Page 69 of Ties of Shadow

He nodded. “I have my bag of poisons. Aelia, do you still have those sleep bombs?”

“Does the moon rise in the east?” I teased, holding up the small satchel of potions.

He kissed my cheek. “Only when you’re here, Dayspring.” He took the bag. “Stay safe.” Then he stepped around the doorframe andtoward the prince. Uncle Koll and I ducked inside, waiting along the wall.

One of the soldiers raised a panicked voice. “The Shade! The Shade!”

The prince whipped around, one hand still casting a flame at the worm. Sweat beaded his brow. A soldier pushed off the wall and strode between them, his sword raised. “There you are. My men said you laid a trap but didn’t actually appear.”

“Leon.” The Shade nodded a greeting, ignoring the soldier before him. “Nice to see you again so soon. Need a hand?”

The prince’s face contorted in vitriol. “Not from you.”

“I have sleep bombs.”

The prince paused, clearly fighting with himself.

“We should battle together for the queen. For Moth—”

“Fine, fine.” The prince interrupted that critical word. With a wave, the prince called off the confused guards. “Let him through.”

The Shade strode forward—past the worried guard—and climbed the three steps to stand beside the prince. Shadows burst around him, and several guards startled and stumbled back—one even falling to the ground—but the Shade ignored them, directing individual tendrils to retrieve the sleep bombs from his own pouch.

“Make it mad, will you?”

“It’s already mad,” the prince responded but flicked a hand toward a guard all the same.

The washer sprayed the beast with water from the fountain. The prince turned and threw fire around the blast, boiling the steam, which hit the worm’s side. The monster bellowed again, rows of serrated teeth spinning as spit and pebbles flew out of its mouth.

“Excellent.” With a grunt, the Shade threw the shadows, sending each of the eight sleep bombs into the gaping maw. “Each one could knock out twenty men.”

The worm writhed, throwing its face to the sky in a high-pitched, marrow-rending scream. Those in the room stumbled, clutching their hands to their ears. After an endless moment, the worm turned to the balcony, all twelve eyes peering forward, and lunged.

The prince and the Shade dove off the platform in opposite directions. The worm rammed the dais between them and slid partway into the room. Its soulless gaze pinned me as it slowly withdrew. Grabbing a luz lamp from the wall, I stabbed it into the eye nearest me. The worm groaned again and thrashed, shoving me, Uncle Koll, and a table into the wall. One eye was now closed, but the others glared with heart-stopping malice. My blood filled with ice.

It wriggled back out of the room. The Shade wrapped its neck with a shadowy collar, and the prince attacked it with fire. Uncle Koll lifted discarded stones and pummeled the creature as archers tried to take out the rest of its eyes. The creature rose, then dove forward again, its teeth spinning within its mouth as it bored through the center of the balcony—biting out a chunk of the thick stone as if it were cheese. The structure creaked, and a crack formed between the balcony and the main room, splitting it in half.

“It isn’t very sleepy, Shade.” The prince shouted as he tucked himself against the wall.

The Shade was visibly relieved when we made eye contact; I was still safe against a column. I smiled reassuringly. Then, with a vibrating crack, the damage to the balcony became too great, and in one terrifying moment, the Shade, the prince, the galers, and the balcony collapsed to the ground. I screamed as I lurched forward, wishing I had my own magic to wrap around him and draw him to me.

Uncle Koll caught my shoulders. “Trust him, Aelia. He’s capable.” But his eyes were laced with worry, as we ran to the edge.

We looked down as the dust settled. The balcony looked like a broken hill before the beast. The eerie light of the early sun, filtered through black clouds, cast a yellowed sallowness over everything. The debris cleared around the center of the balcony, and the Shade, the prince, and—to my surprise—many of the soldiers rose to their feet, relatively unharmed. My breath escaped in a whoosh.

The stairs of the outside entrance now lacked a back wall but remained attached to the castle—though it creaked under the shifting weight. The worm circled and bore down on the men below. Fire, shadow, water, and wind swirled around the creature, driving it backward—up the mountain and toward the cavernous cave it had apparently burst from. The worm reared up again. This time, Uncle Koll lifted a hand, pulling up a wall of stone from the collapsed tower to shove into the creature a couple feet to the side. It was just enough to save a swordsman on the ground below from a death blow.

“Pain and death!”The monster screamed again; the agonal wail felt like my skull was splitting in two. Even the Shade clutched at his head. Leon stepped in front of the Shade, deflecting the tail of the worm as it whipped around with a punishing blow of flames. I saw Father appear in the courtyard. He picked up a bow from a downed archer and seemed to be firing with some accuracy.

He hadn’t left after all.

A yowl like a woman screaming, echoed from the gaping cavern. At the edge of the ballroom, where the wall had collapsed, hundreds of spyrings poured into the village. Bertha snarled again, pouncing, ripping, and sprinting between the spider-like monsters with glee.

“At least someone’s having a good time,”Jamison muttered beside me, flitting haphazardly in the air.

“Jamison!”

Relieved to see his grumpy self, I offered my hand. He perched upside down and panted. His little body trembled in exhaustion.

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