Page 90 of The Rose in the Shadows

The hair on the back of my neck rose all too suddenly.

“Why can’t I leave?” I questioned him.

“Sorry, Miss, m’afraid you can’t be going quite yet,” he repeated, in the same intonation and pitch as before. That type of speech pattern was… familiar.

The sound of it sent my magic sweeping from my core into my fingertips and this time I didn’t fight to repress it. I kept it there, controlled but at the ready.

Gently, I made a move to push past him.

“Sorry, Miss, m’afraid you can’t be going quite yet.”

The boy was impossibly quick, pushing me away from the door and brandishing a blade. At first, it seemed as if he planned to use it against me, but he pressed it to his own throat.

“I’m to stop anyone who tries to leave, Miss. I’m to pierce this blade into my throat if they try.”

The realization hit me with the force of the Gods themselves stepping back down upon the Mortal Realm. I stumbled back a few feet, but he didn’t react. He stood like a statue, unmovable and unphased. I was in danger. We wereallin danger.

I knew why this was so familiar to me.

I fled from him in such a rush that my heel caught on the back of my dress, and I stumbled, falling to a heap on the floor, which earned me a few suspicious glances. Unwilling to waste any time, I scrambled up, hiking my skirts above my knees as I sought his blonde hair and broad shoulders. Muttered complaints met me when I bumped into people on the dancefloor as I sprinted to him.

“Clay!” I cried out, latching onto his arms as I threw myself at him.

His dance partner spit out complaints, but Clay steadied me, shoulders tightening in annoyance. His lips turned down in a frown, no doubt ready to bark a complaint at me, but he froze when he saw the fear in my eyes. I felt his grip on my arms tighten.

“What is it?”

“The servant.” I panted, pointing at the boy on the wall. “He’s being compelled.”

As we met each other’s eyes, there was only a minute for us to prepare each other for what was about to happen. He looked over my head to the room around me, to the people filling it, as the ground began to shake. And then he pulled me to him, wrapping an arm over my head to shield me as the explosions started sounding around us.

The world faded around me and somehow I was back in the moment I sat on the ground, fighting off a wall of fire and struggling to breathe. The memory was alive around me, suffocating in its intensity and entirely paralyzing. Only Clay’s grip on me kept me from tipping over. Could he hear my heart? Surely it pounded loudly enough for him to hear. Clay spoke, but the roaring of terror in my head kept me from hearing anything.

Breathe.I commanded myself, forcing air in and out of my lungs.

The candles in the hall were all extinguished, and screams filled the air. In a frenzied rush, people moved to seek cover and attempt to aid those who were injured in the blast. And by the Gods, there wereso manywho were already wounded. Numbly, I noticed the streak of blood on my dress. A piece of debris had hit the arm Clay had used to cover my head, slicing the skin open.

I grabbed at his arm, as if the only thing that mattered in that moment was making sure he was okay. The shard had ripped the skin open, but the cut didn’t look deep. At least, I didn’t thinkit was. I wasn’t a nurse. Clay needed to see a nurse. Someone needed to check that he was okay.

Gently, he sat his hand over mine and nodded that he was alright. I wanted to protest, but his hand wrapped around the back of my neck, forcing me to look at him.

“They’re locking us in here,” Clay told me, voice tense.

“How can you tell?”

“Look.” He pointed to the walls, and sure enough, posted at each door was another servant with arms crossed over their chest and feet planted.

I squinted as my eyes adjusted to the darkness, frantically trying to determine what was happening. The room was a tangle of bodies, more and more falling dead and injured by the minute. The servants were attacking, each brandishing all forms of swords, knives, and magic. And while the guests were starting to fight back, it had taken far too long for them to realize what was happening. It had already been a massacre.

Clay snapped into action immediately. Grasping hold of my hand, he pulled me back to a corner of the room by the empty throne, which the Dragon and Queen vacated hours ago when they retired for the evening. He roughly shoved me under a table without hesitation, shouting for Rankor to stand guard.

“No!” I screamed, latching onto his wrist so tight I felt my nails break the skin.

“They’re here for you, Thea!” He reminded me, eyes flashing around the room as he calculated his next move.

I knew they were here for me. Gods, I knew that. And I felt the weight of every lifeless body on the floor pressing into my heart. Before this night was over, more would lose their lives because of me. So Hyrax help me, I wouldn’t sit here and hide while innocent blood was shed on my behalf.

“I can help!” I declared, voice firm. “Let me help, Clay. I won’t let these people die for me while I do nothing.”

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