Page 234 of The War and Deceit Series omnibus

She’s addressing everyone, yet she has us staring at the king as she speaks. His face is a blank mask, but his eyes hold rage.

As quickly as she arrived, the goddess departs my body just as swiftly, leaving me feeling drained and dizzy. Lightheaded, I stumble, but Vaeril mercifully catches me, wrapping his arm around me. My connection to the goddess feels completely empty, depleted, and I know she must have used everything she had just then. She saved my life.

Without a word, everyone falls back into formation, and we face the large ballroom doors and the priests blocking them.

“Arrest them,” the king orders, a smugness to his tone that shows he’s used to being obeyed without question. Except the guards around us don’t move. “Stop them,” he orders again, his voice dark with anger now, but still, no one moves.

We come to a stop just in front of the doors where the priests wait, and I feel their gazes on me, then one by one, they hurry away, the memory of what happened to Rodrick fresh in their minds. A wave of magic washes over me, and the doors blast open with a gesture of Grayson’s hands. Without needing to be told, those at the front of our group start to move, and we hurry through the castle, not running, but our steps are swift.

Shouting sounds behind us. Glancing over my shoulder, I see the body of a guard fly into the hallway and smash into the wall. Rhydian stumbles out after him, his entire body quaking.

“No,” Jacob whispers beside me, his eyes wide, and I realise he just witnessed the same thing I did. Somehow, Rhydian just threw that guard, but that should be impossible, he’s human. He shouldn’t be that strong.

Rhydian falls to the ground and lets out a bloodcurdling howl, his back bending in ways that shouldn’t be possible. The hair on my arms stand on end, and my mark glows dimly in warning, burning as it tells me one thing—go.

Jacob has the same instinct, his eyes round with panic. “Run!”

We don’t need to be told twice. Picking up my skirts, I run like my life depends on it. We hurtle through the castle hallways, the magicians leading us, their protective barrier still in place, but I can see the strain it’s taking on them. The elves could run faster and leave us, but they don’t, they stay in formation alongside us the entire time. Exhaustion fills me, every cell in my body crying out to stop, to rest, but then that scream sounds again, and I know whatever strangeness Rhydian had been battling within his body won. Rhydian lost.

Rounding a corner, we reach the entrance hall, and I want to cry with relief when I see that our carriages and horses are waiting for us. Grayson, Tor, and Eldrin break off and start organising each group into travelling parties, making sureeveryone is here as the magicians start mounting horses. We are going to need to leave here quickly. I begin to hurry towards the stone steps leading to the carriages when a wave of dark, sticky power rolls over me, dragging me down to the ground with a cry.

“Clarissa!” Jacob calls out, turning to help me, but I wave him away, Vaeril and Naril already at my side.

“Go, get in the carriage.” Gesturing with my hands, I order Jacob to go, needing to make sure he gets out of here. He pauses, uncertainty shining in his eyes, but something over my shoulder seems to change his mind, and he nods and moves towards the exit and the waiting carriages. Turning to Naril, I grab his arm, gripping it tightly to ensure he’s paying attention. “Make sure everyone is safe, I’ll be right there.” Naril stares at me, his usual grin gone as his eyes scan my face, but he slowly nods his head, pushes to his feet, and hurries to the carriages.

Now that we’re alone, Vaeril grabs my face and pulls it around so I meet his gaze. “It’s the prince, isn’t it?” Nodding, I try to fight off the heavy sensation. It feels like a twisted version of magic, except it feelswrong.I wait for my gift to start fighting it, to free me from its inky grip, but as I extend my awareness, I find the source of the strange magic isn’t what’s stopping me. My gift works by breaking the spell itself, and whatever this is that is clinging to my skin is a by-product of the original spell. Very clever.

Realising I can’t move and feeling my fear through our bond, Vaeril snarls. He wraps one arm around my back and slips another under my legs and lifts me from the ground, using his supernatural speed to get us down the steps and to the door of the carriage.

“Not so fast, Clarissa.” The voice, although said no louder than a casual hello, seems to echo and reverberate around the black stone walls of the courtyard, making the horses whinny and stamp their hooves. A cool finger of ice drags down myspine, and I know Rhydian has caught up with us. Pausing by the open door of the carriage, Tor holds out his hands to help me into it, but I don’t accept, instead gesturing for Vaeril to put me down. He’s going to refuse, I can sense it, so I place my hand on his chest, right over his heart, and reach for our connection. His expression tightens, but he nods and sets me down, keeping his arm around my waist.

The pressure on my legs has eased now, thanks to the magical barrier we passed through, but I know that Rhydian was somehow behind it. Standing tall, I turn to face the prince. He’s just inside the doorway, and although he hasn’t changed physically, it feels like I’m looking at a different person. When I meet his eyes, a wave of terror runs through me, and I know I was right, something has taken over the prince. The strangeness I felt pulsing from him erratically is now a solid feeling. I see nothing human in his gaze any longer, I just see darkness and evil.

