Page 48 of Dark Shaman: Love Found (The Children Of The Gods #99)

ELUHEED

T he basement shook with such violence that Eluheed had to brace himself against the bed frame to keep from falling.

The fighting had moved directly above them; he could hear the thunder of boots, the crash of furniture being overturned, the sharp crack of gunfire that seemed to come from everywhere at once.

Dust rained from the ceiling in thick clouds, coating everything in a fine gray film. The emergency lights flickered, plunging them into darkness for a few frightening seconds before sputtering back to life. Each time the lights failed, the servants' cries grew more desperate.

"What's happening?" one of the maids sobbed. "Are they coming for us?"

A guard standing nearby suddenly stiffened, his hand going to the communication device in his ear. His face, already pale, turned ashen .

"Report!" Areana commanded, her voice cutting through the panic.

The guard swallowed hard. "They're inside the mansion, my lady. They have breached the rear entrance from the courtyard."

The basement erupted in screams. Several servants tried to rush toward the stairs, only to be turned back by the guards. Others pressed themselves against the far walls as if they could somehow phase through the concrete and escape.

Tamira's whole body began to tremble against Eluheed's side. Her breathing came in short gasps that he recognized as the beginning of a panic attack.

"Listen to me," Areana said, raising her voice to be heard over the chaos.

She stood with perfect poise despite the dust settling on her blue gown and blonde hair.

Eluheed could see the fear lurking in her eyes, but she lifted her chin in a gesture of strength and defiance.

"The basement door is reinforced steel. Even explosives can't breach it. We have nothing to fear."

"Nothing to fear?" Tula's voice cracked. "They're in the house, Areana! They're right above us!"

"And they can't get to us," Areana said. "The door was designed specifically for situations like this, and the walls are even thicker and more impossible to breach. This basement is designed like a bunker."

"We don't have enough food!" one of the maids cried. "Or water. They will just wait until we have to surrender, and then they will tear us to pieces. "

Tamira's shaking intensified.

"Lord Navuh's forces will deal with them," Areana said. "Stay calm."

The guards had their rifles at the ready, so perhaps they didn't trust the reinforced steel to the same degree that Areana did.

Another explosion rattled the structure, so close that chunks of plaster fell from the ceiling. A support beam groaned ominously, and several servants scrambled away from it.

"The house is going to collapse!" someone cried.

"No," Sarah said, though her voice shook. "Even if the house collapses, the basement will not be affected. It's reinforced separately from the main structure. We are safe down here."

Safe. The word seemed to mock them. They were trapped with tons of concrete and steel between them and danger, but also freedom. The same walls that protected them also imprisoned them.

Tamira's teeth chattered even though it wasn't cold, and her skin had taken on a grayish pallor that worried Eluheed more than the sounds of battle above. She was going into shock.

"Breathe, my love," he whispered in her ear. "Just breathe."

"I can't," she gasped. "They're coming. They're going to?—"

"No." He pulled her fully into his arms, no longer caring about the watching servants or anything else except the woman shaking apart in his embrace. "I won't let them touch you."

The servants were too terrified to pay attention to them anyway.

They huddled in their own groups, some praying, others weeping, most simply staring at the ceiling as if they could see through it to the battle above.

Areana moved closer to them, fear and understanding in her eyes. "We all need comfort now." She gestured to the other ladies. "Come. Sit together. Draw strength from each other as we always have."

The ladies formed their protective circle again, but this time it felt less like solidarity and more like prey huddling together while predators circled.

Even Areana's usual calm seemed strained, her fingers worrying at the fabric of her dress in a nervous gesture Eluheed had never seen from her before.

The fighting above had taken on a different quality—less gunfire now, more crashes and thuds that suggested hand-to-hand combat.

Perhaps the defenders had run out of ammunition.

Or perhaps there were no defenders left.