Page 34 of The Uncrowned King (The Bastard Duology #2)

CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR

Derek scoured one level of the palace after another, tearing through hallways in search of Kora’s scent. Desperation and the icy hand of fear spurred him on and urged him to go faster. At one point, he heard the distinct sounds of battle but wouldn’t stop looking for Kora.

He busted through a door, startling the servants within. Derek scanned their faces for Kora. He was about to turn away to go to the next room when he caught sight of sandstone dust. He whirled back around.

Derek pinned a middle-aged male with his gaze and motioned to the dust. “What caused that.”

“R-repairs,” the man answered.

“Where?”

“Top left part of the palace,” a female replied. “The chamber that exploded a month ago.”

Derek knew exactly where that was. He shot from the doorway, running faster than before. Why hadn’t he thought to look for Kora where Miena had been imprisoned? It sounded exactly like something she would do.

His surroundings were a blur as he raced to the stairs, only to jump from landing to landing. And still, he wasn’t moving fast enough. He debated whether to shift and fly to Kora, but he didn’t want to cause the palace to crumble and kill innocent people or Kora if she was in a different location. So, he ran like the wind.

By the time he reached the top and slid to a stop at the long corridor, his heart was thudding like a drum against his ribs. Her scent was strong. He only paused for a second before racing down the hall and through the doorway, immediately coming to a halt. The debris had been cleaned, and the cracks in the floor and walls were in various stages of repair.

He turned, his gaze locking on the metal door. The new silver entrance had no handle or hinges, but that wouldn’t stop him from getting inside. Derek put his hands on the door, the metal cool to the touch. Had Miena put Kora in the middle of the room as she had been?

Derek dropped his arms and studied the entry. The fact that there wasn’t an easy way in meant that Miena expected someone to bust the door down. And if that was the case, it meant Kora could be near it. Kora would heal. If she died, she would still return to him.

Unless Miena had booby-trapped the area.

He let out a string of curses. The longer he waited to do something, the more Kora would be tortured. But he didn’t want to cause her more harm. Her deaths and rebirths were excruciating.

He scanned the walls on either side of the door, trying to determine if there was a better entry point. There were no answers since he couldn’t know for sure where his beloved was.

Derek walked to the door once more, then leaned close and called out, “Kora? Can you hear me?”

He listened, but there was no answer.

“Fuck!” he shouted as he stepped away.

There was no other option. He had to break down the door.

Brandr was the first to spill out into an antechamber. Numerous smaller tunnels led out of it.

“I recognize these types of tunnels,” Alasdair said as he came up beside him. “We’re below Stonemore.”

Hector looked at the different exits. “Do we split up again?”

“No’ this time,” Con said.

Merrill walked to one of the passageways and looked inside. Then he went to a second. “I navigated some of these, but no’ nearly enough. There are hundreds.”

“Thousands,” Alasdair corrected. “And some doona go anywhere but to another room.”

Rhi shrugged. “I could get us to Derek if he would only call to me.”

“He could be anywhere,” Con said.

Merrill’s face tightened. “He’s going after Kora.”

“Who could also be anywhere,” Hector pointed out.

Lotti spun as magic slammed into her side. She was struggling to stay in the fight. Villette and Eurielle were picking up the slack, but it was obvious she was the weakest of them. She gritted her teeth and dug deep inside for the power she had spent decades hiding because she hadn’t known who or what she was. Alasdair had helped her find her way. He had shown her the power she wielded. Lotti hadn’t overcome all of that to be the reason they lost.

Villette screamed and fell back, her head bouncing off the floor. Eurielle moved between Miena and Villette, and Lotti joined her. Miena was as bloodied and wounded as the rest of them, but nothing slowed her.

“Together,” Eurielle whispered.

Lotti reached for more magic. It rose in her stomach and moved through her chest to roll down her arms and burst from her palms. Eurielle hurled her own and they smashed into Miena, somersaulting her backward over the balcony.

Eurielle helped Villette to her feet, but Lotti didn’t take her eyes off the horizon. It was a good thing, too, because Miena returned, firing short bursts of magic at each of them. Lotti yelled at the others to duck. Villette dove for cover, but Eurielle took a hit in the back and dropped to one knee.

Then it was Lotti and Villette who stood shielding Eurielle.

Derek placed his palms on the door and closed his eyes, sending up a silent prayer to the universe. His lids lifted as he stared at the metal and pushed against it with his strength alone. The door groaned. The metal bent beneath his hands but held.

He stepped back for a moment before replacing his hands. The next time he added magic, moving it through him a little at a time. Yet there was no more movement from the door. And that left him no other option. He had never liked being backed into a corner, and he liked this instance even less because there was the potential that Kora could get hurt.

Derek drew in a deep breath. Just as he was releasing it, he heard a sharp cry of pain from within the room. That was all it took to get him moving. He shouted Kora’s name as talons shot from his fingers to carve into the door. The screech of metal mingled with his bellow as he yanked back with all his might and magic.

