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CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

Ryker

I met Tucker’s gaze as the footsteps in the hall thudded closer. He stood near the portal, waiting as the others funneled into it with the weapons in hand.

“ Go ,” I hissed at him.

Shifting my grip on my sword, I grasped the door handle and gave a small tug. It was locked, but the guards would have keys.

Behind me, a sword clattered as it tumbled from someone’s arms and hit the floor. I winced at the intrusive noise, and someone cursed.

Outside the doors, the footsteps in the hall hesitated before they raced onward at a far faster pace. My father must have sent some guards back for more weapons, or perhaps he’d suspected I might try to raid his castle. Either way, his men were coming.

When I looked back at the room, most of Tucker’s followers had vanished into the portal. The rest rushed forward as they sought to escape with their arms loaded with weapons.

Tucker waved his arm as he urged them onward. When I turned back to the door, a face materialized on the other side.

The woman stared at me through the window. I didn’t know where my father had told his women guards to stay while they searched for the lightning bearer, but now that they knew it was Ellery, he’d called them back for duty.

A man appeared behind the woman; they glowered at me as keys jangled on the other side. Stepping away from the door, I ignored the dull throbbing in my leg as lightning danced across my fingertips.

My wounds had mostly closed, but with the shaft still embedded in my leg, that injury wouldn’t heal completely. I wouldn’t let it slow me down.

At least twenty amsirah were still running for the portal as the woman shuffled through a set of keys, and the man placed his hands against the window. I wasn’t in the mood for another fight, not after today, but I’d gladly kill anyone who sided with my father.

Tucker and a few other amsirah came to stand beside me. As they did so, a key slid into the lock. Lowering my sword, I threw one hand out and hit the metal door with a lightning bolt.

The woman yelped as she flew away from the door and the smoking hole in the center of it. The guard ducked to peer through the hole before stepping to the side.

More of my father’s men shuffled around outside the door, but they stayed away from the window. And then the click of the lock sounded, and the door flew open.