“Lena’s in here,” I say, when he reaches me. I expect him to immediately enter the Mirrored Hall. Instead, he cups the back of my head and pulls me against his chest.
His embrace is tight, and I swear I feel a shudder go through his body when he lays his head against mine. God, the news of my supposed death must have rattled him. He shouldn’t be holding me like this—he should be rushing to protect Lena—but I lean into him, giving him a few seconds before I move back so that I can peer up into his face.
“I’m sorry,” I tell him, though I’m not sure why. It’s not like I wanted to be captured by the remnants. But I definitely didn’t want to hurt him either.
I feel his chest rise as he draws in a breath, then he lets me go. Whatever he thought or felt when he pulled me into his arms doesn’t show on his face. His expression is as hard and unreadable as a stone’s.
After one quick glance at the fight below, he motions me inside the Mirrored Hall.
“Why are you here?” Kyol’s voice rings out as we stride toward Lena. The remnant she was interrogating is gone. Into the ether, I presume.
“Privacy,” she bites back.
He takes her arm when he reaches her side, starts pulling her toward the gap in the wall the servant entered and exited through earlier. “If you’d been in the king’s hall or your quarters, you could have escaped by now.”
“Escape?” She jerks free. “I’m not leaving the palace.”
“You are.”
“If I leave, I lose everything,” she says, her tone scathing. Then, when Kyol reaches for her again, she adds, “Touch me again, and I’ll kill you.”
I think she might mean that.
“If you die,” he counters, “the rebellion loses everything.”
Her nostrils flare. She tightens her right hand around the hilt of her sword, then, her gaze steely, she lifts her left. In it, she’s holding an anchor-stone. It’s jagged and an opalescent smoky gray.
“A remnant had this,” she says. “It will lead to a Sidhe Tol. A new Sidhe Tol.”
“They found another?” I ask, alarmed. King Atroth knew the locations of only three of the Ancestors’ Gates. Those gates allow fae to fissure into areas protected by silver. They’re located in my world, and I know Atroth had fae constantly searching for others, but what are the chances that they found one now?
“We need to secure the Sidhe Tol,” she says. The words are an order, and her rigid tone and regal posture say she expects it to be carried out, and quickly. She sounds very much like the daughter of a high noble, and it’s apparently a queenly enough tone that Kyol doesn’t argue.
His gaze remains on Lena. “Naito will go to the Sidhe Tol with Jorreb.” His jaw clenches. “You’ll stay with Lena, McKenzie. Make sure an illusionist doesn’t assassinate her.”
With that, Kyol turns and exits the hall.
“Looks like we have our orders,” Aren mutters. He doesn’t leave immediately, though. He turns me toward him, pulls me into his arms, and kisses me before I’m able to focus on his face. I feel more in his kiss than I’d ever see in his expression: affection, desire, and respect. Fear.
“Remember,” he whispers, pulling back slightly. “Be careful. Please. I can’t lose you again.”
Naito goes with him, leaving me alone with Lena. She waits all of five seconds before she uses her foot to scoop up the dead remnant’s sword. She catches its hilt in the air, then hands it to me with a terse, “Follow me.”
I stare down at the sword. It’s a long, slender weapon that looks elegant and light but is lethal and heavy. The blade is slightly longer than my arm, and the jaedric-wrapped hilt is grooved from the remnant’s fingers. My hand is smaller than his, so the grip is awkward.
“Lena, we shouldn’t—”
She’s almost to the doors of the Mirrored Hall.
“Lena, wait!”
I manage to catch her arm before she steps onto the balcony. “You can’t leave this room.”
Cold silver eyes rise to meet mine. “You would rather me let people die than go out there and heal them?”
“They’re fighting for you. I’d rather you stay alive, so it’s not in vain.”
“I’m not staying here, McKenzie.” She shakes loose.
I blow out a breath and follow her.
She must have forgotten I’m human because I can’t catch up, not until she stops at the top of the staircase, looking down at the battle below. Her face hardens. I think I know why: she’s not used to seeing so many fae injured in the middle of a fight. They usually fissure out if they’re hurt badly enough. They can’t do that here. Her people are hurt. Without her help, they’re going to lie there and die.
“Lena,” Trev says, climbing the steps.
Lena descends the stairs, passing Trev without a word. His gaze locks onto my sword, and I swear to God I see his eyes widen.
Great, I look as ridiculous as I feel carrying this thing.
“Stay with us,” I order as I go down the stairs two at a time, trying to catch up with Lena.
She kills a remnant before the fae is able to slam his sword into the rebel lying injured on the floor. His soul-shadow replaces his body. Lena passes through it, kneels by the rebel’s side, and places her hands on his mangled leg.
Another fae approaches. Before I have to make a decision on whether I’m actually going to have to try to fight him, Trev engages him.
Thank God.
I turn back to Lena, but she’s already moved on. Damn it. Kyol should have ordered her to stay with me. I can’t keep up, and I really, really don’t want to move farther into the fight.
I draw in a breath, start to move her way, when a cry to my left catches my attention.
It’s Jacia. She falls back, barely deflecting a remnant’s attack. The remnant’s back is to me, and he swings at her again, then again and again, relentless in his attack. Jacia is barely holding him off.
And his back is still to me.
She’ll die if I don’t help her.
I pull back my sword as I step left, giving myself a straight shot at the remnant’s side, where the bindings holding his cuirass together are tied. Putting all my weight behind me, I thrust my sword forward.
Only a few inches of the blade slide in, but those few inches hurt. The fae turns, screaming. He starts to lift his sword to attack me, but Jacia takes advantage of the distraction I caused. She swings her blade at the remnant’s neck. It slides cleanly all the way through. Blood arcs through the air as the head and body fall.
Jacia nods her thanks.
A nod of thanks for helping her kill someone else.
I clench my teeth together, turn, but I’ve lost sight of Lena and Trev.
“Shit,” I mutter. I have to find her. The illusionist in the Mirrored Hall was there because he was looking for her, and the remnants have other illusionists—Tylan is one. He might try to assassinate her.
Thinking about Tylan makes me think about Paige. Is she here? Is Lee? No other humans are in this antechamber, just remnants and rebels absorbed in destroying each other. Maybe Paige has gone back to Earth already.
My heartbeat thunders in my chest as I make my way to the wall, then follow it around until I reach a corridor that leads toward the eastern wing of the palace and the veligh, the waterfront. That’s where we’re the most vulnerable, so that might be where Lena’s heading.