Page 29 of Shadows of Ruin (The Broken Prophecy #2)

Chapter 28

Ian

I mmediately, I obeyed.

Sword fighting continued around me, but I froze, desperately trying to figure out a way to get the queen back. Andras ripped the knife down her dress, leaving the side of her ribcage exposed to the elements. The frayed edges of the fabric swayed in the breeze.

I gritted my teeth. “Unhand her.”

“You’re in no position to play hero,” Andras said as he pressed the knife into her side. A small pinprick of blood pooled at the tip of his blade.

The queen didn’t flinch, didn’t move. “Let them go, Andras. I will stay, if they can be free.”

“No.” Kalliah ran up beside me.

“He’s in her mind, Ian,” Raya’s voice whispered all around inside my head. “I can feel it even from here. He’s holding her in place, but she fights.”

“Ian,” she said, not a hint of fear in the way she said my name. The queen’s nose bled, starting small until a rivulet ran over her lip. The same way it had when she came to my cell. The sign of her internal struggle against Andras.

“Your Majesty.” I moved, forgetting the vines clawing at my legs, as I saw her face. That look would haunt me for the rest of my life if it meant what I thought it did.

She was willing to die for us to get out. The pleading gaze wasn’t for me to save her. No. This look was a reminder of what I’d promised, what I’d vowed to do.

“You will finally be granted the death you deserve,” Andras said, loud enough so we all could hear. His focus shifted from us fully to the queen. “Slow, painful. Your magic will be mine, and I will rule this kingdom.”

Casimir lingered by Andras like a good lap dog, but the horror of what Andras had said hit me. He’d take her magic. Casimir would siphon it. If it worked as I had seen before though, it wouldn’t last. Why would he be happy about a short burst of the queen’s power?

Andras leaned into the queen, sniffing her hair before exhaling loudly. I strained against the vines, flipping my dagger downward to resume cutting through them as cautiously as I could. Careful not to raise suspicion, but I had to free myself while Andras remained distracted.

“How the people of Brookmere will falter when they hear of your treason,” he continued. “So broken and fragile, locked away in mourning. The only one who remained steadfast and strong for the kingdom being the loyal advisor. I’ll be the only logical choice as their new king.”

“They will never believe you,” Queen Roxana shouted as her body trembled, her inward fight physically showing more now.

Andras chuckled. “They already do. While you have been locked away in your ‘ room ,’ mourning the tragic loss of your husband, I have been the one soothing their fears. Providing the stability they crave, the power they deserve.”

This threat was real. Andras had passed the point of keeping the queen alive. He was truly going to kill her.

The wind whirled around us as thunder rumbled in the distance. It was rare, so incredibly rare that the nature around us reacted to our lives here, but I would swear on the Fates it was happening now. Nature was not pleased at the scene before it.

“Andras, do not do this,” I screamed at him, almost free from the last vine holding me.

Casimir put his hands on two guards nearby, inhaling and grunting until both of them fell to the ground.

I made my move, running forward, but Casimir had already claimed the magic from both of the drained guards. Vines, roots, and thorns shot out in renewed power. Two vines wrapped around my arm, and thorns sliced at my face, but I fought, running forward still.

So did the others.

A guard kneeled before Andras, throwing his arms out, and suddenly, we were trapped. Kept away by some sort of shield. I brought my sword down against it.

The guard’s face strained, but the shield didn’t break.

Not yet.

“Help me,” I commanded the others.

“Any last words, Queen?” Andras asked.

Regret filled her eyes as she stared at me. I hesitated when I heard her voice.

“Tell Lana I love her. Tell her she was always my light. She will always be the light in the darkest of hours. Keep her steady on her path.”

“Pathetic.” Andras sneered as he slowly pushed the blade into the queen’s side. He shouted, a happy, awful sound as he twisted it hard.

“No!” I fought against the bindings around me, but Casimir’s power far exceeded mine after draining two earth Fae. I’d failed another woman in my life.

The queen screamed, but she still stared at me, swallowing her evident pain. “I love you too, my dear,” she rasped through haggard breaths. “Don’t lose hope. ”

Andras pulled the blade out. He thrust it into her stomach and stabbed her again. And again.

Casimir grabbed the queen with one hand as she fell, and reached for Andras with his other. My screams of utter rage echoed in my head. I watched in horror as a familiar ring on his index finger glowed brighter. They were siphoning her magic. Just like they’d tried on me. Casimir released the queen, and her body slumped forward. Lifeless.

Kalliah cried next to me, choking out unintelligible words of sorrow as she continued to fight against the shield despite the queen’s death.

Voices shouted around me. I heard Leif’s and Corbin’s strangled sobs and looked to my left as they dragged their blades over the shield. Horror in every line on their face.

