Chapter 17
Elana
The attack came in the early hours of the morning.
The castle shuddered around us as we ran, the stone walls trembling with each explosion.
My lungs burned, my legs ached, but I didn’t dare slow down.
Flame and Blaze were on either side of me, their forms shimmering with barely contained heat.
The air around them wavered like a mirage, and I could feel the power radiating from their bodies even from several feet away.
Emmett met us at the top of the stairs, looking disheveled.
“What’s happening?”
“Goblins are attacking the castle. Dizzi’s old tribe. I don’t know how they got so close without us noticing. Some of my wards are down.”
My eyes went wide. Emmett didn’t say the rest, but he didn’t have to. Leroy wasn’t around and couldn’t reinforce them. The goblins had chosen the right time to attack.
“Get her to the saferoom in the basement,” Emmett barked, urging me toward the stairs.
“Saferoom?” Flame’s golden eyes narrowed. “Where’s that?”
Before Emmett could answer, a dark figure materialized beside us: Cassian. The demon was tall and lean, with a dark red complexion and eyes that glowed like embers. His horns curled back from his temples.
“I’ll show you the way,” Cassian said, his voice smooth as silk but carrying an edge of steel.
Emmett nodded, his jaw set. “Protect her, Cassian.”
“Where’s Melly?” The question burst out of me before I could stop it. The thought of that little girl alone in this chaos made my stomach twist.
Emmett’s expression softened for just a moment. “She’s already down there. You get to safety. Now.”
I wanted to argue, to demand he let me help, but another explosion rocked the castle, sending dust raining from the ceiling. Emmett was already turning away, his form shimmering as he began to shift.
“Come on,” Cassian said, his hand closing around my arm. “We don’t have much time.”
I let him pull me away, my last glimpse of Emmett being swallowed by the smoke and chaos of the hallway. The castle groaned around us as we ran, the sound of battle echoing through the stone corridors.
Cassian moved with inhuman grace, his hand never leaving my arm as he guided me through the twisting passages. Flame and Blaze flanked us, their presence a comforting heat against the growing cold of fear.
Blaze’s hands flared crimson as he wove a shimmering barrier of living flame around us, the heat so intense it made the summer air ripple like water while we sprinted across the sunbaked courtyard stones.
“Through here!” Cassian barked, shoving open a heavy stone door that blended seamlessly with the wall.
Nak the goblin butler streaked past us, his usually perfect jacket torn and smudged with dirt. He carried what looked like a modified crossbow, his yellow eyes wild with battle fury. “They’re breaching the east wing!” he shouted before vanishing around a corner.
He was followed by a satyr and a centaur I hadn’t met. I couldn’t help but gawk at the centaur, never having seen one so up close and in the flesh.
We were nearly through the hidden doorway when the very air around us convulsed. The ground bucked violently beneath us, sending me crashing to my knees. Flame caught my arm before I could hit the floor. The castle groaned around us, stone grinding against stone as the tremors intensified.
When the shaking finally subsided, I stumbled forward, only to freeze in horror. A jagged swirling portal had torn open right in the corridor, its edges crackling with energy. Then ghouls were stepping out from the portal.
These ghouls were the freshest I’d ever seen.
With no visible decay marring their forms, they looked almost human at first glance.
But then I saw the wrongness in their movements, the unnatural angles of their limbs.
And the stench! Hurrk! The stench hit me like a freight train; the smell of rotting meat and maggots so thick I could taste it.
They turned as one, their milky eyes fixing on me. One lunged, its fingers outstretched, and I realized with sickening clarity that it was reaching for me.
The demons and djinn closed ranks around me protectively. The ghouls shrieked as flames engulfed them, their bodies curling into blackened husks before collapsing to ash. But the stench of burning flesh lingered, making me gag.
A small figure stepped through the smoke, his hunched and gnarled silhouette unmistakable. A goblin! This one was not like Nak at all. His beady eyes were full of malice as he raised a wand, pointing it at Cassian.
There was a bright flash, and Cassian stiffened mid-snarl, his muscles locking in place like stone.
“Flame! Blaze! Watch out!” But my warning came too late.
Two more flashes from the wand and the ifrits froze, their flames sputtering out as if snuffed by an unseen hand.
The goblin smirked, twirling his wand between his fingers. “Now, where is that witch…” he said as his eyes landed on me. “There you are! You’re going to make me a lot of cold, hard cash. And once we get you secured, we’re going to find that dragon brat too.”
More mean-looking goblins poured out of the portal, a gang of chest-high thugs, ready to fuck things up.
“Go find that dragon,” the leader ordered before turning back to me. “And the goblin bitch too!”
He pointed the wand at me, and suddenly I couldn’t move.
I couldn’t breathe. And I was certain that if I could see myself from the outside, I would be frozen just like Flame, Blaze, and Cassian.
It was the strangest feeling as my body levitated from the floor and started to drift after the goblin wizard, even as he turned and started walking through the portal.
I closed my eyes, trying my best to remember all the spells Tansy had taught us during our weekly magic lessons at the Redrock penthouse.
