Page 38 of Royal Guard

We ran.

The night air was shockingly cold after the fire, like jumping into a lake. And the night was black, after the blinding brightness of the fire: the only light was from the blooms of fire as mortar rounds hit the fields around us. We ran flat out, legs pumping, lungs heaving, and we covered ground fast. For a glorious few seconds, I thought maybe I’d been wrong. Maybe the sniper wasn’t watching, maybe he’d changed position—

There was a tug on my shirt as a bullet passed through the flapping fabric. I cut left for two steps, then right—

The Princess screamed. I looked at her in panic: was she hit? But she was still running: the bullet had just passed so close, she’d heard it. Twenty yards to the house. I jinked right, then left. Ten yards—

The bullet was meant for her but it passed between us, clipping my left thigh. I grunted and sprawled on my face, my leg exploding into pain. My hand was torn from hers and she ran on a few steps...then slowed.

“No!”I yelled. “Keep going!” I was scrambling to my feet but my leg didn’t want to cooperate. “Keep going!”

She was nearly safe. But she turned and ran back to me.

I imagined the sniper lining up his next shot. But before I could stop her, she’d hauled my arm over her shoulder and was helping me heave myself to my feet. I couldn’t speak: I was too scared for her, too focused on the bullet I knew was coming—

It hit the ground an inch from her right foot. Westumbled the last few yards….

And then we were hidden by the house. We fell heavily against its wall, panting. I wanted to kiss her. I wanted to kill her for putting herself at risk for me. In the end, I just said, “Thank you.”

I felt my leg, wincing. The bullet had just clipped the flesh: it would slow me down, but it would be okay as long as I got a dressing on it.

There was a subtle change in the whistle of the mortar rounds. I glimpsed one arcing overhead, followed it down….

It hit the roof of the house and erupted into flames. I froze, staring up at it in horror. A few seconds later, another one hit the end wall. Flaming liquid bathed the house from roof to ground and the flames roared as they took hold.Oh Jesus...Dad is in there!I took a step towards the door, then stopped.

I couldn’t leave her alone. But I couldn’t leave them to die in there.

I turned to the Princess. “Stay here,” I ordered. “Stay right here! I have to help them.” Then I remembered Jakov.Shit!This might all be part of the plan: the assassins attack and their man on the inside kills her while everyone’s looking outward. “If you see Jakov, don’t trust him!” I told her. “Don’t let him near you!”

She nodded.

And I ran.

26

KRISTINA

He ran to the door,stumbling a little each time he put his weight on his wounded leg. Then he was inside, the screen door swinging closed behind him. Another mortar round hit the house and I heard one of the upstairs windows shatter as another room erupted into flames.No!

I looked around me, tears flooding my eyes. It looked like hell had come to the ranch. The barn was just a seething mass of flame, only a few skeletal timbers still standing. The fields were rolling seas of orange. Even the trees were burning. Now the Buchanan’s family home was on fire.And this is all my fault. I brought this down on them!

Another mortar round flew overhead, but this one didn’t hit the house. It went further, arcing down to hit a distant building that had been unscathed until now. Flaming liquid spread along the roof, letting me see the shape of it. Long and low. The stables.

A sound carried on the wind: snorts and desperatehooves, whinnies of fear. My chest contracted.Oh my God: the horses!

The stables was in the lee of the house, hidden from the sniper. I looked once towards the house, remembering Garrett’s order to stay put….

And then I ran.

27

GARRETT

I burst into the house.Down on the first floor, everything looked almost normal. But I could hear the roar of flames from upstairs and white smoke was billowing down the stairs. I pounded up them, gritting my teeth at the pain in my leg. “Dad!”

No reply. The second floor was filling up with smoke, lit up orange by the flames. One whole end of the house was ablaze and it was spreading fast. Worse, the whole roof was creaking and once it came down, nowhere would be safe. “Dad!”

I heard a curse from one of the bedrooms, then he stumbled into me, coughing. Both of us bent over, trying to suck in the cleaner air down near the floor. “Princess safe?” he managed between coughs.

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