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FIVE AND A HALF MONTHS EARLIER
KYLLEN
“Kyllen!” Amira’s voice rang high with anguish that cut through his heart like a knife.
His brother’s guards dragged her out of the bedroom and away from him. Something in his heart snapped, as if a part of him had been broken off.
“Let her go,” he gritted through his teeth.
Four guards held him down on his knees. Each rivaled him in strength. With the wound on his back, he stood no chance against the four.
Bherlon fisted a handful of Kyllen’s senties, yanking his head back to expose his throat.
“The human is no longer yours to worry about,” his nephew hissed. He raised his dagger, aiming it at Kyllen’s neck. “Fraud and imposter. You should’ve stayed in the filthy human world—”
Bherlon suddenly choked with a gurgling sound. The dagger slipped from his fingers, harmlessly bouncing off Kyllen’s shoulder and landing on the floor at his thigh.
Kyllen took no time to ponder what had just happened and how. The hands holding him slackened for a moment, and he lunged sideways. Freeing a hand, he grabbed Bherlon’s dagger, then stabbed the closest guard holding him.
The man howled in pain.
Kyllen whipped around to stab the one on the other side, too.
Screams of pain and clashing metal came from another direction. Someone else was fighting the guards with him.
Bherlon wailed, a sword pierced through his chest.
Kyllen shoved a guard away, leaping to his feet. His back burned in agony from the slash wound. The weapon that had inflicted it was made of iron. But it was no ordinary iron. The pain festered and spread, setting his nerves on fire and paralyzing his muscles. If he were to survive the night, he needed to know exactly who his foe and friends were.
“Hapon!”
The man stood in front of him, a bloodied sword raised high in his hands. Leaning back, Hapon jammed the blade into the guard lurching toward them.
Two of the guards separated from the group, sneaking to the door and out. They’d bring more guards, no doubt.
Hapon must have thought so, too.
“My lord.” He offered Kyllen his arm. “We need to leave the palace. This way.” He yanked him to the window. “Can you climb down?”
The room swayed around him. His wound burned. The weapon that inflicted it must have been laced with poison. It rushed to his head, making him unsteady on his feet.
Hapon dragged him to the window.
“No. I need Amira.” Kyllen shook his head, trying to shake off the fuzziness that shrouded his vision and mind.
Someone brandished a sword, and he slashed across the man’s throat with his dagger. His aim remained good for now, but the strength was slowly draining from him.
“Here, my lord.” Hapon hauled him out of the window. “Climb!”
He clung to the branches framing the window as Hapon shoved his legs over the low sill. Another guard lunged for him, but Hapon stabbed him through the chest before tossing him out of the room. The guard’s body flew past him, then splashed into Layahi Bay far below.
He followed it with his gaze, watching the concentric rings of ripples spread on the moonlit surface of the water.
His vision swam again. He found his footing, clinging to the tree. The trick was to lean as close to the trunk as possible, almost becoming one with the tree. Usually, he’d press his belly to the bark, flatten himself against it, using his senties to search for any groove or protrusion in the smooth trunk to get hold of.
But the poison stole his coordination. He tried to climb down when his heart urged him to climb up, to search for Amira.
His muscles shook, and his senties trembled. His fingers slipped on the smooth bark. His feet lost their purchase…
And he fell.
He plummeted into the dark abyss and didn’t remember hitting the water.
* * *
Four months later.
It was hot. Hot and muggy, like what the inside of the belly of the Great Serpent must be.
Did he die?
Then why was his entire body in agony? Wasn’t the afterlife supposed to be free of pain?
A groan reached him. Then he realized the groan was his. His throat felt dry, as dry as it hadn’t been since…well, since he’d been locked in Ghata’s crate.
Was he in a crate again?
