Page 45 of Song of Night

It's less than a mile to the palace, and soon we’re clattering across the cobblestones of the main courtyard, wolves behind us. A swarm of guards rushes out, but when they see who it is they all drop to the ground, their foreheads pressed to the stones. Helios and Malara come rushing out of the main entrance. They stop dead at the sight of Asher and the wolves, their eyes darting back and forth as if unsure what to address first.

“We thought you were dead!” Malara cries. “When Vyrin’s army attacked, we assumed the negotiations had not gone well.”

“He sent the army before we even met for negotiations,” Asher says, his jaw rolling and his arm tightening around me inadvertently. “He never intended anything but to torture me. Not that I was expecting any different.”

“And what are these… things that have followed you?” Helios asks, pointing to the larger of the wolves.

“It appears I made some new friends,” Asher says with a small smile.

“I see,” Helios says. “Your betrothed called for reinforcements an hour ago. We’re preparing to march into battle as we speak.”

Betrothed. The word worms up my spine unpleasantly. It’s yet another reminder of the fact that Asher and I have no future together.

“It will take all of us. Zara’s sister is rallying the Factionless as we speak,” Asher says.

Malara and Helios cast me looks of surprise. “Sister?” Malara asks.

I nod. “You’ve heard of her no doubt. The one known as Falling Star.”

“Ahh,” Helios says, his expression unreadable as usual.

“It was a surprise to us as well,” Asher adds, as if feeling the need to defend me.

He dismounts and helps me down, but my leg buckles and he has to hold on to me from the side.

“I’ll send for a healer,” Malara says, gesturing to one of the guards.

“No,” Asher says. “We don’t want to risk anyone with the magic like it is. I’ll take care of it.” He turns for the door. “Gather everyone in the courtyard. We will march in an hour.”

The wolves let out a low whine as Asher leads me into the palace, but he looks back and gestures for them to stay put. We’re just entering the main hallway when the ground begins to shake beneath us, rattling the walls and the windows, making the ceiling crack and crumble. I can feel something, like the sky when a storm is forming, pressure building and building and building…

And then a pulse of wild magic blasts across Night.

Chapter Thirty-Two

ASHER

The surge of wild magic rages across the city. It flings me and Zara into the wall, and in the next room a chandelier crashes to the floor, shattered glass flying everywhere. Outside in the courtyard it looks like lightning striking over and over, but it’s not lightning, it’s magic, violet and glowing. The whole sky is purple with it.

It passes within sixty seconds, and then the sky returns to dark blue. I hear a cry of alarm from outside and see that two of the guards have fallen dead, victims of the tempestuous magic. My fists clench and my jaw rolls.

We have to stop this.

“Come on,” I say to Zara. I pick her up, carrying her toward the stairwell to the upper floors.

“Asher,” she growls in protest. “Put me down!”

“This isn’t the time for your stubborn heroics.” I pin her even more tightly against me and take the steps two at a time to my suite on the third floor.

When I deposit her in one of the chairs in front of the fireplace in my sitting room, she crosses her arms over her chest and glares at me. “Why are we here?”

I walk to the fire and throw in another log. Bless the staff for keeping it lit while I was gone.

“I told you,” I say, turning around, “Your wound needs attending to. And we need to power back up before battle.”

The look on her face tells me she’d rather stab me than take off her clothes. “Now that we’re back in the city, what makes you think that us joining together won’t cause an even more horrific surge of magic?”

“Or, maybe that’s exactly what we need to do to get our magic back once and for all, to re-anchor Night.” I shrug. “Since we know that sex brings our magic back temporarily outside the borders of this city, now that we’ve returned, that could be the solution.”

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