None of those spells seemed useful right now.
What use was changing the color of my dress?
What use was putting out a candle from across the room?
Or getting laundry to fold itself? Or getting a plant to grow faster and bloom?
And did I even dare cast them? What if my magic backfired just like it usually did? Just because I managed to pull a cushion under Melly didn’t mean my magic was fixed.
But I couldn’t just do nothing and let myself be pulled toward the swirling portal. Beyond it, there were a bunch of trees. That could be anywhere. I had to do something.
So I did everything. I focused on the goblin’s ridiculous wizard cape and mentally ordered it to fold itself up.
I couldn’t use my hands or speak out loud, but I hoped my mental words were enough.
At first, nothing happened, and he was already disappearing through the portal.
Then suddenly, the fabric moved. It folded up over his head to cover his face and then continued folding.
“What the fuck?” As the goblin male struggled, his cape wrapped around his face, trying to form itself into a perfect stackable square.
He waved his wand about, but I was still unable to move.
So I told the potted plant next to him to grow.
I imagined it growing toward him, around him, surrounding him. And it did.
“You fucking witch! When I—”
The rest of his words were mumbled by the frothing soap spewing from his mouth.
It was a disciplinary spell, barely used nowadays, washing a kid’s mouth out with soap.
Tansy hadn’t taught this one to me, but I had distinct memories of having it used on me when I was a child.
One never quite forgot spells like that.
But we were all still prisoners. Something told me that I had to get the wand out of the goblin wizard’s hand. I concentrated on the wand and thought of the tea-heating spell. The last time I’d tried that, I’d turned my tea to steam. Maybe I could make the wand red hot.
This was when my magic decided to combust. And I mean literally combust. Because instead of the wand heating up, the entire goblin exploded. So did the portal. And the cape. And the poor houseplant.
The heat was intense, and I thought I would burn alive with it too, but my magic had formed a shield in front of me, protecting me. Or maybe that was Seth’s shield. I didn’t know.
When it was over, the only thing left where the goblin had stood was the magic wand, now scorching red and singeing a wand-shaped mark onto the castle floor. And I was free. So were my demons and ifrit friends.
Then the realization hit me.
Holy fuck! I’d just used my magic to save us!
I turned around, wanting to celebrate, wanting to ask if they saw that (duh, of course they did). But the second I spun, dizziness overtook me. It was Emmett who caught me. Where had he come from? I hadn’t even realized he’d been here.
“Good job, my treasure. But I think you might have over-exerted.” He tucked me into his chest. “Let’s get you somewhere safe so you can recover and rest.”
He turned and started walking with me in his arms. This was when I realized I’d completely toasted his hallway. “Your castle!”
“It’s cosmetic. And even if it isn’t, everything can be rebuilt.”
“What about the attack?” I asked.
“It was a distraction for them to open up the portal. Melly’s safe,” he confirmed before I could ask.
“The danger is over. They caught the other goblins. Kai is getting information from them right now. I put the extra warding spells Sena left for me around the castle. The danger is over. You can relax now.”
I did. Because I was suddenly very tired. I closed my eyes and leaned against his chest, and let him care for me.
When I opened my eyes again, I found myself in an unfamiliar bathroom.
The space was vast, easily the size of a bedroom, with walls of dark, polished stone that shimmered faintly under the soft glow of lanterns hung overhead.
A massive, sunken tub dominated the center of the room, carved from a single slab of black marble veined with gold.
The tub was massive, and I could imagine Emmett lounging in it, his dragon form coiled beneath the surface.
To one side, a shower stall stood behind a wall of frosted glass, its multiple showerheads arranged like the branches of a tree.
On the opposite side, a vanity of dark wood held a basin carved from a single piece of obsidian, its surface so smooth it reflected like a mirror.
The faucet was shaped like a stone gargoyle’s head, water flowing from its open jaws.
“Where are we?”
“Inside my personal suite. Come on, let’s get you cleaned up.”
I looked down at my body for the first time and realized my nightdress was scorched, and dirt was smudged all over my arms and legs. I really did need to clean up, even though I was so exhausted that all I wanted right now was a nap.
I fumbled with my dress, but I was so tired, and my fingers wouldn’t listen. Frustrated, I attacked the zipper.
“Hey, it’s okay. Let me do it. You just relax. Let me take care of you.”
I wished I had some snarky remark about not needing anyone’s help, but there wasn’t anything left in me. So I surrendered and let Emmett get me into the tub, wash me, dry me, and finally get me into the warmest bed I’d ever been in.
The last time I’d felt this fatigued was decades ago, when I was still with Samuel, and he’d drained my magic too much. And this was exactly what had happened today.
The spells might not have been difficult, but I didn’t know how to control my magic, so I’d expended way too much. I thought of the asshole goblin exploding again. He’d gotten so hot, there weren’t even pieces of him left. He just exploded, and pieces turned to ash in seconds.
“I’m going to go grab you some food. You stay here.”
I yawned and nodded. Then I closed my eyes, and I was asleep.