Tears flowed down Hale’s face as he stood, his blade embedded in the shield.

A deafening sound of thunder clapped, and the skies opened. Lightning struck across the entire sky, illuminating the dark night as if it raged along with us.

It didn’t happen often, but nature herself was here for this. Present and furious.

Andras stepped over the queen’s body, not seeming to give a fuck about the clear sign from nature.

“How fucking dare you kill your queen.” Rage coursed through my veins, but the damn earth magic holding me in place still hadn’t receded. I wanted to kill him. I would kill him. The guard faltered, enough that I thrashed and pulled an arm free, slicing again at the vines. With no shield, I’d get to him and finish this.

He walked toward me, and I fought harder. Harder than I remembered being able to fight in a long time.

“Didn’t you find it odd you didn’t encounter anyone on your escape from the dungeons?” he asked with a sinister grin. “I allowed you to escape. And I will allow you to leave these palace grounds if you can fight your way out from the guards here and by the gates of Ellevail.”

“Why?” I questioned. “Why would you let us escape?”

He tossed his head back, as rain pelted his head, slicking his thin black hair around his face until the crazed man within truly reflected outwardly as well. “Because no matter what happened here tonight, you will bring me her. Whether she is searching for you now or you find her and return to exact your vengeance. Illiana will return. I’ve made sure of it. And I will be ready and waiting for her when she does.”

“I will never bring her to you.” I spat in his face.

Andras wiped the spit off in pure disgust. “That is where you are wrong. The Fates have already decided.”

“Nature has decided your fate. Do you see the storm raging around us? This is the response to you murdering the queen,” I argued.

“This is the result of weak magic. Magic that has no idea what’s in store for our land,” he said, his lip curling in disdain. “Now leave, if you can make it past the guards.”

Andras turned on his heel and grabbed a torch from the closest guard. A torch shrouded in magic, still burning brightly despite the rain. Without hesitation he dropped it on the queen’s crumpled body. I watched in horror, but Leif and Corbin ran forward, trying again to get to her. Guards fought them, coming from dark corners we hadn’t seen. The rain fell harder, but the flame still burned. I screamed against the restraints in agony, unable to control myself.

Andras didn’t spare her a second glance. “Casimir, release him.”

The vines fell away, and I bolted for them. But Casimir wiggled his fingers at me as Andras dropped some sort of smoky explosion, and they vanished behind it.

I shifted my focus now to the queen, not caring about the flames, or the grotesque smell of burning flesh as I tried to tamp them out .

The fire licked my skin, but I ignored the pain, throwing my body over hers. Thunder roared once more, and the rain pelted me angrily. My actions, combined with the increased downpour, somehow worked. The flames receded, smothered out.

“Thank you,” I choked out to the nature around me.

Lucien jumped to the queen, licking her face, whimpering.

Pulling back, I kneeled before the queen as my friends fought around me. I touched her neck, delusional, like there might be a pulse. “Come on,” I begged. We couldn’t lose her. Lana couldn’t lose her. She had already lost so much.

“Please,” I whispered.

The queen didn’t move.

I removed my hand from her neck, body trembling at the weight of what I’d just witnessed. At what we all just witnessed.

Without a thought for the battle still happening around me, I tilted my head back and yelled to the sky, shouting at the Fates themselves in a bellowing scream.

Our queen was dead.

Ellevail had fallen.

I placed my hand over her heart. “I want to stay. I want to fight. But I gave you my word. I’ll never break my vow to you, Your Majesty. Never.” Leaning forward, I placed a kiss on her forehead.

Tears fell down my face along with the rain. Lightning blazed around us again.

“I’m so sorry,” Raya’s voice whispered in my mind.

She hadn’t left.

Don’t tell Lana. Please. I need to be the one to do it.

“Where are you going now?” she asked. “We’ll meet you there.”

Valeford, I thought. We’ll meet Lana in Valeford.

Corbin slapped a hand onto my shoulder as Raya’s presence faded slowly from my mind. They’d handled the guards here. “We must go. I don’t trust him not to change his mind and follow.”

I looked up at him. Leif came to my other side and offered a hand.

Kalliah crashed into me and wrapped her arms around me. “Lana.” I made out the one word as her sobs tore through her. Leif put a hand on her back, and she leaned into him next. I stepped away as he began whispering to her.

“Weapons?” I asked Corbin.

He nodded. “I grabbed the old Hidden Henchmen packs and additional weapons from the armory earlier today. We’re ready to go.”

A guard ran from behind one of the stables toward us. “Captain!”

I froze, whipping around as Corbin placed his sword in my hand.

“Wait!” the guard cried, stopping before me. “Andras has done something to nearly all of us. Only a few can fight it. I saw what happened.”

“And did nothing.” I stepped toward him, blade at the ready.

