Page 108 of The Prince and His Stolen Throne

“Fuck.” Trey grabbed Maximus and shoved him against the wall.

Maximus’ heart skipped a beat, and his breath caught in his throat. From this angle, Trey’s red curls looked like a campfire on a calm summer night. Maximus’ fingers itched to run through them and see if they were as warm and soft as they looked. But it was a completely inappropriate time to be distracted by daydreams. “What is it?” he whispered, looking over Trey’s shoulder.

Immediately, he spotted the problem. Several minions guarded the doors to the courtroom, their destination.

“What do we do?”

“I don’t know, I—” Trey snapped his mouth shut as excited cheering rose from another hallway.

“We caught one, we caught one!” chanted a group of imps. Three of them carried in an unconscious Fitz, one holding a leg, one holding an arm, and one cradling his head. Their wings strained behind them and they barely managed to lift him off the ground.

One of the imps spotted Maximus and Trey at the same time. It dropped Fitz’s leg, allowing his whole lower half to thump against the floor, to point at them. “More of ‘em!”

Orcs, imps, and lacertians all looked in the direction of that incriminating finger.

Trey grabbed Maximus’ arm and hauled him back down the hallway they’d just come from.

“Wait, we have to save them—”

“Are you crazy?” Trey snarled. “There’s twenty minions at least! Just run. We’ll come back for them later.”

Oversized orcs and tall, lanky lacertians squished into the hallway, yelling in protest as they collided and tripped over each other, blocking the path for the minions following them.

Maximus watched as a single imp squeezed through the crowd.

One imp wouldn’t be too hard to fight.

“Wait, Trey!”

Trey did not wait. In fact, he tightened his hold on Maximus and yanked him toward the door they’d entered through.

“We can separate,” Maximus panted. “Fight them one on one.”

“You aren’t a fighter, Maximus! And I can’t—” Trey’s voice caught. “I can’t fight that many.”

“One, two, three—launch!” Something whizzed through the air and thumped heavily against Maximus’ back. One of the imps grabbed hisarm, holding on for dear life. It expanded its jaw, exposing a bright purple tongue and sharp teeth, ready to bite Maximus’ arm.

Trey smacked the flat of his blade against the creature’s head.

It released Maximus and tumbled through the air, stopping near one of the offices. Cradling its head, it looked at Trey with huge, wet eyes. Then burst into tears. “He hit me!”

“Imps are venomous,” Trey explained. “Don’t let them bite you.” Then he tugged Maximus along again. The door came into view, left open for their escape. “Don’t stick around. Find somewhere to hide. If you don’t hear anything from us, go back to your kingdom—”

“Gotcha,” a lacertian hissed as a clawed hand landed heavily on Maximus’ shoulder. A second lacertian grabbed Maximus while a pair of orcs grabbed Trey, pulling them apart.

Trey held up his empty hands. “I—”

A fist smashed into the side of his head. Trey stumbled and fell against the wall. One of the orcs held him there while the other bound his arms behind his back.

“Trey!” Maximus struggled against the minions holding him. He ripped one arm from their grasp, reaching desperately for Trey.

Three imps grabbed his extended arm, weighing him down long enough for the lacertian to grab hold of him again and yank both arms behind his back. They tied him with quick efficiency and carried him between two of them.

Maximus craned his head, trying to check on Trey.

The orc who had assaulted him had tossed Trey over his shoulder so all Maximus could see were his limp, dangling legs.

Like that, the minions dragged them back to the courtroom.