Trying not to shy away from the feline grin he gives me, I keep my spine straight as I address him, acutely aware of how quiet the courtyard is. “What are you?”

My question seems to startle him, his smile dropping, his face going blank for a few seconds. Anger flashes across his features, and I glance around as I witness the king’s guards hurrying from the courtyard, leaving us alone with the prince. The atmosphere suddenly intensifies, and I hear swords being removed from scabbards and feel the buzz of magic in the air as my companions prepare for an attack. Guards appear on the walls with bows and arrows drawn, yet I can’t help but notice that many of them are anxiously watching Rhydian rather than us, their target.

Returning my gaze to Rhydian, I see he’s grinning at me again, back in control of his emotions. “I am what you forced me to become,” he finally replies with a cryptic remark.

What I forced him to become?I muse.What does he mean by that?I’m unable to think of any possible way I could have forced him to do anything, but I feel a building darkness, and the longer we stand here, the larger it grows. We need to leave before it’s too late. With growing dismay, I realise there is no way we are all going to get out of here together. There are too many archers, and with Rhydian’s dark magic…

“Let them go and you can have me.” My voice is strong and sure, ringing out as I step forward—if only I felt that confident inside. My innards are a twisted mess as my heart pounds against my ribcage. There’s an outcry from the carriages, male and female voices alike calling out their disagreement, and my heart warms that so many would miss me should anything happen to me. However, that only makes me more determined. Vaeril’s hand tightens on my waist, and I instinctively peer over my shoulder at him. The look on his face nearly breaks me, almost makes me turn around and climb into the carriage with him, curl up into his arms, and promise never to leave. I’ve never seen such vulnerability on his face before, even when returning to the place where he’d been held captive for over a century.

Then I remind myself that he is the reason I must do this. Him and Tor and Eldrin and Grayson. Not to mention my new family, friends, and everyone else who deserves better than a tyrannical king and evil queen.

I open my mouth to explain, but a maniacal laugh cuts me off. I spin, my top lip automatically pulling back in a snarl as I drop into a defensive stance. Rhydian is much closer now, having moved silently with a speed he shouldn’t possess. I hear Jacob shouting that we need to leave before he starts, but I don’t understand what he’s saying, my focus on the prince.

Tilting his head to one side, he blinks his black, soulless eyes at me, his smile widening, showing too many teeth. “Why would I do that when I can have all of you?”

Fear unlike anything I’ve ever felt before pulses through my veins as he raises his arms, and I realise I’m too late. His body seems to shimmer as a thick, inky mist leaves his hands, crawling towards us across the ground. I hold my breath, knowing that if that magic fog was to touch us, death would surely follow. There’s movement to my right, where Grayson and Ellis make sweeping gestures with their hands, their faces tight with concentration. My skin tingles with the strength of their magic as they strengthen the barrier. Vaeril pulls me back against him, holding me closer, and I feel the hands of the others as they lean through the open carriage door. Their touches steady me as we all watch the swarming fog.

When it hits the barrier, the mages grimace, but they stay strong as the fog crawls up and over the invisible dome-like shield. I watch Rhydian through the gaps of the writhing mist as it continues to move over us, his grin still stretched wide. He doesn’t seem upset that his power hasn’t reached us, almost like…like that was never the purpose of it in the first place. As I turn around, everything speeds up, the mist suddenly gaining a life of its own and creating a living, writhing barrier across the open gateway, blocking our escape.

I realise now what my earlier premonition was referring to, and it was this moment. If I want my friends to escape, I’ll have to break the spell, and to do that, I need to touch it. There is no way Rhydian is going to let us go easily. If there were just the six of us, then we might have been able to slip through, but with a group this size and a spell that large…

Grayson dismounts from his horse and hurries over to my side, his eyes on the moving barrier impeding our escape. I know what he’s going to ask, and the weight of that responsibility is hanging heavily over him, so I won’t make him say it. As he reaches us, I reach out and take his hand, turning to my companions in the carriage. Vaeril’s face is already set in adisapproving frown, having sensed the direction of my feelings. “I have to break the spell,” I tell him before turning to the others. I don’t miss Grayson’s quiet sigh or the feeling of relief and little pulses of love reaching me from our bond.

Turning to him, I squeeze his hand, needing to make sure he understands. I know my elves would happily sacrifice the others if it meant I would be safe and return to them. However, Grayson will get the others to safety if I ask him to, he understands this is about more than just me. “As soon as the barrier is down, you need to rush through, it won’t be long before it’s back up again.”

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