Chapter 57
CHAPTER FIFTY-SEVEN
Ellery
The guards filled the space so thickly that it was almost impossible to move. Is this a trap? Was this Samael’s plan all along? Did he bring us here so they could capture me?
But that didn’t make sense. Samael didn’t want to return here; he also had no way of knowing I would make my way into the palace with the gargoyles. He never could have planned this, and neither could the duke.
Emerging into this crowded hall had been nothing but damn bad luck. Lightning smashed off armor, flung some of the combatants back, and tore holes through their chests.
I didn’t look at the crowd surrounding us before unleashing my lightning too. Screams and shouts rang out; pain and terror filled some of them, but others possessed the wrath of a wild animal backed into a corner.
Those angry, bitter screams mirrored my feelings. I didn’t like killing, but they’d pushed us into a corner, and we’d come out swinging.
Despite our determination to destroy them, they outnumbered us and pushed us back against the door as Samael and Scarlet tried to enter the hall. Swords swung, arcing across the distance as they tried to slice us to pieces or, at the very least, take us down.
My lightning crashed against blades, knocking them back. Sparks flew off the steel and around the room as Ryker took out more of the guards. Swords flew from the hands of soldiers, but more continued to fly toward us.
The weight of the guards, the smell of them, all of it pressed against me, making the hall far smaller and causing sweat to coat my body. When lightning burst from my fingertips, it took out more of our enemies when it struck them in the head or chest.
While we defeated more of the guards, there were still so many that I couldn’t see beyond the crush of their metal-covered bodies. Their swords glinted in the lanterns lining the walls, creating a dazzling cascade of light that bounced around the hallway.
It almost would have been beautiful if it weren’t so terrifying. As the fighters fell, more of them swarmed forward as they stepped over and onto the bodies of their comrades.
They ignored the screams of the dying and did nothing to aid those who might have a chance of survival. It wasn’t just us they had no concern for; it was everyone.
They were too petrified to care or enjoy it. Either way, we had to stop them.
I flung my hands out to the side as, behind me, the door opened a little and Scarlet shouted my name. When a soldier crashed into Ryker, throwing him back, the door slammed shut again.
I grasped the hilt of the guard’s sword and funneled my lightning into him. The man opened his mouth to scream but never got the chance as lightning exploded from his eyes, erupted out of his head, and shot out his back to hit more of our foe.
His hair was on fire and his eyes smoked when I finally released the sword, and he crumpled to the ground. “Fuck you!” I spat as Ryker chuckled.
His laughter faded fast as more of the duke’s men crowded us. If they were surprised to see Ryker and me together, they didn’t show it, as their hands clawed at my clothing and hair.
I bit back a shriek when one of them tore a fistful of hair from my head before Ryker pummeled him. Beneath the impact of his two blows, the guard’s face caved in, and he collapsed.
Lifting my hands, I threw out ten bolts from my fingers, striking down the combatants closest to us, while Ryker unleashed a thick, lethal bolt that he moved over the crowd. Despite their determination to get to us, soldiers screamed while they were struck down or scampered to get out of the way.
The respite of not having them pressing against us gave me a little more room to move, and I stepped away from the door. When I did so, the crowd of guards parted enough for me to see a cluster of them ushering someone toward the doorway at the end of the hall.
My blood ran cold and rage filled me when I recognized Gaius as one of the guards. He had his shoulder turned toward us and sword drawn.
His smirk turned my blood to lava when our gazes met. He was such an asshole.
And I’ll make his asshole smile with a bolt of lightning.
The idea of carving a smirk across Gaius’s ass had me grinning. Gaius kept his smile in place, but wariness crept into his golden-brown eyes as he ushered the duke toward the door at the end of the hall.
They were both so close, yet so far away. I didn’t know where they were going, but I worried it was somewhere beyond our grasp. If they somehow managed to escape or got to a place where they could hide from us, this war would continue, and I couldn’t handle any more of the fighting and fear.
This has to end.
“Ryker!” I shouted over the crackling pop of our lightning and the strong gust of wind roaring down the hall toward us. “The duke!”
The wind hit me, throwing me back and briefly pinning me to the wall as it whipped my hair around me and buffeted my body. A few guards stood together, moving their hands as they directed their powers at us.
Prying my hand off the wall as the next gust pushed Ryker back, I lifted my fingers, gathered some air, and threw it at them. My weather collided with theirs, tearing the wind away from us and spinning it back toward them.
One of the soldiers yelped and tried to dodge to the side, but none of them were fast enough as my wind tossed them to the ground. Ryker followed it with multiple tendrils of lightning that destroyed the wind bearers and some of those closest to them.
Ryker’s nostrils flared when he spotted the man he loathed. The amsirah protecting the duke swallowed him again.
“Gaius,” Ryker growled.
More lightning flew from his fingers; it struck down a group of guards but didn’t make it to Gaius and the duke. Some of the soldiers moved back, shuffling toward the doorway as they kept their swords at the ready.
They hoped to escape with the duke, but I was sure he had other plans for them. Veni confirmed it with his next words.
“Do whatever it takes to capture her!” the duke bellowed. “Kill him if necessary!”
His order breathed new life into the fighters and fresh terror into my heart. Before, they’d been afraid to incur his wrath and held back a little while facing our lightning. Now, they’d do whatever they could to take down Ryker and capture me.
With panic fueling my lightning, it flew from my fingertips. I struck down many of the guards, determined to hold them back as the door behind us opened a little before being shoved shut again.
Ryker destroyed those near him, but there were so many, and the duke and Gaius were escaping. “NO!” I screamed.
Unable to stop it, power surged through me as I pulled on my connection to Ryker to gain strength. I didn’t weaken him as I did so, but his lightning raced through me and filled my soul with his strength and love.
Power crackled over my skin as I threw out my palm. A massive beam of lightning erupted from my hand; it carved through the hallway, cutting down all those in its path. As it raced toward Gaius, I twisted my hand, pulling some of the energy back into me as I twirled my fingers around.
The beam of energy transformed into a lasso that encircled his waist, ripped him off his feet, and spun him toward us.
That awful smirk was gone as his mouth hung ajar, his eyes widened, and smoke streamed from where the lightning encircled his waist, but I didn’t put enough electricity into it to kill him.
“Ellery,” Ryker breathed.
I didn’t look at him as I remained focused on what I was doing while he struck out at the guards trying to kill us. With a jerk of my hand, I whipped the lightning back toward me, and Gaius came with it.