Page 127 of Blooms of Darkness

I grunted, snapping the neck of the dark one fighting me just as he brought his sword back to strike. “You have a way of exaggerating your numbers.”

Storm chuckled at my taunt and spun to look at me. “Are you feeling all right?”

“I miss Jax and Raya. They would never ask me in the middle of a battle about this,” I muttered, swinging my sword at the dark ones rushing toward me.

Storm slid his blade into the approaching attacker’s chest.

“That counts as mine,” I said.

“Your shadows are dimming,” Storm countered, lunging to the right at a battle cry from one of the few remaining dark ones around us. “You’re welcome for caring.”

I chuckled as Storm battled the next victim he’d selected to be added as the next tally mark on his death scroll.

Just to prove him wrong, I commanded my shadows to the dark one he fought and choked him, eliminating air from his lungs as he collapsed. Storm distracted me, after I erupted when Andras took Lana. His hands on her, her screams, it had been more than I could handle. And now, I’d destroy every last Fae in my way of finding her.

Storm jerked his head toward me with a scowl. “She doesn’t even have magic.”

“I know this wasn’t the plan,” I bit back. “But we needed a queen, and I got us a queen, didn’t I?”

A hot blaze of fire heated my right side, and my eyes widened at Storm. He shook his head, gesturing behind me.

Lana’s pet stood atop a fallen dark one, its tail bloody, but the fire burning from him eliminated the Fae beneath his small body.

His gaze flicked to me, and I raised my hands in defense. “Good boy.”

He sniffed, grey smoke emerging from his nose.

“She’ll be happy to know you’re alive and well,” I added.

Storm grunted, and down the hallway, the double doors to the throne room flew open. The king ran forward, followed too closely by Casimir, the dark ones appearing from every damned corner.

“What the hell?” Storm started to ask before the king bellowed down the hall.

“Kade, with me,” the king said. “You,” He pointed to Storm, “Lord Casimir West must not be permitted past you. Do whatever you need to do to stop him.”

A few guards fighting down the hallway finished slaying their own enemies. Storm whistled, garnering their attention as he called them over to help.

I obeyed the king, grabbing his arm as he directed me around the corner from Storm and the others.

He gestured to a door, opening it and standing just inside the threshold with me. The guards ran by but didn’t stop.

Though vibrant would have been a stretch for how the king appeared when we first arrived here at Ellevail, he had definitely seen better days now. I knew he was sick, his long Fae life slipping away from him against all odds. The king had just given it his all, escaping from Casimir and a group of dark ones. Whatever sickness riddled his body, it hadn’t fully taken him over yet.

“Listen to me, boy,” he said after a short pause to catch his breath. “I am dying. A fact many are well aware of, given the proclivity for gossip in this Court.”

I didn’t bother arguing with him. His hand gripped my shoulder, the pressure stronger than I thought him capable of in his current state.

“Casimir is a siphon. He is working with Andras, and they are coming now to take my powers and destroy me. If he succeeds, they will be unstoppable in their coup.”

I nodded. “Tell me where to take you, and I will. What do you need?”

I barely knew the king and didn’t need him for my plans. He wasn’t a part of the future that mattered. But I did know my Little Rebel adored her father. If I could spare her from seeing him die the way she had her healer, I would.

And fuck, I didn’t want to know why.

The king glanced behind me, searching the hall. Briefly, I thought of taking him with me. If I could get him and Lana to come with Storm and I, he’d be safe.

Safer than he was here.

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