Page 45 of Kingdom of Today
“Where’s Cyrus?” I demanded of Domino.
“You were told,” he repeated. “Do not go near the high prince.”
“I get it. This is my fault. Where’s Cyrus?” I caught sight of Miller, drilling through feeders, and my pulse leaped. Cyrus must be nearby. I started forward, but every step proved a greater lesson in agony.
Raucous sounds drew my attention to the left. Four feeders advanced on me, closing in. They ghosted through Domino, not even realizing he was there, and I palmed a dagger. The moment they were in striking distance, I slashed, slashed, slashed. Ducked, twisted, and slashed some more. Ducked, kicked. Spun. Two went down. Two to go. Oops. Wrong. Five others rushed over.
I took down another, then hobbled a fourth. A fifth. My breaths turned choppy, and my motions slowed. Energy waned, new cutsdraining me faster. Weakness spread until remaining on my feet required every bit of strength I possessed. Still I fought.Must find Cyrus.
“A high prince is dead, fall back, fall back.” The cry came from Summit as he herded soldiers toward a fleet of waiting vans.
No! He couldn’t mean Cyrus. He couldn’t. But there was no sign of my boyfriend anywhere. “Cyrus,” I screamed.
Another contingent of glowers arrived on the battlefield. Domino waved them closer with almost frantic insistence.
Boom!
Sharp pain sliced through my midsection, and my entire body jerked. Blood rushed up my throat, choking me. Shocked, I pressed my palm to my abdomen, right against the source of my anguish. A gaping, gushing hole.
Lolli stood across the way, a gun in hand, the barrel aimed at me. Streaked with scarlet, she peered at me.
She had . . . shot me?
As she rushed off, I gasped for air I couldn’t quite capture and looked down. Wet crimson soaked my armor, leaking through the hole in the material. Oh, yes. She’d most definitely shot me.
My knees buckled, and down I went. Upon impact, my brain rattled, and my vision blurred.
“Cyrus survived,” I heard the librarian snarl, “but you might not. If you die—do not die, Arden. Do you understand me?”
“Help him, please,” I commanded. Or tried to. My voice frayed at the edges as blood continued to flood my throat. The ring in my ears started up again, dull at first but building to a piercing shriek. Panic sparked again, and this time, I couldn’t tamp it down. It became a wildfire that consumed my every thought. I couldn’t breathe. I needed to breathe.
I thought I heard the librarian shouting orders to help me as icy cold invaded my fingers and toes, swiftly spreading up my limbs. Something slapped at my body, and I laughed without humor. Had feeders come to finish me off?
Suddenly, Cyrus appeared in my line of vision. Concern dominated his features, and blood streaked his skin. His lips moved, but I heard nothing he said. When he vanished, I whimpered.Come back!Then hands slapped at me again, and I realized he was ripping off my shirt and pulling first aid supplies from my plethora of pockets. Domino loomed behind him.
Cyrus pried my lips apart and shoved something metal into my mouth. A terrible pressure sucked the liquid from my throat. Suddenly I could breathe again, the ring fading.
“—live, do you hear me?” he was shouting.
My vision cleared just in time to watch a feeder swipe at him. He paused his ministrations only long enough to shoot the intruder in the face. A quick slash of his sword finished the creature off, then he was back to administering medical aid.
“You’re going to be okay.” He worked hard and fast, forced to pause a few more times to kill an enemy. “You had better be okay.”
I drifted in and out of consciousness, each time drawn back by ... something. A faceless someone. A presence who wouldn’t let me step over into the abyss. At some point, I noticed the glowers fighting around us, keeping crowds of the infected at bay. Though Cyrus finished cleaning and sealing my wound, he didn’t leave me to rejoin the fray.
“She lost too much blood,” he bellowed. “Get Ember. Ember!”
Domino vanished, and time ceased to matter. Minutes, hours, and years passed, yet Ember arrived only seconds later. She, too, was streaked with blood. Cuts marred her face, and one of her eyes was swollen shut.
“Heal her,” Cyrus demanded as Ember knelt at my side to look me over.
The librarian reappeared, and I would swear the freckles near his eye glittered, creating the half circle I’d mentally drawn the first time I noticed the marks.
“She was warned—” Ember began.
“You will do this, Ember,” Domino commanded at the same time Cyrus roared, “I told her she’d be okay out here. Will you make me a liar?”
My pain was dulling fast, thoughts floating away on a sea of nothingness. The gloom returned to cover my mind, creeping into my awareness.
