Page 53 of The Last De Loughrey Dynasty (The Legacy of Aquila Hall #1)

CHAPTER FIFTY-TWO

DOROTHEE

“This way!” I told Nathaniel, pulling him through a gap before it fully closed.

We had been running for almost ten minutes, and it felt like we kept going in circles. I couldn’t tell where exactly we were—whether it was around the centre or almost at the exit.

Nathaniel had had the glorious idea to run straight through the hedges, but that thought was doomed the second we noticed the thorns that had grown everywhere to prevent us from trying to run straight through.

He thought of everything.

“We’re getting nowhere, Doe. The maze is cursed,” he whispered near my ear. We were as quiet as possible so that Anwir couldn’t hear us. Though, I doubted he was able to overhear us through the sound of the shifting roots.

I stared up at him, knowing that he was right. “What other option do we have?”

We had to keep running.

I didn’t want to be a coward, but at the same time, it didn’t make me a coward not wanting to die. I wanted to live, and I wouldn’t have him take that away from me.

The maze shifted again, and we hurried to make it through the next gap before the vines could close us into a dead end.

“We have to–”

Nathaniel called out my name, pulling me back before I could run straight into the arms of the man who wanted to sacrifice me.

I let out a scream, while we ran back through the opening, pleading that it would close before Anwir could pass through it. We ran as fast as possible within the tight space of constantly shifting vines. I glanced over my shoulder as we passed a junction.

“He’s right behind us!” I called to Nathaniel, who dragged me with him while I tried my hardest to be as fast a runner as he was. But my dress kept getting stuck on the thorns, and despite the hem already being completely torn, it wasn’t made for running in a maze from your potential murderer.

I looked over my shoulder again, not seeing Anwir behind us anymore, but when I turned my head back around, I got caught by two strong arms. Nathaniel managed to stop me from running straight into the thorny bush.

“No,” I breathed in horror.

Nathaniel let go of me, swallowing hard. “A dead end.”

“We just have to wait until it shifts again,” I said confidently, but I was certain that the shaking of my voice wasn’t able to be overheard.

My heart didn’t stop beating like a damn jackhammer while we waited, and it felt like hours until the stupid vines shifted once more—only for Anwir to wait for us on the other side.

The man lunged for me, but before his hands could reach me, Nathaniel threw out his fist and hit him to the ground. My friend went down on top of him, letting his fists rain down on Anwir. Nathaniel grabbed the collar of his shirt to pull his face towards him as he spat, “you’re sick and twisted, and I swore to you that I’ll kill you when I find out you had the intention to betray us."

Blood ran down from Anwir’s nose and coated his teeth in red as he grinned up at Nathaniel, keeping up the illusion that he was the one in control here.

“I guess your girlfriend’s vision will come true after all, Mister McConnell. You’re destined to die in the same sense that Dorothee is,” Anwir said calmly, having Nathaniel squeeze his eyebrows together in utter confusion, and in the last second, I saw something reflecting the shiny light of the moon in Anwir’s hand but as I screamed, it was already too late.

Nathaniel gasped in pain as he looked down to where he had plunged the dagger into his side. Anwir pulled the dagger out of him, causing Nathaniel to scream in pain, his hand clutching his wound.

Blood started to soak his shirt and he coughed, causing him to fall off Anwir and roll onto his back. I fell to my knees beside him, trying to clear my mind and think. Fucking think what I had to do.

I pressed my trembling hands to the stab wound that was bleeding furiously beneath his hand. He gritted his teeth in agony and I mouthed an apology over and over again as if this was going to fix anything.

“It’s going to be okay. We’ll fix this—we—we can fix this,” I stuttered in utter shock, as my friend started to cough up blood.

Nathaniel stared at me with something that came dangerously close to acceptance. Tears burned in my eyes and I shook my head, not taking this.

I won’t let this happen.

I won’t let the stars destroy everything we’ve found in another, when we had to deal with the cruel life they forced on us.

“Doe!” Nathaniel warned, his eyes widening at something behind me. Someone.

I moved around furiously, ducking away a second before he’d be able to pull me up by my hair. Jumping to my feet, I came at him with a scream–fucking done with all of this shit.

I swung my fist into his jaw, using his surprise to ram my knee into the spot between his legs.

Anwir cursed, falling to his knees, but he didn’t bath for long in his agony and lunged for me. I dodged his attack and lifted my hand to throw another hit to his face, but he caught my wrist and twisted my hand in a painful way that made me yell out in pain. He caught my face in his other, free, hand in a painful grip, and my eyes automatically searched for the dagger, finding it on the ground where he must have dropped it when I kneed him in the groin.

I wish I wasn’t wearing this dress. If that was the case, I could have hit him harder.

