AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Lucifer grits his teeth, dropping his gaze to my best friend. “Most, Kai fought with his brother, not Alice. Regardless, the only good outcome ended with her killing him.”
“Goodone… As in there’s only one variation we all walk away from alive?” I ask, stripping off my chest plate and securing it onto his horse.
“There were three we won, but it’s one in particular we must ensure will happen.”
My head cants as I absorb his words. “You mean only one timeline where you get my mother back? But there are two others where we all walk away alive?”
Lucifer opens his mouth to speak, only to snap it back shut and rethink his response. He sucks in a breath, flaring his nostrils before finally speaking. “She wasn’t ready. She fai—”
“Don’t.” I hiss, “Alice won. You don’t reserve the right to say she failed, when she brought one of the strongest men in Hell to their knees while you sat back and watched. Worse yet, you trapped the only person who could help her behind a shield, because in your precious timeline she killed him. How did that turn out for you?” I pause, letting my words sink in. “My mother is gone. Stop risking the lives of those still here on a fucking whim. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have a deal to make.”
Setting my last piece of armor on the horse, I turn to Finn, handing him my swords.
“What if you don’t have to do this?” he says, taking the hilt of one. “Hell Hold needs you. Alice needs you. What if we can give the High King what he wants long enough to get everyone back inside the keep? Then you can have Alice put up the barrier with her blood.”
“What exactly are you suggesting?”
Finn drags his hand down his beard before undoing his chest plate and digging for something. The moment he latches on to what he’s looking for, he grins and holds his hand out to me. His fingers unfurl to reveal a single black, sticky mustache. “He’ll get someone. It just won’t be you. He’ll realize it eventually, but it’ll buy you time.”
I step forward, taking the mustache from him, or trying to. He snatches it away at the last second.
“No… I won’t let you do this. If I’m going to sentence someone to death, I’ll be the one to carry out the sentence.”
“Kai… I am no one. I have no family. I have no true love. Hell will move on without me. You can’t say the same. Let me do this. My only request is that a true king takes the throne of Hell.” Finn says, jabbing the sword in his hand into the ground. His body dips as he bows and drops his head to rest against the golden hilt. It’s a pledge of loyalty. He wants me to contest my father… What’s scarier is after today, I agree with him.
“He’ll kill you,” I say as Finn raises to his full height once more.
“I know, but I gave an oath. It wasn’t signed in blood, or sealed with magic, but I promised to always protect you and yours. At the time, it was a promise made to a young boy who swore he was a hostage inside a castle, but I’m choosing to honor it now. Let me buy you time.”
My heart ceases inside my chest… He’s always been noble and led with valor. It’s why my father assigned him to watch over me after my mother died. Only what started as a job became a friendship. A brotherhood.
Turning to my father, I flex my lips into a fake smile. “Well, you heard the man. When we get back, I’ll be calling on the lords and contesting your leadership upon their arrival. By the laws you put forth, should the sitting King become incompetent to lead, his heir can supersede him. And I think the current King is riddled with grief, and it’s clouding his decisions. With that said,” I hold my hand out for Finn, who slaps his around my forearm. Tears rise, glossing his eyes, but they never fall. “I think we should change clothes if we’re going to sabotage, don’t you?”
“Yes,my King.I do.”
With one last glance toward the High King, I double-take. Squinting as if the simple-minded gesture would give me a better look. My brother and his horse are gone. He’s nowhere on the battlefield, either.
“We need to hurry,” I say, grabbing Finn’s arm. “Let’s get to the woods and change. I have a feeling they’re making a run for the castle.”
If he gets there, he’ll bring the barrier down and Alice, along with everyone in the tunnels, will become prisoners of war.
26
Alice
He ditched me… We were just getting to a good place, where it appeared as if we could win, and hebenched me.Is it wrong of me to feel relieved?
A startling roar booms through the still quiet, and I jerk my head toward the bridge to find Luri strutting down it. Her bib is in tatters and she’s wearing her carnage with pride.
“The asshole trapped me in here while you tried to get yourself killed. His words, not mine.”
I jog down the steep steps of the castle, meeting her halfway across the bridge. The moment I reach her, my body slams into hers as I curl my arms around her neck.“They were losing, Alice… But taking out the witch man will make a difference.”
“I hope you’re right,” I whisper, pulling away to look her over. My hands skim over her fur, making sure the blood caked onto the white hair isn’t hers.
“I’m fine. No wounds. Just excruciatingly stuffed. Hence why I’ve been walking around. If I sit, I’m relatively sure I’ll go into hibernation.”
“You hibernate?”
