Page 2 of A Monarch's Fall

As I struggled to stand on my own, Rylan turned the corner, his heavy boots coming to a sudden stop.

“You got him!” He yelled behind him.

“I told you I would,” Sasha laughed.

Rylan looked up from his singular vision on the very dead rebel, and his smile dropped to something acceptable of the situation.

“Enjoying the hunt?” I asked him. More than a little infuriated that he would return to me in such a fashion, as if this was somegame, when I had sent him to find and protect what’s mine — and what’s mine was currently at the mercy of the maze.

Sasha came into view, breathing hard. “I never miss,” she continued before she saw me, her smile too dropping instantly. “Selene,” she said loudly, continuing to run past the boy, that she or my guards or perhaps both had simultaneously killed, and to me.

She wrapped her arms around me, and Pheidon moved his face awkwardly away from the interaction as he continued to support me.

“What happened?” she asked.

“Lydia stabbed me; she must have coated the blade in her venom,” I explained.

“How are you feeling?” she asked, releasing me and looking to the guard supporting my weight. He looked almost as embarrassed as Percy when I would pull her down into my lap during lunch at the Academy.

I missed Sanguis Academy and its relative safety and blissful privacy. I missed it perhaps more so than even Percy seemed to. But longing for the past was foolish; I had to build something new for us. A life. A life that True North, all its offshoots and all its mirror adversaries further south were threatening. Right now, it was True North; tomorrow, it could be another Vouna loyalist group, and I didn’t have the energy to even consider the rebel groups of the south or the possible implications of this attack. All that mattered was getting everything here and now under control and retrieving Percy from the maze.

“Like Medusa is taking her time with me,” I replied.

“Paralysis?” she asked.

“Unfortunately.”

My body was becoming heavier with the effects of the venom attacking my legs and hands.

“How much Venom?” Rylan asked, crowding me further. Pheidon, supporting me, tried to shuffle back, almost losing his balance.

Rylan reached out and gripped his shoulder, keeping him still.

“Have you got her?” he asked seriously.

Pheidon straightened.

“With my life,” he promised.

“It won’t come to that,” I laughed and turned my attention to Rylan, “Percy is in the maze,” I told him.

“The maze?” Rylan and Sasha questioned together.

Yet their expressions of surprise were vastly different. Rylan was shocked, but Sasha’s heart rate spiked, and she appeared more concerned than surprised.

“What do you know of it?” I asked her.

“I might have suggested the Maze as a possible location to hide,” Sasha said quickly, “But I never meant for her to go in alone. I explained that the maze was created by the inter-coven magic of Petra and Flores, and that theoretically we could control it.”

“You suggested inter-coven magic?” I asked, truly shocked.

“As a last resort,” she defended, her voice growing defensive, feeling undoubtedly accused. Inter-coven magic was a death penalty. “Look at what’s happening, look at you!” she said pointedly. “Survive now, don’t die later, that was the plan.”

“A sound plan,” I agreed. “Anything that protects my pet is permissible. Do you think she might be able to use her magic alone to control the maze, even in part?” I questioned, because I knew Percy would try. She wouldn’t let the maze take her, not without a fight, not without throwing everything she had at it. Percy was a fighter, ingenious, and charming in such an affable manner that it was unguarding and inspiring.

“I wouldn’t know. Maybe, but maybe not,” Sasha answered.

“Probable or possible?” I questioned again.