“You were always such a sweet girl. So wronged by this cruel world, Dorothee. If it makes you feel a little better, it hurts me to know that I have to kill you. I’ll probably grieve your loss for the rest of my life,” Anwir said, and I saw almost sadness crossing his eyes as he forced my forehead to rest against his. Like he truly cared.

I looked over to Nathaniel, who pushed himself upright on his feet with all the strength he had left. I saw in his face how painful that must have been, but I knew what he was trying to do.

Anwir didn’t expect him to stand up again.

Instead of saying anything, I gritted my teeth at his bone crushing hold and spat him right in the face.

Anwir’s expression changed to anger, and he pulled back, so that he could look me in the eyes, where he only saw hatred.

My foot searched for the dagger while he held me firmly in his grip.

Come on.

I finally felt the cold steel against my flesh and pushed it by the hilt over to Nathaniel with all the strength I managed to come up with.

“I know you hate me right now, but believe me, if things had been different… in another life we could have been…different,” he gritted out, but my whole attention lay on Nathaniel picking up the dagger and glaring at the back of Anwir’s head before he came at him.

Anwir noticed my attention shifting from him and spun around, dodging Nathaniel’s attack. Instead, he caught Nathaniel’s arm with the dagger and twisted it until he dropped it.

Anwir hit him with his free hand, and Nathaniel crumbled to the ground, his strength leaving him once and for all.

I lunged for the dagger the same moment Anwir did, but I was closer and pointed the blade at him the second I got a hold of it. My hands were shaking. I’ve never pointed a weapon at anyone in my life. But this didn’t mean I was unable to wield it against someone who deserved it.

I wasn’t a killer and I didn’t want to be one, but if it came down to it, I’d put my life over his.

Anwir held his hands up, stepping closer, causing me to grip the hilt of the dagger tighter.

“Come on, Dorothee. We both know you couldn’t hurt a fly, you’re too kind for that,” he spoke lightly.

I clenched my jaw in fury. “Kindness doesn’t equal weakness. You have no idea the lengths I’d go to protect my friends, and wanting to protect myself is not selfish.”

He came closer and closer and while I asked myself if I could really stab someone to death. I gave my best to push this through to the every end of my mind and concentrate on the fact that this man wanted to kill me, and stabbed my friend in the process.

He came at me so fast, it was almost impossible to react as he tried to make me drop the weapon. “You’re weak because you’re female. Think about it, why it were only ever the Kingstone men choosing power... because the De Loughrey women believed in the weakness of love for centuries,” he lashed out, throwing me to the ground and coming down on top of me. I fought and kicked at him, but he pinned the hand with the dagger to the earthy ground and took hold of my throat with the other hand, squeezing it until I rang for air. I pushed at his chest, but he was much stronger than I. When he squeezed harder, the hand where I was holding the dagger lost its hold, while my ears started ringing and the edge of my vision turned dark from the lack of oxygen.

“Anwir—” I croaked, but his clenched jaw didn’t twitch in the slightest.

He was going to strangle me.

My free hand fell slack on my chest and I felt cold metal where the star sat at the centre of my corset. Just in case. Naomi had told me when I pointed out how sharp the ends of the star were.

I fidgeted on the star with the last of my strength, my fingers tingling from the cut-off oxygen. The star came loose, and it took me everything to lift my arm and ram the sharp, dagger-like end of the star straight into Anwir’s ribs.

He let out a roar of pain, and his hand let go of my throat. I gasped for air, my lungs screaming. But there was no time. My vision was still blurred when I took hold of the dagger and stabbed him in the chest, making him scream.

I dragged myself toward Nathaniel on the dirty ground with a grunt of pain as my limbs trembled, and my head throbbed.

“We have to leave,” I rasped, each word burning in my throat.

Nathaniel leaned against the hedge, probably in too much pain to care for the thorns burying themselves in his back. He pressed a hand to his bloody side, shaking his head, his face deadly pale.

“You have to run,” he coughed out, and I shook my head.

“I’m not leaving you.”

He looked behind me and I followed his gaze where Anwir should have laid dead on the ground with a dagger in his heart, but he didn’t.

I had missed his heart and impaled his shoulder instead.

No .

“Doe, listen to me. I’ll slow you down, and you can’t help me.” Tears fell from my eyes and I started to shake my head in denial. “You can’t,” he said again, and deep down I knew it was the truth. “Help yourself, for all of us.”

Nathaniel started to push my hand away from his wound and I brushed my tears away with the back of my hand, slowly accepting what he demanded of me, as I pushed to my feet.

One last look passed between us that felt strangely like a goodbye, before I took a hold of the hem of my dress and began to run on my still shaking legs through the gap that was about to grow closed with vines.