Page 6 of Only Flames Remain

Enora whipped her arm out of his grip easily.

“My lady, we have to get—”

But Enora cut off his words with a sharp kick to his armored chest. Despite being Veytari herself, the guard barely moved beneath her strike.

He tried again. “My lady…” he was exasperated amid the mayhem that had unfurled around us. “We have to get to the castle.”

“Where do you think I was taking her?” Enora asked incredulously. She grasped my shoulder in her firm grip, but the guard did not release me.

Enora raised a brow at him in question. “We don’t have time for this!”

“There is a passageway! This way…” The guard turned, pointing toward a nearby storefront that still stood among the roaring flames.

A passageway? To the castle? There was only one entrance to the castle that I knew of…and that was through the front doors. My brow creased in confusion.

“I will take you directly to Prince Kallias. You have my word, Lady Aveline.”

I was no lady but now was not the time to argue formalities. I exchanged a tentative glance with Enora, who gave a minute nod of her head. What other choice did we have? We certainly didn’t have time to find one of King Faris’s men to confirm what the soldier said was true. We could only pray that he wasn’t leading us to our deaths. Anywhere was safer than out here in the open, waiting to be barbecued by the terrifying creatures soaring through the skies above.

I followed reluctantly behind the guard, dodging the people of Majur as they fled the city in droves. Blood was smeared across the flooded cobbled streets. Wares were tossed from carts, broken glass littering every step we took. The flames were close enough that I could feel their heat licking against my skin. We were backtracking toward the destruction. Toward the docks we had fled from.

Right as I was about to turn back—to head back toward the castle the only way I knew how—the guard ducked into a storefront that appeared to be selling charms. Once inside, he released my arm. He surged toward the back of the shop with a speed only the fae could possess.

Without hesitation, he wedged his boot into a floorboard, releasing it from the ground with a snap. He had memorized the location. He reached inside and pulled, releasing a lever and a trapdoor beneath him. Within the blink of an eye, he had disappeared into the darkness.

“I will catch you!” I could hear the echo of his voice from below.

We were running out of time. The flames were licking against the roof of the shop, the storefront filling with oppressive heat. Enora and I exchanged one last, uneasy glance before I moved to the mouth of the opening.

I jumped.

I had been half-expecting to hit the packed dirt floor beneath, but the arms of the soldier caught me, his hardened armor unforgiving against my soft flesh. I fell with a grunt, the wind knocked out of me. The guard immediately released me.

Enora jumped next, landing lithely on her own two feet. Once we were safely inside the hidden tunnel below, the guard pulled another lever and the trapdoor snapped shut above us. It thrust us into the shadows.

“But the people of Majur—” I protested, but I couldn’t meet the guard’s gaze in the darkness of the corridor.

I didn’t even know where he stood in relation to me, only that I could hear his fading footsteps against the damp stone as he moved away.

“We don’t have time to save every innocent in Majur, my lady. There isn’t enough room in the castle. My priority is getting you back to the prince in one piece.”

We couldn’t leave those people out there to burn. I felt along the wall for the lever release I had seen the soldier pull, but it was Enora’s strong fingers that I found instead. She gripped my hand in hers, her palms sweaty against my own.

“I hate to agree, but we don’t have time. If Prince Kallias has his way, you are the future queen of Myros. We have to get you back to the castle safely.”

Enora did not wait for me to argue with her. She gripped me tightly as she followed the guard down the dark, endless corridor, dragging me along with her.

It was a shock being down here in the quiet after the sudden rush of adrenaline that had flooded my veins. Above, the city had been swallowed by utter pandemonium. People running every which way to escape the flames and the scaled, roaring dragons above.

Down below, it was wholly silent except for our footsteps and heaving breaths. I could hear the plink of water droplets against the stone walls as we descended, but nothing else. My feet scuffled as I tripped over the uneven flooring of the tunnel, but Enora righted me.

I swallowed hard, filling my lungs with a deep, calming breath. Then another. The guilt from leaving all of those innocent people and creatures out there threatened to swallow me. Threatened to turn my steps back around to show them the hidden trapdoor that would lead to the safety of the tunnels below.

What happened between last week, when Kallias had thought we had reached a truce, and now? What had pushed Gothryn to attack? We had been on the brink of war for decades. Despite that fact, I had never set eyes on the brothers Blackwater myself.

Not until today.

They had been terrifying. The thought of them sailing over the city—setting it aflame as if it were nothing—sent a chill running down my spine. I pulled my cloak tighter around me to fend it off, but it was no use. The Veytari fae were powerful, but the Vireth? Now that I had seen their magic at work, I feared we stood no chance at all against the kingdom to the west. Did King Faris truly think otherwise? That we could stand against dragons?