Page 31

Chapter 31

Disaster

I ran to the front gate of the palace, where guards had their spears pointed at me. I stuffed my hand into my pouch, pulled out the letter Nylian had given me from his uncle, and held it over my head. “By order of Duke Thallan Elrich, let me in to see the king!” I shouted.

That gave the guards pause. They looked at each other in different degrees of shock and disbelief, but at least one of them—the guy in the most impressive armor—stepped forward and held out his hand for the letter.

His eyes skimmed it as I handed it over, and his face turned pale. “Let him through! Let him through!”

The elf who was the head of the guard not only got me through the first barrier, but he continued to run with me through level after level of protection put between me and the king. I panted, a painful stitch growing in my side with every step I took, but I pressed on, thankful that one of the gods had some pity on me and granted me an escort. Getting through the palace alone with just a letter would have been near impossible. Not to mention, I would have gotten lost more times than I could have counted.

With each level, the surroundings grew more ostentatious, but I barely noticed. I glanced around enough to reassure myself that I was getting closer to wherever the king was lurking.

As we reached yet another round of stairs, my legs gave out and I collapsed at the foot, gasping for air. I needed a second. One second to catch my breath, and I could run any distance for Nylian.

“What’s going on here?” snapped a tired and irritable voice.

“Your Majesty!” the guard beside me gasped and dropped to his knees as well.

My head snapped up, and I found an older elf standing at the top of the stairs dressed in elegant white and gold robes. His hair was golden blond like Nylian’s, but a touch paler. His eyes were harsh with dark shadows under them, as if it had been a long time since he’d last had a good night of sleep.

Sucking in as much air as I could manage, I thrust the hand holding the letter above my head and shouted, “Your Majesty, Prince Xeran and Duke Thallan sent me. I have the antidote. Please, I beg of you…let me pass. I need to get to Orian before it’s too late.”

“You have it?” King Dorwynn whispered, those three words choked with hope.

I nodded, trying to save my breath.

“Give it here!”

“No!”

“What?” It was like the entire room had frozen over and every guard that surrounded me had become a statue. No one dared to tell the king no.

“Xeran trusts me to save his brother. I will not break that trust.” I narrowed my eyes on the king, whose cheeks had flushed with anger. “You want to do something useful with your guards? Send them out to capture the real would-be killer. Xeran is fighting him right now in front of the palace. He risked his life to protect me so I could save his brother.”

Silence stretched for a moment, and I was already gathering my strength to jump to my feet and rush past the king. Orian had to be somewhere in this wing. It had to be the safest place. I would search every inch until I found him.

But the king saved me from my desperate flight.

He turned to the guard at his right with the fanciest armor of all. “Take Prince Victor to Orian as quickly as possible.” He then focused his attention on the guard still kneeling beside me. “Take your men and find Prince Xeran. Bring him to me unharmed. And if there’s anyone trying to hurt him, I want them brought as well.”

The king had barely finished speaking when the guard assigned to me rushed forward with his hand extended and a reassuring smile. I prayed this meant that he was a fan of Nylian, Orian, or both of the twins. I took his hand and let him pull me to my feet. With a little more air in my lungs and riding a second wind of hope, I ran faster through the palace, down secluded hallways and through doorways with even more guards. We were in the very inner sanctum of the royal family, the halls and rooms that most of the world would never see.

Technically, I wasn’t even seeing it. Everything was a blur of color as I moved as fast as I could with the guard. We needed to reach Orian before the assassin could complete their task. I also needed to return to Nylian. If I were lucky, the king’s guards would end the fight, but I’d only feel relief when I held Nylian in my arms again.

At the end of a long, lonely hallway, the guard’s footsteps stumbled, and my heart lurched in my chest. The double doors leading into the last room were open a crack. Shouldn’t there have been a guard on them? Or at least a lock?

Were we too late?

The guard placed a hand in the center of my chest, holding me back so that he could enter the room first. I was a half a step behind him, my heart hammering in my ears.

The room was a simple bedroom with a man who looked far too similar to Nylian lying in the center of the bed. I tore my gaze away from him because it felt too much like a bad omen, but my eyes caught on the four older men lying unconscious on the floor, a trickle of blood pouring out of their mouths. Poisoned!

And the poisoner was standing at the foot of Orian’s bed, chuckling to herself.

“You’re too late,” she crowed without even turning to face us. “The healers holding the spell in place are dead, and time has ticked forward for poor Prince Orian.”

“Consort Keya! How could you?” the guard demanded, his voice trembling.

As the short, slender woman turned toward us, I grabbed the edge of the guard’s armor and forced him to dive to the floor with me. Just above our heads, a spray of silver needles shot out of her hand and embedded in the doors and walls behind us. I knew she had to have one more trick up her sleeve. The only way she benefited from this murder was if there were no witnesses to what she was doing.

Shoving off the ground as I pulled my sword, I lunged at the woman, and she charged me. The room was small, and maybe I didn’t care as much as I should have. All I could think was that she was keeping me from saving Orian and Nylian, and no one was allowed to do that.

The point of the sword slid into her stomach with surprising ease. The scream pouring from her lips stopped short and a look of shock widened her pale-hazel eyes. For a heartbeat, our gaze met, and there was a sudden swell of pity within me. What could have driven her to take this action? Was it a thirst for power or for the love of her son?

