Chapter 31
The bedframe presented a challenge.
Gerard had already managed to shove the heavy chest of drawers in front of the bedroom door, along with the wooden nightstand.
However, the massive four-poster bed was well beyond his strength.
Standing back, he eyed the closest of the posts that held up the heavy canopy in the low light of the gas lamp.
There. Using the post’s weakest point as his lever, he snapped off a three-foot-long section with a crack! that mingled with the pained creak of the canopy as it sagged over the bed.
“General de Moireul?” one of the guards called through the door. “Is everything all right in there?”
“Perfectly, thank you,” Gerard called back as he weighed the new weapon in his hand. He would have preferred his sword—not to mention the fae shield that he’d won in the Tournament of Leaves. But the wooden bar that he now held—sturdy in the middle and raggedly sharp at each end—was a good start.
Was it too much to hope that he could break the mirror into shards of glass large enough to be usable, too?
Low, unhappy muttering sounded outside the door. Even without being able to make out any words, Gerard had a strong suspicion that his time was running out.
Swiftly, he scooped up the closest two pillows and ripped off their cases, wrapping the soft, gathered cloth in thick swathes around his left hand.
Footsteps sounded in the corridor outside.
Many footsteps, far too many for the two guards he’d already met.
The familiar thrill of upcoming battle coursed through Gerard’s skin, erasing his fatigue and setting every sense alight.
Jovar, guide and hold me true.
Gerard scooped up the hot brass hook of the still-lit gas lamp with his cloth-wrapped hand, gripped the wooden bar in his other, and prepared to fight not only for his life but for his and Lorelei’s joint future.
Between the high priestess’s detailed instructions and Ailana’s smuggled map of the winter palace, Lorelei was certain—nearly certain—that she was aiming her portal in the right direction.
As she drew it, she sensed a warning numbness nearby that signaled lurking iron—the bar that had latched and hidden the room’s door when Saskia had made that earlier search—but she aimed directly inside the bedroom itself …
And saw only pitch darkness through the portal. She hesitated, straining her vision. Was she about to step into a locked wardrobe? The map hadn’t included any helpful notes on furnishings …
A sudden crash sounded through the portal as she wavered, and a streak of light flashed past. Men’s voices yelled. Then the sharp report of a rifle sounded—and Lorelei urged Bluebell into the waiting darkness without a second thought.
They landed in the deeply shadowed back corner of an impressively large bedchamber that looked as if it had been hit by an earthquake.
The bed was a crumpled mess in the center of the room.
Beyond it, a stack of broken furniture lay scattered by the door.
That crash must have been the door being broken down, while the flash of light had come from—who else?
—her own lover, the Golden Beacon himself, who stood facing the incoming throng of royal guards alone, lit by the swinging light of a gas lamp that hung from one big hand.
He was one man against who knew how many, all of the others armed with rifles or swords, but he faced them with his head held high and his massive shoulders squared, emanating as much confidence as if the wooden bar in his right hand—or was that a stick?—was an impenetrable shield.
Of course. This man would never accept defeat in any challenge—and with her and her allies at his side, he would never have to.
Laughing with breathless delight, Lorelei nudged Bluebell into action. The gryphon galloped forward, letting out a terrifying battle screech.
Every rifle swung their way. Lorelei only flicked her fingers.
Chains of ivy surged from the floor, climbing over the broken furniture as the guards yelled with alarm.
Her magic couldn’t touch the iron weapons, but her green chains swarmed around all of the closest guards, pulling their arms to their sides and slamming them down to the floor.
More guards surged forward to take their place—but Gerard hadn’t so much as twitched at the sound of Bluebell’s battle cry. The rest of the continent might think of Lorelei as flighty and fickle, but he had clearly never doubted that she’d come.
“Watch out,” he said calmly to her over his shoulder …
And then he swung his left arm back, light streaking once more across the room, and sent the burning gas lamp flying through the broken doorway, directly into the swarming group of guards.
“Huh!” Saskia let out a grunt of surprised approval as she stepped through the portal behind Lorelei. The only light left in the once-elegant bedroom was reflected from the flames that now lit the outer corridor, catching hold of furnishings and lush carpeting and spreading rapidly.
“Well done,” Ailana said briskly from her position on her own gryphon’s back, waiting in the opening of the portal. “General de Moireul, are you ready to make your departure now, before they can summon any Gilded Wizards as reinforcements—or that fire can spread inside the room?”
“Oh, nothing’s getting in here. Trust me for that.
” Saskia flung a handful of white powder at the opening to the corridor, and a shimmering wall of air and magic appeared to fill it, blocking the way every bit as completely as her magical border had blocked Kitvaria from armed intruders for over a year.
That wall couldn’t stand against too many Gilded Wizards all attacking it at once, but it was more than enough for the moment.
They were all more than enough whenever they stood together … and Lorelei intended to make the most of the extra time Saskia had granted her.
Whatever either of her allies might think, flirting with her lover was always a top priority.
“Well, General?” Taking full advantage of the height that Bluebell gave her, Lorelei dropped a mischievous wink at Gerard from across the room.
Seven years ago, she had met that mountain in a uniform, and he’d set her a seemingly impossible challenge.
Tonight, she knew with giddy delight that she had won it … just as he had won her heart along the way.
“Shall we take our leave now?” she drawled in her haughtiest tone as flames leapt outside the bedroom. “This party is becoming terribly dull, you know. It might lead to the most embarrassing gossip if we chose to stay longer.”
“And we all know how much you fear scandal.” Warm amusement sounded in Gerard’s voice as he strode around the broken bed to meet her.
The Imperial palace continued to burn beyond him. Screams and yells of both alarm and command sounded in the distance.
Otto’s unmistakable shout of rage rose above all the rest …
But all that Lorelei cared about was the tender smile that cracked the familiar, chiseled face that had been set like stone against her for so many years.
The warmth of Gerard’s strong hands closed around her waist, and she slipped from Bluebell’s back into his waiting arms.
“It’s time to go home,” she told him. “Together.”