Chapter 24
Atlas
The halls of Lephyrin’s castle rang with footsteps and the clash of armor. Shadows flickered across the marble walls, exuding from Atlas as he slipped further and further into his panicked rage.
“Lock down the gates!” he roared. “No one enters or leaves the castle. No one leaves the fucking city.”
His jaw was clenched, his heart racing with both fear and fury as the guards scattered at his commands.
Fear for his Elowynne. Fury for Esmyra.
“She was right here,” he growled under his breath. “I had her right in my godsdamn bedchamber, and she slipped away like a wraith in the night.”
He halted near the grand staircase.
“My queen was taken,” he said, louder now, projecting his voice to everyone within earshot. “By the same monster who murdered my father and corrupted my brother,” he barked. “Check every tower, corridor, and tunnel.”
He took a step back, chest heaving as he tried to reel in his anger, but it was useless. “Send word to the city watch. Light the towers red and make sure every ship is docked. No one slips through.”
“And the witch?” one of the guards asked. He stood stiffly, his face pale.
She took Wynne’s form. Wore her skin and held her voice.
“If you see her,” Atlas snarled, “kill on sight.” Over his dead fucking body would he let her keep terrorizing his family and kingdom. He would need to deal with Draevyn later.
The guard gave a sharp salute before turning away to carry out the orders. Atlas exhaled a breath like smoke, shadows curling faintly around his arms.
A soldier rushed to him from the east wing. “King Atlas, we’re locking down the city, but word is spreading fast. People are panicking.”
“Let them panic,” he snapped. “We don’t have time to address that yet. Your queen is out there somewhere, and we have to get to her before they leave Lephyrin.” His voice softened for a fleeting second. “Please…”
The guard nodded, a sympathetic look shining in his eyes before he disappeared back into the chaos.
The great doors of the castle slammed open with a thunderous boom.
Atlas turned sharply, hand instinctively reaching for his sword, but he paused when his eyes locked with Draevyn’s.
His brother stood in the doorway, his eyes flicking over the corridor, watching the guards swarm like hornets in a broken hive.
“What the hells happened?” Draevyn asked, breathless.
The veins in Atlas’s neck strained. “She took her,” he growled, though there was a slight panic in his voice. “Esmyra took Elowynne.”
Draevyn’s expression faltered for just a heartbeat. “What are you talking about?”
“I don’t have time to explain everything. But she was here. Esmyra got past all of us by disguising herself as Elowynne. She even got close enough to kill me in my own bed.”
His jaw clenched, watching as Draevyn’s eyes flared. A sick part of him wanted his brother to hurt too, just as he was. “She tried to seduce me but gave herself away too early. Esmyra kidnapped Elowynne and declared war.”
Atlas didn’t miss Draevyn’s head suddenly rearing back at the mention of seducing him. Good. Hopefully now he was right where Atlas needed him.
He stalked forward, placing a firm hand on his brother’s shoulder. “I need you now more than ever. I’m appointing you as my advisor, effective immediately. You’ll stand by my side. Help me guide the kingdom while we hunt her down and recover the queen.”
Draevyn blinked. “Atlas…”
“Don’t argue, Drae. Please.” Atlas searched his face, pleading with his eyes for him to cooperate. “Recent differences aside, you’re the only one I trust. You know what she is, Brother. You saw what she really is.”
Draevyn’s stare was distant. Hesitant. “I—”
His words were cut off as the toll of bells rang out through the castle walls—deep, thunderous clangs that echoed across the stone like drums of war.
The prison bells. Atlas froze, his blood running cold.
“No…” he whispered.
The bells tolled again, more frantic and urgent.
His head snapped toward the castle’s entrance doors. Beyond the darkened hills of the city that led to the sea, an orange light burned from the prison tower. Firelight. Smoke.
Someone had broken in.
He turned sharply toward his brother, and heartache rippled through Atlas as he found Draevyn’s face had gone deathly pale.
His chest rose and fell in sharp breaths, his whiskey eyes flared wide as a bead of sweat slipped down his temple.
That was when he took in his brother’s appearance—his panting, rumpled clothes, face streaked with soot, dirt, and a smear of dried blood.
Atlas’s jaw fell. “You knew,” he growled, stepping forward. “You did this, didn’t you?!”
“No,” Draevyn rushed out. “Let me explain—”
Atlas shoved past him, hard. “You can explain when I have Elowynne back!” he snapped, already storming down the corridor, shouting for his guards.
His voice boomed through the castle as he bellowed, “Get me a horse and double the guards at the gates! They will not escape Lephyrin. Kill them on sight!”
Draevyn rushed after him. “Atlas, wait! You don’t understand.”
Atlas didn’t give a fuck. Not anymore.
His bride was gone. The enemy was loose. And someone would pay for it.
Before Draevyn could say anything further, Atlas raised a hand, shadows slithering up his arm. “I’m done with your secrets, Drae.”
He launched the shadows at his brother like black whips.
Draevyn countered with a wave of heat, pushing the shadows back.
Atlas gritted his teeth and shoved more power into the wisps of darkness, slamming the tendrils into Draevyn.
They wrapped around his arms and chest like coils of cold steel, and a look of horror warped his face.
“I don’t have time for your lies,” Atlas spat, loathing that his voice cracked from the hurt of his brother’s betrayal.
The shadows yanked Draevyn against the wall before they bound his mouth and legs.
“I’ll deal with you later,” Atlas whispered only loud enough for himself to hear as Draevyn tried to break through the bindings.
He turned on his heel, ignoring the sounds of his brother’s struggles as the remainder of the guards funneled out of the castle doors. At the bottom of the steps, he was greeted with his horse and wasted no time as he pulled himself into the saddle and ordered the beast into a gallop.