Shaking off the thought, I shoved her off my sword and turned to the bed, ignoring the heavy thud of her body hitting the thick carpet. I dropped the weapon and dug into the pouch at my side for the tiny glass vial with the dark-red liquid.

“Is it too late?” the guard demanded as he scrambled to my side.

I pressed trembling fingers to the side of Orian’s throat. It took far too long, but I finally detected a thready pulse that was getting weaker by the second.

“He’s still alive,” I exhaled. “Go around to the other side of the bed. Hold his head up. He needs to swallow this.”

The guard jumped into action, moving to the far side of the bed and cradling the prince’s head in his shaking hands. I pried the cork from the vial and so very carefully poured the antidote into his mouth. We did it bit by tiny bit, pausing here and there to massage his throat to make sure every drop went down. When the vial was empty, the guard placed Orian’s head on his pristine white pillow and we stepped away from the bed.

There had been no time to check the antidote Jasper had made with the Blackscar healers. All the ones who’d been tending Orian were dead. Consort Keya had removed the protective barrier keeping Orian alive.

I stood there shaking, the empty glass vial clasped in both hands, praying to any higher power there was to make this right. Jasper was going to be a great wizard one day. He’d gotten the ice spell right at the Stonewill Chateau. With the healers in Blackscar, he’d gotten this antidote right. I just knew it. After everything Nylian had suffered and battled, his twin brother couldn’t be stolen from him like this.

Pounding footsteps drew me from my desperate prayers, and my head popped up in time to see Nylian fill the doorway. For the first time since knowing him, his hair was a mess, and his clothes were dirty and splattered with blood. The elf was a disaster, and he’d also never looked so perfect to me. His eyes only got wider as he took in the room’s chaos before finding me.

He said nothing. Just launched himself at me and I caught him in a tight hug that I wanted to never end. He hugged me back, almost cracking my ribs while I choked out a sob of relief.

“You’re okay? You’re not hurt?” he demanded.

“I’m okay. I—” He cut me off, his mouth covering mine in a desperate kiss that I gave in to. His hands wandered along my arms and across my chest. For a split second, I thought the man was groping me, but my brain caught up and I realized he was checking me over for injuries. I should have done the same, but I couldn’t. I wanted to hold him as tightly as I could. He was alive and in my arms. I didn’t care what happened with his brother Prince Jandar or the king. I didn’t care about anything else that was happening around us. The only thing that mattered was the elf in my arms.

A soft cough somewhere in the room pulled us apart.

“Someone is going to need to fill me in,” a low, rough voice rasped.

Nylian and I jerked toward the sound to find Orian staring at us with laughing green eyes and a fragile smile.

“I feel like I missed a lot,” Orian continued.

“My son!” someone else gasped. This one from the doorway. I blushed all the way to my roots to find the king and several guards standing there. Yep, they’d all seen me kissing the shit out of Prince Xeran while we stood over what could have been Orian’s deathbed, which was surrounded by corpses. Totally normal day for me.

Both Nylian and the king rushed to Orian’s beside while I stumbled back, trying to give them more room. Someone in the hallway shouted orders for the queen to be told the good news. I just tried to stay out of the way.

It was only when someone bumped by my arm that I glanced up to find I was standing beside the same guard who’d taken me to this room. “Thank you for saving my life and Prince Orian’s.”

With a grin, I held out my hand to him. “It was a team effort. I needed you to get me here and to help me give him the antidote.”

“Team effort,” the guard agreed, shaking my hand.

“Are you making friends or flirting?” Nylian’s voice cut into our moment, and I smirked at the elf as I released the guard’s hand.

“Only making friends. I save my flirting for you.”

Nylian’s smile widened, and he looked appeased. He jerked his chin toward the guard at my side. “That’s General Theo Wyn, head of the Royal Dragon Army of West Vale, protectors of the Elrich line, and my father’s right hand. He’s a good man to be friends with.”

And that would also make him the most powerful man in all of Wolfrest outside of the royal family. Just as my knees were threatening to turn to jelly at that bit of information, the general stepped back and bowed to me.

“Thank you again, Your Highness.”

I gulped.

Nylian seemed to guess that I was on the edge of being overwhelmed, so the asshole added frost to snow by ushering me over to Orian’s bedside. The prince’s color was improving by the second and he was more alert. The king sat on the side of the bed, clutching his hand in both of his.

“Orian, this is the man who saved your life, Prince Victor Montcroix, but his friends call him Adam,” Nylian introduced.

“I’m sure Your Highness knows better than to believe your twin brother’s nonsense,” I said.

“I do, but my brother also says some very smart things occasionally. Thank you for saving my life.”

I bowed my head to him and swallowed past the tightness in my throat. “It was my honor, but I didn’t do this alone. There was a group of us, all following Prince Xeran’s lead.”

We didn’t have a chance to speak more because the queen arrived and chaos ensued as she engulfed both of her beloved sons while shouting about the room being filled with corpses.

General Wyn took pity on me and quietly escorted me out of the room to a private drawing room where I could relax. I told him about Saida, Adeline, and Jasper at Nylian’s so-called private residence, and he immediately ordered a squad of guards to fetch them.

Once I sat in a chair, comfortable in the knowledge that Nylian was safe with his family, and Adeline and Jasper were going to join me in the palace, I just might have fallen asleep.