.”
I stared around the room, Lucanus’s guards standing aroundhim, their voices raised as they discussed the next course of action, and that’s when my hope began to fade.
Because even if I escaped his grasp . . . even if I made it out of the Solis Court. I’d be running straight into a battle I was ill-equipped for. Straight toward danger—toward war.
And I had no idea how to defend myself well enough to survive.
“Bring her with,” Lucanus stated as he stormed from the room, and two guards were suddenly hauling me up. My side burned in pain, my ribs bruised as they dragged me through the room after their king. The guard’s grip tightened, his fingers digging into the gash on my arm, causing me to cry out in pain as the wound opened further, blood trailing down my arm.
“What do you want with me?” I bit out, speaking to Lucanus’s back as the guards kept pace behind him.
The male didn’t answer as his men marched me through corridor after corridor, hurrying through the halls. I could only watch in horror as angels fled from the halls, running to take cover.
I heard the screams grow closer as the guards closed ranks. We moved through the halls of Solis Court at a rapid speed, and soon I recognized the sound of shots being fired frominsidethe building.
Lucanus’s men picked up their pace, their weapons at the ready as we climbed to the third floor of the court. I recognized various rooms as we sped along the corridors, until our footsteps came to a stop and Lucanus threw open a double-paneled door.
The two guards holding me shoved me out onto the terrace of the third floor, my eyes squinting as the afternoon light reached me, clouds moving across the sky as the summer sands blew by. Sand and dust assaulted me as I was forced out into the open air, and it took everything in me not to start coughing immediately as dust flooded my lungs.
Every noise I’d heard from inside the court was intensified as I found myself looking down on the massacre happening before me. I felt another sharp stab in my side from where Lucanus had punched me, my ribs protesting every movement I made as I turned to face the male who’d started this all.
“What do you want with me?” I bit out, my hands still cuffed behind me, the metal blocking my affinities from breaking through.
Lucanus scoffed. “What do I want from you?” He mocked my words. “Nothing, butterfly. You, yourself, are worthless to me. But I’d be willing to bet that yourfriendsat the Guild will come running to your rescue the moment they learn I have you. That you’ve somehow managed to weasel your way into their ranks, and they will come in an attempt tosave you.”
My thoughts immediately shifted to Callum.
He couldn’t come . . . not now. Not when he didn’t know just how much power Lucanus had stolen from other angels in the Quarter. Not when I was essentially being used as bait to lure them to Luc.
“No one is coming for me,” I answered, my voice shaking as I said the words, because I knew them to be true.
No one even knew I was here.
Sure, Finn and Iver knew I’d been captured, but they didn’t know whether I survived. They didn’t know where Lucanus had taken me. Where he was holding me at.
And even if they did, they wouldn’t have had enough time to get a message to Callum. To let him know that I’d been captured.
