Page 24

ISABELLA

verything is set up and ready to go. The army is split into three groups, each one surrounding the places where we know the followers are gathering to plan their attack. Everyone in the castle was sent home early as well. The only people left are soldiers, a few of the fire fay, and Anna. Yanuk insisted she needs to stay here. According to him, because she is a witch, the followers might want her for her power.

I don’t mind her company, but I do have questions. Those will have to wait until this battle is over.

My armor feels heavy on my body, but even with my increasing power, it is best to stay protected. We got intel that the followers in the city are all in the safehouses. That does not mean they are not also planning another attack.

Jorgan and Jona left with one group. Yanuk and Jacob are with Anna and me at the castle. My palms are sweating as we wait in the silent building. With my foot tapping against the floor, I sit in the study with Jacob next to me.

The wait is painful. If everything goes well, the – my – soldiers should be back in a few hours. Jacob places his hand on my thigh, pausing my twitchy leg. Sighing, I try to calm my nerves by glancing at Yanuk and Anna.

She’s on the other sofa in the room, occasionally stealing looks at Yanuk. Every time, her cheeks turn pink. Their interaction puts a smile on my face. It appears as though both are afraid to make that first move. Watching them provides a small distraction, but not enough to forget that there might be an attack tonight.

It seems time slowed to a crawl as the arrow of the clock moves at a sluggish pace. Tick-tock. Tick-tock. An hour passes. My worry has not lessened, and my restlessness has increased.

“Can I look at the books?” I hear Anna ask, but I don’t turn my head to look at her. I worry that if I give her my attention, she will shy away and refuse to do what she wants.

“Of course,” Yanuk answers, his tone delicate.

I nudge Jacob on his ribs with my elbow, and when he turns to look at me, I give him a knowing smile. Shaking his head, he rolls his eyes.

Another hour passes. I am pacing back and forth. Anna is flipping through a thick, brown book. Jacob is sitting on the couch, his arms resting on the back of it. And Yanuk is standing by the floor-to-ceiling window, pulling back the red curtains and peeking outside.

Something doesn’t feel right. There’s a sensation at the back of my mind telling me to be vigilant. I close my eyes to calm my racing mind. It doesn’t help because all I see is white mixed with red.

An explosion forces me to snap my eyes open. Everyone is on their feet, staring at the door. Shouting follows the clanking of swords. My heart jumps to my throat, and I lock my eyes on Jacob’s.

“Alright.” Yanuk runs to a mahogany bookshelf and slides it open, revealing a secret hiding spot. “We talked about this.” He points at the room while looking at me and then at Anna.

The original plan was that in case of an attack, Anna and I would hide while they fight. I agreed to appease them.

“Anna, go,” I tell her without any intention of going with her.

I will not run and hide anymore. I am not the scared little girl that I used to be. Anna’s eyes widen, and then her brows come together.

“I can fight too,” she says, determination in her shimmering brown eyes.

“Fuck,” Yanuk growls aggressively. “Your Majesty,” he turns to me, “get in there.” He points to the small space, his jaw clenched.

“Izzy, you are the queen. It is important that you stay alive.” Jacob tries to reason with me.

“It’s important that I fight,” I counter. What was the point of spending hours and days training if I can’t fight when it is most needed? “Anna, hide.” I turn my attention to her.

Her eyes round, she shakes her head, and does not move.

“I am powerful, Your Majesty,” she says, her voice shaky.

“Anna…” Yanuk grits out in warning.

“Drude…” She looks up at Yanuk and places her palm on his chest, forcing a frustrated exhale from him.

Why did she call him Drude? That is a name from the German countries—

“We have to go.” Jacob interrupts my thoughts and heads for the door.

Arguing whether we are going or not is a waste of time, and that is something we don’t have. Staying in this room will only make us sitting targets. We need to go to the fight, instead of it coming to us.

I feel guilty that Anna is joining the battle. When she saw my determination to fight, her demeanor changed to a stubborn one. I’m not sure if she doesn’t want to be the only one tucked away or if she is as powerful as she says she is. Hopefully, it’s the latter.

I will certainly hear about how irresponsible my behavior is from both – Yanuk and Jacob – after this battle. That’s if we make it out alive.

The door opens, and the sounds of metal against metal get louder. Men yell incoherently with rage. I have this gnawing sensation at the pit of my stomach to make it all stop as soon as possible, at any cost.

Sofia and Victor have ruined our lives enough. It is time we pave a new road for ourselves –one that doesn’t have our parents’ mistakes following us.

Balling my sweaty fists, I shed away any fear that crawls on my skin. I will not run anymore. As we walk along the wide, dark hallway, Jacob and Yanuk march in front of me and Anna, their steps quick. Because I feel guilty that Anna is with us – and fear Yanuk will not forgive me if something happens to her – I keep her close to me. She said she is powerful, but I know nothing about her abilities.

We take a turn into the open space of the ballroom to be met by at least one hundred or more men in black, fighting fifty of my soldiers. It is not an even fight. Air lodges in my throat from the gruesome sight. Watching the clashing men before me, my mind spins, and my chest feels numb. If we were unaware of how many of them planned an attack on the castle, how misled were we about the safehouses?

Have I led my soldiers to death?

“Izzy,” Jacobs says as he looks at the battlefield, snapping me out, “don’t forget a single thing you learned and stay alive.” There is worry in his eyes.

