What was I supposed to do?
I leaned over the side of the bed and emptied the contents of my stomach onto the floor. My throat burned, my eyes watering with pain.
Fine. Now,I thought.
I forced myself to my feet, throwing a towel over my vomit with a moan. I washed out my mouth and stumbled out of the house and into the dark city streets toward the castle. The premonition, the dread, was so heavy that the earth seemed to sway beneath me as I walked toward the palace.
It would happen, soon. My soul cried out that what I feared would take place now, if I wasn’t too late.
I walked around the perimeter, slipping into the gardens through the orchard where David and I used to stroll hand in hand. My slippers grazed the dew-covered clover. I broke into a lurching run when I saw the pond in the distance.
My steps slowed when I saw figures already there.
There were three calmly conversing by the pond’s side. I tucked myself behind a bush to watch, the night darker than most as the moon was absent from the sky.
Their voices rose. One fiddled with a pair of spectacles on his face.
Thomas.
I stood, wanting to move closer. Suddenly, the largest man swungat Thom. The prince sank to the ground silently.
I clapped a hand over my mouth. Dizziness faded beneath a rising sense of panic.
Where was Caleb?
Should I scream? Would that only be worse?
The man hauled Prince Thomas over his shoulder and began striding toward the orchards.
Panic clawed at my throat. I thrust out my hands, drawing on the water’s force, begging it to rebel against gravity, to save the prince, to listen. Tension locked my fingers in place.
When I opened my eyes, the water was rising, and the two men were backing away. I swung my hands down, and the water pillar collapsed. The men started running. The one carrying Thomas moved slowly. Too slowly.
I diverted the water around Thomas, and it tugged at the men’s ankles, holding them back. The flood circled around them, forcing them to stop…
A black bag was pulled over my head.
I kicked and pushed, my assailant slipping into the mud. I moved to pull off the bag, but strong arms encircled me, pinning me in place. I reached for my magic, but the thread was nowhere, my mind too full of panic to focus. When I tried to scream, they clamped a hand over my mouth. The bag’s cotton pressed against my tongue. I couldn’t breathe.
When he let go, I gasped for air.
“Don’t,” he said, and at the voice, I stiffened.
It was Lee.
CHAPTER FORTY
“Lee,” I said, breathless.
“I thought you’d stopped chasing the prince,” he murmured.
Blood pulsed in my ears as he dragged me back through the garden. I jolted at an owl’s hoot. Stray branches scraped my arms as Lee pushed my head down to duck through a hedge’s gap.
“What are you going to do to Prince Thomas?” My voice was muffled through the bag. The dark cotton brushed against my cheeks.
“He’s wronged enough people. I thought you’d be on my side, little mage.”
“What are you talking about?”
