Page 100 of Shadows of Ruin

Ellevail had fallen.

I placed my hand over her heart. “I want to stay. I want to fight. But I gave you my word. I’ll never break my vow to you, Your Majesty. Never.” Leaning forward, I placed a kiss on her forehead.

Tears fell down my face along with the rain. Lightning blazed around us again.

“I’m so sorry,”Raya’s voice whispered in my mind.

She hadn’t left.

Don’t tell Lana. Please. I need to be the one to do it.

“Where are you going now?”she asked.“We’ll meet you there.”

Valeford,I thought.We’ll meet Lana in Valeford.

Corbin slapped a hand onto my shoulder as Raya’s presence faded slowly from my mind. They’d handled theguards here. “We must go. I don’t trust him not to change his mind and follow.”

I looked up at him. Leif came to my other side and offered a hand.

Kalliah crashed into me and wrapped her arms around me. “Lana.” I made out the one word as her sobs tore through her. Leif put a hand on her back, and she leaned into him next. I stepped away as he began whispering to her.

“Weapons?” I asked Corbin.

He nodded. “I grabbed the old Hidden Henchmen packs and additional weapons from the armory earlier today. We’re ready to go.”

A guard ran from behind one of the stables toward us. “Captain!”

I froze, whipping around as Corbin placed his sword in my hand.

“Wait!” the guard cried, stopping before me. “Andras has done something to nearly all of us. Only a few can fight it. I saw what happened.”

“And did nothing.” I stepped toward him, blade at the ready.

He lifted his hands. “I told you there is not much we can do. But when Andras left, his compulsion in my head wore off. Please, I’ll bury the queen. With the honor and care she deserves. I’ll do it before they can come for her body.”

I eyed him warily.

“More guards are gathering. Some of them have enjoyed the darkness Andras thrives on, even if there are others of us who still fight. When Princess Illiana returns, there are those who remain loyal to her inside these walls.”

I swallowed the growing lump in my throat. “Thank you.”

I looked over my shoulder, Hale still pale in the rain, Leif holding an arm around Kalliah. “Let’s go. We’re not in the clear yet.”

Lucien whimpered at my feet, and I kneeled in front ofhim. “Hide. Find a place and wait for us. Lana will come home soon.” He licked my hand before he trotted back over to the queen and sat beside her.

He breathed fire into the air before he let out a mournful howl.

We ran to the stables, mounting our steeds and proceeded to race through the city streets. The storm had driven most of the city inside. Almost no one lingered. The heaviness of an empty Ellevail hit me hard as we rode.

“People have been staying inside, especially the lesser Fae,” Corbin shouted over the wind and rain. “Andras is building a city based on fear.”

“He will pay,” I said, not bothering to raise my voice over the storm.

“He said there’d be guards by the gate,” Leif shouted from behind me.

We continued, three blocks from the city entrance. It wasn’t until we were only a block away when I heard them. Even over the rumbling storm.

“They’re coming,” I shouted to the others.

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