I nod with a silent promise to do everything I can to stay safe as long as everyone else is as well. His motion is reluctant, but he turns around and jogs to help the vampire men. Yanuk eyes me and then steals a displeased glance at Anna, forcing my guilt to resurface.

“I will keep her alive,” I vow to Yanuk, hoping he forgives me.

His lips set tight, he glares at me and storms away. I do not regret my choice. I am not a coward, but I hate knowing Yanuk is upset with me. He has become a good and loyal friend; I don’t want to ruin that. Tugging at Anna, I hide behind a wall and scan the area. If we can make it across, I can get outside, fly up, and scout the castle for more of the followers. Maybe even see if Jorgan is on his way back from the safehouses.

“We are sticking together.” I lace my fingers through Anna’s. “I need to get across the room.” I turn to her. She nods, her eyes steady on the fighting men.

“Your Majesty, if I may?” Anna places her pointer finger on my chest before I have a chance to say anything, and a small light ignites at the touch. It tingles a little, traveling delicately through my body. “Now, your power is mine as well.” She sighs.

My brows furrow, and a list of questions forms in my mind, but I keep them to myself. Right now is not the time. Trusting a witch who has Yanuk’s interest, I nod. It will be difficult to make it through unscathed, but there are a few spots that, if we move without stopping, we will make it. If someone does assault us, I have my wings; those are powerful enough to kill when they come out and make a great shield.

I can do this.

Pulling on her hand, we run across the room as yelling and grunting echo in my ears. I keep going, the door on the other side of the room in my sight. My heart is pounding in my ribcage, but I keep moving.

A small figure in white catches my attention, so I turn my head. The world stops when I spot Cain, one of my maid's little boys, standing by the door across the room that leads to the dorms.

Everyone was supposed to be evacuated. He is seven years oldand in the middle of aviolent fight. Why is he here? My heart pounds with terror as I keep my sights on him. Shaking my hand to free myself from Anna, I move in his direction. Anna squeezes her fingers around mine harder and follows me. Too focused on the boy, I don’t bother looking back at her.

A shrieking sound of metal next to me forces me into a jog. Maybe it’s lucky for me that the followers don’t know what I look like; their whole lives, they were so focused on killing Victor that they never bothered with me. If they knew who I was, I would be the first to kill on their list.

Idiots blinded by anger.

I am only a few feet from Cain. A man with a black hood strides toward him, his posture murderous. He is closer to Cain than we are. In less than a few seconds, the boy will be dead.

I inhale sharply, and the world spins in slow motion. Cain’s brown eyes are wide, and his cheeks are tear-stained as he stands in the midst of chaos, confused and terrified. My heart feels as ifit will explode out of my chest if I don’t do something. It hurts to the point where all I want to do is scream until every single follower is dead.

I am not my father! He is dead. Why can’t they have their peace with that? I suppose revenge for Sofia’s death is needed. The world runs in vicious, ugly cycles.

The man moves closer, a millimeter at a time, but my limbs don’t have the ability to run any faster.

No. Cain will not die .

My hands tremble, a prickly sensation jolts sporadically through my arms, and then there is a wave of flashing light. My muscles tight, I heave, bracing for the worst. The man in the hood is jerked off his feet into the air, and for a moment, it is dark. Silence follows.

I exhale and blink, realizing that the man is gone. Baffled at the sudden lack of noise, I look around. My soldiers are still, staring at Anna and me. What gets my attention are the skeletons scattered by the walls of the room; they are bare, completely clean of skin, hair, and muscles. Baffled, I swallow and look at Anna. Her eyes wide, she shakes her hand away from mine. Deep down, I understand that part of this was my doing, but not all ofit. There was something foreign when the power exploded.

“Izzy!” Jacob runs to stand across from me, worry in his gaze. “Are you okay?” He takes my face into his hands.

“Yes,” I breathe out and turn to look at Anna, my forehead scrunched.

Somehow, she bound our power together, amplifying both, mine and hers. I open my mouth to ask, but she clasps her hands together and looks down at the floor. Confused, I glance at Yanuk in hopes of getting some answers. He’s glaring at her, frustration and fear in his eyes.

“Anna,” I whisper, making sure no one but Jacob hears me, “what happened?” I take her hands into mine.

“You have light power, and I have dark. The exchange was perfectly balanced. I simply helped it along,” she answers without looking up, her voice timid.

A few more dozen questions swirl in my mind, but she seems uncomfortable, so I drop it for a better time. She lives outside the city; it won’t be hard to find her.

Scanning the room, I notice my men staring at the sight around them in confusion. I’m also puzzled, but this battle is not over. We still don’t know where our other scouts are. Straightening my shoulders, I turn my attention to the soldiers.

“The others are not back yet. We cannot let our guard down. There may be more –” I start.

“Your Majesty, Jorgan is back!” A young soldier with black hair sticking to his head rushes in. “What…” He looks around the space, his eyes wide. “He reports that the followers in the safehouses were eliminated. They burned themselves once they learned they were fully surrounded,” the young man says while catching his breath.

I cringe at the words. Did they value their lives so little?

Still, relief washes over me, and I slide my fingers through Jacob’s. Exhaling, I notice one of the soldiers holding Cain in his arms, and he rocks to soothe the child. The little boy is alive and sleeping. The followers are gone. My army is okay.

Slumping, I look around yet again. No one says anything, observing the dead followers on the edges of the large room. The walls are slightly charred, but it is nothing that can’t be washed away. Adrenaline leaves my body, and exhaustion takes over.