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The guards at the front of the line glanced upward. They watched the projected image of the warlock. Brows furrowing, they glanced back at one another, then to their king behind them. The confusion swimming through the air grew more potent with every breath I inhaled.
“Should we mistphase to him?” Ilara asked.
“We could, but I bet my life he’ll have another surprise waiting for us if we try.”
“We need everyone to see this.” She nodded toward the recording blazing in the sky.
I gave a curt nod. “Stay here. Keep yourself protected, and keep that running. I’ll go for my father.”
I rushed forward, using the guards’ momentary distraction to break through their wall.
But before I got halfway across the yard, the king roared from the safety of the wall. “Killhim!”
My jaw ground together, and I shot the remaining distance toward him on a gust of air. My guards were right at my back, Ilara holding her ground as she kept the looking glass’s image running. A glance over my shoulder showed she’d formed a solid Shield of air and fire around herself. The recording kept going.
But just when I tried to mistphase to where my father stood, a zap of magic hit me, stalling my affinity.
I fell to the ground, my guards landing at my side.
“Stop hiding you coward!” I roared.
The castle guard, now behind me, all swirled around. I cast an illusion of dozens of masked fae holding swords and axes at my back, and the guards backed up.
“Mother Below! Where did they come from?” one of the soldiers shouted.
“Is it the prince’s illusion, or are they real?” another called.
But I’d created enough of a distraction to buy me time. I searched for my father again, but the bastard had disappeared, hiding once more.
“My prince!”
I spun around just as Nish’s warning reached my ears.
An arrow hit me in the shoulder.
I flew back, clutching the wound. Blood spread through my tunic, then a shout of laughter came fromthe wall. My father stood off to the side, holding a bow and arrow, no longer hiding.
I ripped the arrow out of my shoulder, wincing slightly, but then another arrow flung from his weapon, but I erected an air Shield around myself at the last moment, knocking it off to the side.
Growling, I called upon my air affinity to fly me toward him, but a sudden wave of dizziness hit me as more inclement weather rumbled in the sky. Lightning zigzagged through the air, hitting the ground only feet away.
A sizzling pit formed where it had landed.
I flew backward as a flash of light appeared in front of me. Then I was peering up into the eyes of God Zorifel.
The god towered over me, rising twenty feet into the air.
“Blessed Mother!” I stumbled back, my heart throbbing at the impossibility of what I was seeing.
“Do you feel the peteesiumswimming through your blood, Norivun?” my father taunted.
A dragon abruptly appeared next to God Zorifel, then a dozen beheaded children just behind the divine creature.
Peteesium. “No!” I whispered as more hallucinations appeared before me. The arrow my father had hit me with had been dipped in a powerful hallucinogenic potion that could be created from an enchanted flower.
Air rushed around me, then the sound of steel meeting steel. My guards had surrounded me again.
Ilara screamed from the front of the courtyard. I felt her fear along our bond. She knew I’d been hit.