He lifted his hands. “I told you there is not much we can do. But when Andras left, his compulsion in my head wore off. Please, I’ll bury the queen. With the honor and care she deserves. I’ll do it before they can come for her body.”

I eyed him warily.

“More guards are gathering. Some of them have enjoyed the darkness Andras thrives on, even if there are others of us who still fight. When Princess Illiana returns, there are those who remain loyal to her inside these walls.”

I swallowed the growing lump in my throat. “Thank you.”

I looked over my shoulder, Hale still pale in the rain, Leif holding an arm around Kalliah. “Let’s go. We’re not in the clear yet.”

Lucien whimpered at my feet, and I kneeled in front of him. “Hide. Find a place and wait for us. Lana will come home soon.” He licked my hand before he trotted back over to the queen and sat beside her.

He breathed fire into the air before he let out a mournful howl.

We ran to the stables, mounting our steeds and proceeded to race through the city streets. The storm had driven most of the city inside. Almost no one lingered. The heaviness of an empty Ellevail hit me hard as we rode.

“People have been staying inside, especially the lesser Fae,” Corbin shouted over the wind and rain. “Andras is building a city based on fear.”

“He will pay,” I said, not bothering to raise my voice over the storm.

“He said there’d be guards by the gate,” Leif shouted from behind me.

We continued, three blocks from the city entrance. It wasn’t until we were only a block away when I heard them. Even over the rumbling storm.

“They’re coming,” I shouted to the others.

This time, I drew my blade from the pack on my horse, feeling more prepared than before.

Some guards already stood defensively in front of the gates.

“For Queen Roxana!” I yelled, and the others chimed in behind me, shouts of comradery and a single purpose. We’d escape for her.

Fifteen guards surrounded the gates, and the hooves I’d heard a block before were heading our way.

I sliced across the neck of the closest guard, ignoring that they were once my men. If I looked too closely, I’d never get us out of here. Escape was all that mattered now.

Despite our exhaustion, we pressed on. The storm didn’t help .

As if sensing our diminishing reserves, the rain lessened to a pitter, but the thunder and lightning refused to cease.

Corbin shouted, a blade slicing his arm a few feet from me, but he quickly corrected for it, flicking his sword to the other hand and stabbing it into the guard who’d gotten a jump on him.

I lost track of the others but trusted them to hold their own. Soon, only two guards remained, fighting Hale and Leif.

“Go,” Leif shouted to Hale. Corbin was the first to the gate, shoving hard and finally opening it. He mounted his steed.

“Open!” he yelled to us.

We rode toward him as the last guard fell. The sound of hooves grew, and my head twisted as my gaze shot toward the center of the city entrance. A group of guards on horseback rode straight for us.

“Go!” Leif shouted again.

They couldn’t follow. None of them could know where we were heading. We needed time to find Lana. To form a plan, before anyone alerted Andras to our location.

Leif rode up to me. “Get out of those gates now.”

“We can’t let them follow,” I argued, but Leif reached across my horse and grabbed my arm.

“I know, Ian,” he said. “They won’t.”

I frowned, looking between him and the approaching horses. Corbin, Hale, and Kalliah had already cleared the gates.

“I can’t let you stay.” I couldn’t lose someone else tonight. Especially not Leif.

Leif shifted his horse, circling me in a way that caught me off guard. As my horse turned to follow, it faced the gates. Leif drew a hand back and smacked my horse. “Ya!” he shouted.

My horse bolted forward. I drew on the reins, but Leif dismounted his steed and was already pulling the gate closed, remaining inside.

“Leif!” Kalliah yelled, riding toward me. She dismounted, running and thrusting her arm between the metal bars to grab him. “Don’t do this.”

“I swear to you, Kalliah Brennan,” he said, reaching his hand between bars and stroking her cheek. “Nothing will keep me from your side. I’m merely buying you time.”

“Swear it again,” she cried.

“I swear it. You will see me again. If Lucinda hasn’t killed me, they certainly won’t.” He smiled.

“Stay alive, brother,” I commanded. “Kalliah,” I said, hating the fact that I had to say anything to her. “We must take the time he’s given us.”

“No,” she said. “No.” She grabbed the collar of Leif’s shirt and yanked him toward the bars, kissing him fiercely.

Corbin moved faster than I did, pulling his horse forward to Kalliah’s side. He grabbed her arm, dragging her back to her own horse. “I’m sorry,” I saw his lips say but didn’t hear him.

“Don’t you dare die, Leif Ivans,” she yelled.

He saluted us and turned to face down the approaching guards.

Alone.

Lightning split the sky as we fled into the night. Into the storm. Into the unknown, lying vast and ominous before us.

“To Lana.” I clicked my tongue, urging my horse faster. “We ride to our queen.”