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Nik.
I raced to the broken throne, falling to my knees in front of Nik. He sat on a raised section of marble floor, his elbows on his knees and his head in his hands. His naked sword lay across his lap, and he was panting, his body streaked in dirt and blood.
“Nik,” I said softly, and he looked up at the sound of my voice.
I took his face in my hands, sending my power searching through his body. A cut on his side was easily healed, although another on his arm was more serious. It still took me less than a minute to deal with it, and my heart lightened along with his expression as he responded to the healing.
“Well done.” He nodded toward the guards who were busy arresting his opponents. “You got through to them, I see.”
“I was so worried,” I sobbed.
He carefully placed his sword on the ground before pulling me forward into an engulfing embrace.
“I’m not so easily defeated,” he said, eliciting a watery chuckle.
“I see that now.” I wiped at my face although I was likely only smearing it with dirt along with the tears.
“What about Grey?” Nik asked, and I stiffened.
“He was gone long before I got out of the room,” I said, unable to believe I’d forgotten about him even for a moment.
Nik stood, pulling me up with him.
“We need to find him.” He looked dangerous, the fire in his eyes only emphasized by the grime that streaked his face. “I’m not letting him escape this time.”
ChapterTwenty
Itugged him over to the captain who had just completed his healing and risen.
“Do you have any idea where we can find Grey…I mean Slate?” I asked.
The captain frowned. “I know where his office is, but will he still be there?” He looked doubtfully around the wreckage.
“He left before this started,” I said. “He might not know what’s going on.”
Shouts and running feet from outside the room’s door made me wince. We’d created enough commotion to rouse the whole hall, so it seemed unlikely Grey wouldn’t have realized something had gone awry.
We followed the captain down the hall, anyway. He stopped outside a much plainer door, gesturing silently at it before holding up one finger. One person inside. I could feel their presence too.
I exchanged a look with Nik. He shrugged and flung the door open, striding inside with his drawn sword in hand.
I followed so close on his heels, I nearly tripped over. The first thing I noticed was the size of the room, followed by the opulence of its decor, which seemed a mismatch with the plainness of the door.
But as soon as I caught sight of the man inside, all thoughts of the room itself fled. We had cornered him at last.
He had clearly been on his way from the large desk to the door. Apparently he had noticed the commotion outside, but not quickly enough to escape. Once again, his confidence had betrayed him.
His eyes widened as he took in not only my presence, but also Nik’s. However, he recovered quickly and adopted a nonchalant pose.
“Perhaps I didn’t give Ignatius enough credit,” he said lightly, nodding in my direction.
I narrowed my eyes, and he chuckled, but he couldn’t quite regain his earlier confidence. Grey had always known how to exude charm, but now there was an off-putting tension lurking behind his manner.
“I have followed you from one end of this kingdom to another, and even beyond its shores,” Nik said. “It ends here.”
“I had no idea I’d attracted such illustrious attention,” Grey said in an attempt at his normal style, but he looked shaken.
At the beginning, Nik had kept to the shadows in his pursuit of Grey, and I was guessing Grey had been unaware of just how long Nik had been tracking him.
