Chapter Fifty #2
The announcer bellowed his opening for the ball, and my eyes drifted to Valeris, his gaze darting about the room.
Looking for me? I swallowed. He would never forgive me for this.
It didn’t matter. I wasn’t meant to see him again.
But the sight of him made me ache, my own emotions rebelling against the reason in my head.
My mouth set in a firm line, my choice made.
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Valeris
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THE ODDITY OF THE REPAIRED board stuck in my mind, and I glanced back at it as the herald continued.
My hair stood on edge, my senses reeling.
Another servant in the crowd threw the dais a sinister glare.
My mind spun, working through the evidence around me.
Ezrielle stood in the far corner of the room, not in any hurry to join us on the dais.
Not even moving toward us as we waited for her.
She’ll be at the finale.
She hadn’t killed my uncle. She’d left him alive.
I fidgeted, noticing how exposed we were like this, out in the open.
She wouldn’t miss it for the world.
No, she wouldn’t. We’d destroyed her kingdom, taken everything from her.
I turned to examine those gathered on the dais.
My uncle wasn’t the target.
My family was.
My eyes jerked upward, catching the glint of light on silver where it shouldn’t be.
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Analleia
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I LIFTED THE BOW, TAKING aim, preparing to end the life of the man who had destroyed everything I had ever loved. Preparing to avenge my family, to bring them the justice they had never received. My gaze drifted to Valeris one last time—only to find him looking directly at me.
I froze.
No.
It wasn’t possible.
He couldn’t know I was here. I was hidden in shadows, but he must have seen something because he yelled at his family, shoving them from the dais.
“No!” I screamed, releasing the arrow and aiming to take out the king even as guards rushed him to the steps.
I reached for another arrow, but the world burst with light, the ground rumbling as a massive force shoved me back into the wall.
I crashed to the ground, gasping for air, a ringing barraging my ears.
I rolled over. I couldn’t think straight.
Dizziness overwhelmed me. Nausea. Why was I on the ground?
I crawled to my feet, my limbs jutting out in every direction, not wanting to work, but I staggered to the railing, the ringing dissipating only to be replaced with screams and cries from below.
A circle of black had destroyed the ballroom. Smoke billowed from what used to be the dais. Flames charred the remains, licking up the decorations and burning everything within reach, spreading rapidly throughout the room.
My breaths came in ragged gasps, my body aching from the impact, but panic flooded me as I searched the ground floor for the king, unable to see through the smoke.
Had I hit him? He had been right there, but now I couldn’t find him.
I kept looking, my breath catching as I watched his guards pull him to his feet and away from the wreckage, no arrow wound in sight.
I swung my bow across my body and pulled a repeller from my legging’s pocket, securing it to the banister before straddling the railing and jumping from the balcony to the ground below.
It was like descending into the pit of hell.
My gloved hands grasped the thin rope, slowing my descent, but a jolt shot up my legs as I hit the ground.
Chaos enveloped me. Screams. Blood. Dead eyes staring up at me.
The smell of destruction made me nauseous, and I was back in Donnovar again, watching them torch my city to the ground, destroying everything I had ever loved.
Terror clutched at my heart, seeing them take everything away, seeing so much life lost. I had to save them—had to save my mother, who was back in the tunnels.
Tears streamed down my cheeks as I watched the city burn.
I curled into a ball, trying to block out the memories, trying to block everything out, trying to be anywhere but here.
Anywhere but here.
Anywhere but here.
Anywhere but here.
But it wasn’t Donnovar. It couldn’t be.
The king. I was here for the king.
King Zaricor.
I took several deep breaths. I had to defeat this. I had to pull myself out of this.
Deep breath.
That was long ago. I had a mission to do.
Deep breath.
I opened my eyes, my memories evaporating into the reality around me. The screams, the blazing fire gorging itself on everything in its path.
I searched for King Zaricor again, saw the side door hanging ajar. I struggled to my feet and clutched the bow in my hand, nocking an arrow to the string as I ran after him.
Ran after vengeance.
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Valeris
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SMOKE CLOUDED MY VISION, my ears deafened by a mind-numbing ringing.
My back seared with pain, my body draped across the wreckage of the broken dais.
Flames licked at the corners of my vision, smoke billowing above me, clouding the air with confusion.
I worked my jaw, an ache building at the back of my head.
The ringing dissipated, replaced by screams that reverberated off the walls.
I rolled over onto my side, jerking as Zandyr’s eyes stared into mine.
Zandyr’s lifeless eyes.
Blood poured from a gash on his head.
“Zandyr!” I sat up, pulling him to me, fear rising. “Zandyr!”
He didn’t move.
I stared in shock. I had just been standing by him seconds ago. Had seen him take one of his last breaths.
He was gone.
Sorrow stabbed through me as I placed a finger on each of his eyelids and drew them closed, hiding him from this brutal scene. From the devastation encircling us. From the anguish building within me.
I lifted my eyes, watched someone descend from the heavens like an angel of death, falling through the smoke. The glint of the arrowhead. We had been standing on the stage, and I’d tried to rush everyone off. Because I knew there was danger and that was when, that was when—
The explosion.
The angel of death charged through the smoke, her long blond hair flowing out behind her as she disappeared through door the guards had rushed my father through.
I looked behind me at the dais, the flames eating it alive.
What had she done?
I struggled to my feet, stumbling after her to stop whatever she had planned.