64. Sie
SIXTY-FOUR
SIE
Things were worse than we anticipated. The entire Tennebrisian guard was waiting for us, and I couldn’t make my way through them fast enough to get to Synder. I wanted his death. I needed it, and I had to make sure I was the one to do it.
Frustration coursed through me as I took out guard after guard after guard. I didn’t have any qualms fighting them, except that it kept me occupied while Synder was still breathing somewhere else inside the castle. He was the reason I was in that prison, the reason Scotlind was sent to Lux and was no longer mine. He was responsible for capturing Greyland. He was the one who brought my family and Moli to the Lux King. He was the reason they were now dead, and I wanted him to join them. I needed it just like I needed the blood in my veins.
I fucking hated him.
I cursed as more guards fled into the hall. Peter was at my side, shifted into a bear, dislocating limbs. He was trying to leave the guards unable to fight without actually killing them. I didn’t do the same. I didn’t really care who died right now as long as I could add Synder to the list.
Peter awkwardly tugged his hairy ear with his claw. I knew his shapeshifting didn’t affect his voice, but whenever he transformed into an animal, he could only speak mind to mind. What? I shot into his head, opening mine to him.
There’s too many of them. We aren’t going to win.
We aren’t if you keep fighting only to temporarily take them out. I think we’re past trying to not kill them.
I know, he grumbled, then weird gurgling sounds entered my mind as he bit off a foot of the nearest guard. Goddess, that was freaking disgusting. I love being a bear, but I hate the taste of —
Then stop eating people, I said. You have claws, use them, or shift into literally anything else that doesn’t involve using your mouth to fight.
I saw Peter pause briefly at my side. He was staring at his large black claws. Oh yeah, I keep forgetting about these, then he started slashing at everyone around us. I couldn’t suppress my smile when the guards started fumbling away from my friend.
Peter, I said once I realized he was still only going for nonlethal parts. I’m serious about killing. We won’t make it out of here alive at this rate.
Peter sighed. I knew he didn’t want to.
You need to warn the others. You’re the only one who can clear the hall and make it back in one piece. Tell them the guard is out for blood and to not hold back.
I can’t—
I’ll watch over her while you’re gone. I knew where his mind went. Vallie was on this level with us. Not because she should have been in wave one, but because Peter refused to leave her side. And even though she didn’t possess fighting abilities, she was an asset. Peter and I knew the castle well from frequently visiting as children, but Scottie’s friend somehow knew it better. Her knowledge absorption was impressive. She was privy to all the ins and outs of every nook and cranny. And besides that, I was surprised her physical fighting skills weren’t that bad. She was holding her own. I was worried she’d regret coming in the first wave, that she wouldn’t actually be able to go through with using blades against Advenians, but she surprised the hell out of me. While Peter was holding back, she wasn’t. The girl killed more people than most of our group. Not that her skills were amazing—average at best, but impressive for the fact that she only just learned to hold a blade for the first time a few weeks ago—but she was tenacious. She seemed more like a beast than Peter was in his bear form. She was taking all her anger out with her blades, and I couldn’t help but see a similarity in her as I did myself. We were both left with barely anyone in our lives, leaving us with nothing but rage and revenge.
Peter, go, I said again because he needed to hear it. I promise I’ll watch over her until you get back. She’ll be fine.
He sent a couple curses into my mind before he shifted into a fly and flew toward the ceiling, out of range from anyone. I watched his little form until he exited the hall, then slowly made my way toward Vallie in case she needed back up. The girl let out a savage scream as she hacked into the nearest guard.
I found myself smiling as I fought next to her, flowing into a rhythmic pattern, but the more people we took out, the more that kept flooding in. We were still far too outnumbered. Coming in waves was necessary for the distance we had to portal, but it was to our own disadvantage now until the rest of the camp showed up.
Peter flew back into the room at some point. He nodded his head as he shifted back into a bear, my only indication that he was successful. It also meant all of the waves were here, but it still wasn’t enough. We weren’t enough, and Tennebris was supposed to be the easier kingdom to conquer…
My breath hitched as a guard almost killed Peter. He was seconds away from losing his head when someone stepped in front of the blade. No, not just someone—it was a Tennebrisian guard. I looked around, only now noticing the guards were fighting each other .
I found myself face to face with Abherham—Scotlind’s old guard from when she lived here with me. I hadn’t realized he survived the night Kole captured her. I ran out of her room so fast, leaving him bleeding on the floor.
Guilt washed through me. I’d never even given him a second thought. At the time, all I cared about was her. I was so stupidly and selfishly blinded to everyone else around me. But he was very much alive, and he was fighting with us.
“Prince Noren.” Abherham paused long enough to give a quick bow and hearing the title stumped me. It had been a while since I thought of myself in that way and even longer since someone acknowledged me as the prince. Everyone was either appalled or terrified of me. Respect was far out the window, and I found myself not really missing it, but then again, I was numb to everything that used to be important to me.
I didn’t know what to say for several long seconds. I wiped the sweat off my brow, finding that no one was attacking me for the first time since we arrived. I scanned the hall and it was flooded with Tennebrisian guards with their moon symbols ripped off. But it couldn’t be true. What I was seeing… What I thought was happening… It was too good to be true and lately my luck was absolute shit.
“We are at your service,” he said.
“How?” I finally managed.
“There’s a lot of us that want the same thing as you,” he replied as he took out a guard that came barreling toward us. “I knew the broadcasts weren’t real. I knew it wasn’t you murdering rank zeroes. So I left the castle and started recruiting anyone who would listen, anyone that wanted to fight with us when the time came.”
“How did you know it wasn’t real?” I asked as I started fighting again as more Tennebrisians slipped past Abherham’s men .
“Because you love her, and she’s a zero. I watched you when I used to guard her, and I knew then just as I know now.”
Scotlind. He was talking about Scotlind. Fuck, the thought made me feel like I was being impaled by a blade.
“We’re happy to have you,” was all I responded with because I didn’t know what else to say.
“What the fuck are you doing here?” I snapped once I saw lavender hair. I almost killed her. Fuck. If I had…
“I came to have a picnic,” the human smirked as she killed two guards without hesitation.
I rolled my eyes, then shoved her out of the way as a guard with energy weaponry threw an axe at her.
“This isn’t a joke,” I pressed as I came up beside her, my voice more of a growled whisper. “You know that anyone with compulsion can make you kill yourself, or tell you to jump out the window, or have you turn against us.”
“You think I don’t know what your kind is capable of after living with them my entire life? Save it for someone who cares.”
She turned down a hall, running so fucking fast I almost lost her. I cursed before I decided to follow, but by the time I got to her, three more guards were dead. We were nearing the top of the castle where the royal quarters were. Judging by the fewer guards stationed here, I knew we were close to the Council. They never thought anyone would make it this far with all their forces stationed below, and if it weren’t for Abherham’s men showing up, we wouldn’t have been able to. They were the only reason I was able to break away from the group and get past the guards blocking this part of the castle.
“Following me?” she quipped over her shoulder.
We were the only two people up here, save for the dead guards she just killed. I closed the distance between us with my teleportation. She didn’t falter, didn’t retreat even as my nose brushed hers. “Be quiet,” I whispered. “The Council is here.”
We were at a dead end with only one door separating us. I tested the knob and found it locked. I turned to Savannah. “Stay here, but if anything happens, run like hell.”
I didn’t wait to hear her protest as I teleported past the door and found myself in a room with the entire Tennebrisian Council. I smiled as my eyes met dark ones—Synder.
I twirled my sword in my hand. Once. Twice.
Finally.