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CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

Ellery

I kept my attention on Scarlet and Ruby to ensure they stayed with us, as we no longer had to push against the crowd. Instead, we ran with them toward the woods and freedom. Very few had ever seen the woods as a place of sanctuary and safety, but that’s what they’d become to many.

They’d always been a place of awe and exploration, but I knew that if we didn’t do something to help them, many would perish beneath these trees. They didn’t know how to survive in the Revenant Woods, and most still wore chains.

We’d free those we could, help those who asked us for it, and the rest… the rest would be on their own. I closed my eyes against my anguish and guilt.

I could still feel Ruby’s fingers biting into my bicep and hear her heated words. I wasn’t to blame for this, but it had happened because of me. It was one of the many things I’d have to learn to live with… like the loss of my father, mother, home, and the memory of those I’d killed.

Life was all about learning to cope with things. I’d figure out how to do it with this too, because I’d be damned if I ever let these fuckers break me.

Soon, Tempest would learn that I was the female lightning bearer . Not everyone on the field had seen me, and many of the ones who did didn’t know me, but word would spread fast from those who did.

That knowledge might not even take a day to travel throughout the realm. I’d lost the anonymity that protected me; while that frightened me, there was something freeing about it.

Those who ruled this land would come for me, especially the duke and Gaius, but I’d be ready for them. I had no idea where those two assholes were, but I doubted they’d perished in the chaos.

It was never easy to kill a monster.

With the crowd flowing toward the woods, we made much better time and soon slipped beneath the boughs of the trees. Relief filled me as we darted into the woods and I was again immersed in the one place most amsirah feared.

Plenty of things within these trees could kill us, but I was far less scared of them than the men behind us. Glancing over my shoulder, through the cracks in the trees, I saw that anarchy reined.

Smoke choked out most of my view of the field and death we’d left behind. Women, still in chains, rattled, stumbled, crashed into trees, and toppled over logs.

Some helped them up while others ran past them with bulging eyes and a blind recklessness to their flight through the woods. Blood and dirt covered everyone and their tattered clothes. Bruises marred their skin.

I didn’t bother to take in myself; I knew I was a mess, but at least I was free. Chained like they were and with no weapons, some of these women wouldn’t make it another hundred feet before something took them down.

“Stay with us!” I shouted to be heard over the cannon fire and endless screams.

Some recognized my words while the forest consumed the others. You can’t help them all.

I kept that in mind as more women emerged from the smoke and dashed into the woods. Ruby and Scarlet stayed with us; I couldn’t hear the keys rattling in Ruby’s pocket, but I was aware of their presence.

We couldn’t stop. We had to get further away from the palace and the riders before we dared to open a portal. Women weren’t the only ones entering the woods; guards did too.