Page 23 of The Broken Prince

“No.” I walked off and headed back into the castle to do as she asked, but then the ground shook again and I stumbled forward, almost cracking my cheekbone against the stone. Once I caught myself, I stayed still, the world vibrating so much that I couldn’t stand up, no matter how hard I tried. I looked up at the castle above me—hoping that it wouldn’t topple over on me.

The shaking finally stopped.

“Harlow.” Mother was on top of me, pulling me to my feet. “Are you alright?”

“I’m fine.” I straightened, still feeling slightly dizzy. “But I don’t think that was an earthquake…”

The look on my mother’s face said it all.

My heart dropped like a stone. “I’ll send a letter to Father first—”

“He can’t help us right now. We need to figure this out on our own.”

“But they can send the dragons.”

Mother gave a nod. “You’re right.”

“Queen Rolfe!” A guard ran up the hill. “They’ve broken through the gate. We can’t stop them.”

“Fuck. Who’s they?”

She digested this information in a second of silence before she pulled her blade from the scabbard. “Take Pyre. Fly to HeartHolme and get the dragons.”

“I’m not leaving you here, and neither will Pyre.”

“He’s on his way to you now.”

“He needs to fight! Not flee—”

“Harlow.”

We both turned when we heard the sound of men screaming…grown-ass men. A guard went flying up the hill, like he was lighter than a pebble. Footsteps were audible and sounded like a stampede, and then they came into view… Men…that didn’t quite look like men. Their arms were exposed instead of covered in armor…and their veins glowed like liquid fire burned in their veins. They were slightly taller than most men, even taller than my father.

“What…what are they?” I pulled out my own blade, even though I had no chance to wield it against these opponents.

Her hand went to my shoulder without looking at me. “Run.” She gave me a hard shove, pushing me harder than she ever had, like she hated me. Her guards surrounded her, taking their positions to protect their queen.

I couldn’t run. All I could do was stare in sheer terror.

The one in the lead halted when he spotted my mother. The bones in his face were different from ours. They were much harder, much more square, like he had more bones than the average being. His skin was dark, the color of ash, and his eyes were dark but bright at the same time. He sneered as he looked at her—like she’d been the object of this pursuit. “Queen Rolfe, I wish to have a word with your husband.” His voice was deep, so deep it didn’t sound human.

My mother said nothing.

I breathed so hard I was on the verge of blacking out. My father had trained me against men his size, but I had no chance against monsters like this. There was no outcome in which we survived this, in which my mother and I walked away from this alive.

She gripped her sword and took her defensive stance—as if she intended to fight him.

“No…”

My mother conjured courage out of thin air, faced monsters more terrifying than Necrosis with a spine stronger than the steel in her blade. “Looks like you’ll have to deal with me instead.”

The smile the monster wore widened, and his cheeks hollowed even more. He was surrounded by five of his own men, all far more powerful than any soldier in our military. Even if it were twenty to one, it was unlikely we would win. “With pleasure.”

They all moved instantaneously, the monsters launching themselves at the guards already too terrified to hold their blades. It was a slaughter, heads chopped off, screams from men before blades were stabbed into their throats. It all happened in thirty seconds, probably less.

My mother was the last one standing.

The monster came down on her, swiping his blade with a speed I could barely watch, but my mother somehow kept up. She met his blade with her own, dodged the blade before it swiped through her neck, rolled out of the way before his bare fist struck her in the side of the head.

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