Page 138 of The King’s Queen

Faint screams echoed across the parking lot, coming from the backside of the Cloisters.

“Are apparently in a different part of the building,” Aristide grimly said. “Am I incorrect, Noctus?”

“No.” Noctus raised his head and appeared to listen—maybe to wild magic, or perhaps to his own powers. “Shadow magic was definitely just dropped on the premises.”

“From the uncovered artifacts?” the Paragon asked.

“Possibly,” Noctus said. “I can’t isolate its location. It’s possible they spawned inside the building. Can you smell anything, Aristide?”

Aristide twitched his nose. “Nope, there’s too much blood nearby to smell anything from any kind of distance, and I can’t hear a ruddy thing over all these bells and sirens.”

The Paragon reached into his pocket, likely reaching for an artifact. “If we could only be that lucky—”

I stiffened as nearly all the different sensations of magic that rubbed in my senses evaporated. “Magic is down!” I shouted over the Paragon. “A bunch of spells just cut off.”

“Holy Neapolitan,” the Paragon hissed—apparently he cursed by ice cream flavors. “I can’t access my magic. Noctus, can you?”

Noctus flexed his hands, and I felt it through the collar when he accessed his magic. “Yes. Can you sense any spells at all, Chloe?”

“A few. There are some deep, heavy spells that are still operational inside the Cloisters.” I stared at the sidewalk as I tried to pin down the sensations in my body—they were so rough in their power it was difficult to tell them apart. “I feel dragon shifter magic, so I’m guessing some dragon seals are still up, and I just felt some pretty intense fae magic.”

“The inner barriers likely just went up,” the Paragon said. His glamour was still up and operational, which made me wonder just what kind of magic went into his look. “There will be no way to get into the inner sanctum with those activated.”

Sirens started going off—loud, tolling sounds that rang like bells in a tower.

Noctus muttered in elvish as he turned to the Paragon. “What should we do?”

The Paragon already had his cellphone out and was dialing a number. “I’m telling the Regional Committee. Hello—Killian!” He turned his back to us and held his hand over his ear as he tried to hear his phone call over the noise.

Noctus turned to his squad.

Oleander had trussed the hungry vampire up, and the squad had captured three more hungry vampires, but they turned as one unit when they felt Noctus’s attention.

“Illona, Silient. See if the task force office is within the boundaries of the inner shields, and try to notify Pat Anderson of what’s happening out here,” Noctus ordered.

“Your Majesty!” Two guards saluted him, then broke ranks and charged back into the Curia Cloisters.

“Oleander, call Charon,” Noctus ordered as he started to bump me away from the Curia Cloisters.

“Did the noise spell damage the Cloisters?” Aristide shouted over the ringing bells, his jaw still gritted.

I hurried to his side since Ker was still kneeling on the ground, whimpering. “No—all the glass held. It looks like we were right and the noise spell was meant for werewolves.”

I mentally kicked myself—I still carried fae healing potions in my backpack, which would help Ker right now, except they were in the car!

When this is over, I’m going to buy myself a belt so I can have healing potions strapped to myself at all times!

“We need to move,” Noctus said. “We can’t see any attacks coming as long as we stand this close to the building.”

“I’ll help Aristide,” I said.

Aristide reached out, and I maneuvered myself so he could hold the back of my right arm, like I’d seen him do with Ker.

“We’re going to step off the curb, Aristide,” I said. “I’m sorry, I don’t know where the ramp is.”

“It’s fine.” Aristide hit his cane on the edge of the curb, then stepped down off the sidewalk and into the parking lot. “We’ll manage.”

“I’ve got Ker.” Noctus picked the werewolf up in a fireman’s hold, balancing her on his shoulder.

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