The door gave some but remained in place. Too many people had stood in the way of him getting to Kora. He had been manipulated and fooled, his every thought and action controlled by others. But no longer. He was his own dragon.

And his mate needed him.

His skin sizzled, a reminder of the markings that covered him. Magic surged and burst from him like a tidal wave. He ripped the door away and tossed it to the side, tearing a hole in the newly repaired wall as he rushed into the room.

“KORA!”

Impatience needled Brandr. The first and second tunnels hadn’t led anywhere. They were on their third attempt. The passage had led up, then down, and they were once more on an incline. Everyone in his group was anxious to reach the others.

“This better fucking be it,” Hector muttered the words each of them was thinking.

Merrill stilled. “Listen,” he bade softly.

They stopped. It was faint, but Brandr heard the unmistakable sound of armor.

“Soldiers,” Alasdair muttered in disgust.

Rhi teleported from beside Con to the front of the group. “Let’s show them they chose the wrong side.”

“It’s a diversion,” Con stated.

Rhi turned her head to look back at Con and smiled. “Of course it is, my love. I’ll take care of them while the rest of you make your way out.”

Brandr grinned as his father muttered a curse when Rhi raced down the tunnel. They all followed and came out to find her fighting a squadron of Stonemore soldiers who had been waiting for them.

There was no time to respond as the Kings worked their way through the soldiers, moving toward the next tunnel. Alasdair reached it first, with Hector and Merrill right behind him. Brandr was last and looked back to see his parents fighting side by side.

“Go!” Con bellowed at them.

Merrill grabbed Brandr and yanked him along. They ran through passage after passage, zigzagging their way through the mountain. Soldiers poured out of every crevice in a bid to stop them. But the mortals were no match for four Kings on a mission.

“Here!” Merrill shouted when he found the stairs.

Brandr took the sword from the soldier he fought and sliced his throat before running to join the others already making their way up. Multiple tunnels branched off from the stairs, but they continued up the spiral staircase.

One moment, they were on the stairs. The next, they were running through the palace halls. Until a bellow stopped them cold.

“Derek,” Brandr said.

Merrill’s jaw locked as he leaped onto the balcony on the floor above. By the time Brandr followed, Merrill had already disappeared around the corner.

The sight before Derek was one of horror. The lava was gone, replaced by thick ice. Kora was bound in the middle of the room, her arms chained and stretched taut. She hung limply, her arms at odd angles and her head bowed. Dark red droplets splattered the ice below her head while more soaked her side to puddle on the ice at her knee.

He stopped at the edge of the frozen water. Reaching her wasn’t the problem. It was getting her free. He scanned the ice, looking for any surprises. Just like the lava, it was thinner near the edges and thickened at the center where Kora stood.

Derek tested it to see if it would hold him. He thought about cracking it on purpose but decided to reach Kora first. When the ice held, he hurriedly made his way to her. He tried to lift her but couldn’t budge her from the ice. If he couldn’t take her out, then he would break her free.

“Hold on, Kora,” he said. “I’m coming.”

She gave no indication that she’d heard him. Derek raced back to the shore and reared back his fist, slamming it down with all his might. A thick crack formed from the impact and spread like a web beneath the surface. He struck the ice again, expecting it to split open. All he got were more fractures.

Derek hit the same impact point twice more in rapid succession. On the second blow, the ice finally tore apart. He jumped to his feet, ready to run to her and haul her out when she jerked and began screaming. Derek saw the reason when the ice that had opened near her leg shot out like small needles and sank into her skin, encasing her limb in ice. The crack he had worked so hard at producing had also healed itself.

“Nay!” he said in frustration.

He couldn’t take her out. He couldn’t break her out. What was he supposed to do?

“Need some help?”

Derek turned to find Merrill standing in the doorway. He had never been so happy to see anyone before. As Derek quickly explained what he had already attempted, Brandr and Hector arrived.

“Fire,” Con said as he and Rhi entered the room.

Derek looked at the ice that now ran up Kora’s legs. “The fire can’t get close to her. There’s also a chance the ice will attack her again.”

“We willna know until we try. Besides, with all of us dousing it, there should be time for you to get her out,” Merrill said.

Hector rubbed his hands together and eyed the ice. “Aye. It willna stay frozen for long.”

“I’ll get her out,” Rhi said.

Derek shook his head as he walked back onto the ice to stand beside Kora. “I’ll start working on it from here.”

“Spread out,” Con urged the other Kings.

Derek waited until they had taken their places around the shoreline before he warned, “Don’t let the flames touch Kora.”

“Soldiers are coming,” Rhi said as she peered out the door. “I’ll handle them.”

Con grimaced at his mate’s retreating back. Derek understood exactly how he felt. He had never attempted to breathe fire without being in dragon form, but if there was a way, then he would do it. One by one, the Kings released fire upon the ice. Derek watched it melt. He drew in a deep breath and touched Kora’s cold fingers, then blew out, fire exploding from his mouth.