Page 101 of The Last Heir of Elsewhere

I needed to get to her.

“Let me go,” I demanded of Scion once more.

This time, he dropped me, seeming to think I was aiming to escape the crumbling building. Instead, I dashed out of the now-open cell, and fell to the ground beside my mother.

Nothing made sense.

How was she here? What had happened? And, most importantly of all, why would she want to kill me?

I would never get the answers if we let her die here.

“Help me!” I demanded, whipping my head around.

Bael did not seem to understand the words I was saying, and Scion didn’t so much as look at my mother as he reached for me, picking me up and dragging me toward the door.

“Let’s fucking go.”

“We need to save her!”

I screamed with frustration, as Scion threw me over his shoulder, holding my legs against his chest. “Not if the castle is about to fall on top of us, I don’t give a fuck about anyone but you.”

“I’ll hate you for this!” I yelled, and for once as I spoke there was no pain in my throat.

“Fine, hate me,” he growled. “I love you enough for both of us.”

Tears streamed down my face, and I watched in desperation as the dungeon moved further and further away. Bael ran behind Scion, his eyes on me, and I pleaded silently with him to understand what I was saying. To care. To save my mother.

But, he didn’t. Even if he’d been himself at the moment, I knew deep down that he would have agreed with Scion. Neither one of them would risk my life to save the woman who’d just tried to kill me.

Even if she was the one who’d given me life to begin with.

Despair nearly drowned me, but then, my eyes caught a glimpse of the man with striking violet eyes. I lifted my head up, my heart beating faster once more.

Bael’s dark magic had torn through his cell, setting him free, after all. His grin was one of victory as he chased after us, with a strength I would not have thought possible after so many years underground.

“Wait!” I yelled out to him, panic rising in my voice. I frantically gestured toward my mother’s lifeless form behind Scion’s back. “Please, save her!” My voice cracked. “You owe me.”

In truth, it was Bael who he owed his freedom to, but without me, Bael would never have been freed in the first place. The man faltered, and looked directly at me for a long second. He bent and scooped my mother into his arms.

A wave of relief washed over me. She may die anyway, but at least now there was a chance.

* * *

We sprintedout of the dungeon and fled from the collapsing castle. Scion, in the lead with me over his shoulder, Bael the lion loping behind us, and the violet eyed stranger carrying my mother taking up the rear.

This time, we quickly located the stairs that would take us to the upper levels. I wondered vaguely if it was because of Bael, or perhaps the magic of the castle was collapsing along with the walls. Still, in no time at all we burst through the heavy wooden doors and into the blinding sunlight outside the ancient palace.

“We need to get back to the ship,” I insisted.

Scion dropped me back to my feet so I could meet his scowling gaze. “The ship? No. The bridge is right fucking there, rebel.” He pointed wildly at one of the several long rickety bridges that crossed the chasm.

“No, but?—”

I broke off. In the confusion, I’d forgotten to consider that Scion hated his brother. Both Bael and Scion viewed Ambrose as nothing more than a villain, and they wouldn’t be likely to trust him.

In that same moment, I realized that Ididtrust him.

Ambrose had promised that he would meet me at the ship, and that was where we needed to go. We couldn’t leave him behind, any more than I could’ve left my traitorous mother.

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