Page 4 of The Princesses of Ruin
The metal heads snap toward me.
“You know what happens in the bowels of the palace,” I say.
The guards murmur to each other.
“You’re wasting time!” Reina screams as she blazes overhead, fueled by the fires around us. She hovers over the guards. “As your princess, I command you to join us in helping the others.”
“How could you align yourself with thesemonsters,” the head of the diamond demands, the brow behind his helm pinched in disgust.
The fire seems to undulate with Reina’s magic, pulsing across her skin. “They’re my sisters, and we’re monsters because Mother made us this way.”
She raises her hand, poised to spit armor-melting flame. “Help, or I’ll end you now.”
I suck in a sharp breath at the gamble. This could land us in deeper shit than the palace sewers.
The lead guard slowly lowers his sword. The others protest, but he sheathes. “What can I do, Princess Reina?”
“Take the people in the square to safety in the Underbelly,” I say, pointing toward the black-smudged survivors huddling behind us.
The guard locks gazes with me, his brown eyes twinkling with flames. A beat passes between us and then he nods his soldiers forward.
“Aleks, guide them to Scarlett’s stronghold,” I say, and the blond boy dips his head in confirmation.
He rounds up his soldiers, and together with the queen’s guard, they corral the scared, huddled masses toward the east gatehouse. I look at Scarlett. Her expression is masked, and dark. I know she can still hear me—that Alyse’s power hums inside her—because the runes on her arm burn gold.
I love you.
Her lips quirk in a tiny smile and she mouths, “You too.”
“There’re twenty more blocks to go!” I shout at the remaining Spiders. “And our citizens need us!”
The black-clad soldiers shout in unison. “Yes, sir!”
Lily and Alastair join us in the firefighting, carrying huge swells of seawater in from the port to douse the areas closest to the wharf, and the rest of us soldier on through the morning, dragging unconscious and screaming citizens from burning buildings.
What an ally the Bull’s son would’ve made for this activity. If he truly could’ve learned to control the flame, the city could’ve been extinguished in mere minutes. Another wasted life. I should’ve kept him.
The smoke stings my eyes, and the scent of scorched flesh adds a putridity to the air that pulls me back from the past. By midday, the fires are out. Scarlett reaches into her pouch and cycles through vial after vial, finding them all empty. There are dark circles under her eyes, and smudges of ash cover her exposed skin. Her braid is frayed and singed. She needs to rest, but I know she won’t. Not yet.
I step up beside her and drag my knife across a small, scarred patch on my wrist. Her gaze meets mine, her empty left socket hollow with a barely there glow of teal magic. She grabs my arm gingerly and brings my wrist to her mouth to drink.
Her lips seal over my bloody skin and my stomach tightens with yearning. She hums and her eyes fall shut as her grip tightens on my arm. She sucks harder, drawing from me until she sighs in contentment.
She licks the wound as she pulls away, her tongue glowing teal as she seals the cut.
“Better?” I ask, thumbing a smear of blood from the corner of her mouth.
She nods. “Thank you.”
The wails of the rescued break through my stupor and spur me back into action. “The queen will be performing whatever ritual she had planned soon.”
Scarlett straightens up. “Alyse, we need intel.”
We stand in silence for a moment, Scarlett conversing with her sister mentally across who knows what distance.
Alastair steps into our circle with a slumbering Lily clutched in his grasp. “What’s next?” he says in a quiet rumble.
“Presently figuring it out,” I say, crossing my arms as I watch Scarlett’s brow furrow and teeth clench.
