Page 42 of The Rose in the Shadows

“There.” I pointed, hands shaking. “The dresses.”

He didn’t hesitate. Clay moved in a blur. In one moment he was at my side and in the next he had lifted the package of dresses from where they had fallen to the ground. I tried not toflinch when I saw his fingernails extend into dark claws, but I didn’t dare look away as he shredded through the fabrics.

“Got it!” He yelled as a small brown satchel fell loose from a tattered bodice.

I was dying.

The awareness of it was sudden and absolute. This was it. The past month of preparing to fit into this court had been pointless. My life was ending right here and now, long before they forced me into a marriage or onto the Council.

At least I would be free.

A black vignette clouded the corners of my vision, and slowly, the pain faded. Everything faded until all I could feel was the sensation of my body sinking.

I wondered if Hyrax would be waiting to greet me as I entered the Underworld.

Clay held the satchel in his palm, opened his mouth, and unleashed a torrent of scorching orange flames that filled the entire room with their sudden heat.

And then…

It was over, and I could breathe.

The relief was immediate. I slumped forward with it, shaking from head to toe. Slowly, too slowly, breathing got easier until the pain in my head subsided, and the burning in my chest calmed. I coughed the final bits of blood onto the floor before me before scraping the back of my palm across my mouth.

“What… was that?” I sputtered from where I sat in the puddle of my own blood.

The look on Clay’s face was not one I would soon forget. With his eyes burning with golden fire and his fingers and arms black and scaled over, he looked down at me with a set jaw and furrowed brow. Sometimes, I forget the extent of animalistic rage that could exist under the surface of his princely decorum. Ishivered, meeting his gaze. His shoulders trembled as he took a single, deep breath to calm himself.

“Someone just tried to kill you."

Chapter Thirteen

Clay and I talked little in the hour that followed the attack. His rage settled quickly, and he reverted to his role as a prince and responsible ruler. The night’s festivities seemed a million miles away as he snapped into action, calling in guards and nurses within minutes. Gone was the man who had openly shared his childhood with me. All that remained was a future monarch with a threat to address.

The guards began investigating my suite while the nurses cared for me with tender touches and curious eyes. I had insisted I was fine when Clay first demanded the nurses come directly to my suites with haste, but he hardly even acknowledged me. I questioned whether he had even heard me at all. And so, the nurses looked me over, investigating my ears, nose, and mouth. I protested quietly but was more than relieved to be handed a goblet with hazy liquid, which soothed my raw throat.

“My lady,” Dimitri greeted me, dipping into a low bow with a somber expression. “Is there anything I can do for you?”

Guilt clouded his eyes.

“Iris,” I croaked, clasping my hands together close to my chest to hide how badly they were still shaking. “Can you get Iris?”

Dimitri nodded, exiting the suite promptly. There was no need for him to feel bad. I had been the one to go out to the tavern. If I had stayed where I belonged, he would have been able to keep a watchful eye on me, and perhaps none of this would have happened. I would need to remind him of that when I was finally thinking clearly and over the shock.

For now, though, my mind was scattered from exhaustion. In a matter of hours, I had signed away the rights to my marriage choices, learned that the kingdom’s leader was an abusive murderer, identified the emotional trigger for my powers, impressed an entire tavern with my card skills, and nearly died. No, I hadn’t just nearly died. I’d been nearly murdered.

Someone had tried to kill me.

Just when I thought I’d started to redeem myself from that day on the bridge, I wondered if I ever could. Had someone tried to kill me to seek revenge for that day? Or maybe a foreign enemy was eager to avoid a united Council in Athenia. Even the Dragon himself had told me he wanted me dead; perhaps my disrespect earlier in the night had been more than he would tolerate. And maybe there was no other reason than that I was the last living Descendant of a widely hated God.

Maybe people in this court didn’t want the House of Hyrax to be resurrected.

“Oh, my Gods!” Iris cried, bursting into the room with all the dramatic flair I’d expect from her. She crouched before me on the floor, taking my hands into her own. Her cheeks were streaked black from where her tears had mixed with the kohl around her eyes.

Dimitri followed her in, holding the large door for the rest of our companions, still dressed for the tavern.

“You’re all here?” I muttered, eyes wide as I processed the new flood of bodies. They were my friends. I trusted them, of course, but the growing number of people in the room was getting uncomfortable. I felt myself sinking back into the chair like I might melt away.

“We were all together in my suite when Dimitri came to get me,” Iris explained.

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