Chapter 69
CHAPTER SIXTY-NINE
Ellery
When the collapse happened, I somehow managed to fall through the roof of one of the beautiful, colorful homes trapped beneath the earth in the city of the dead. Remains from the palace were piled beneath and over me, but not all of the home had crumpled beneath the palace.
I’d woken to discover myself tucked into a small alcove that somehow managed to keep me from being flattened. My right wrist was badly broken, and I tried not to look at it as the bone sluggishly retracted beneath my skin.
My left ankle had dislocated at some point, but I’d managed to twist it back into place with my left hand. My lip bled from how hard I’d bitten it while doing so.
Lifting my hands, I waved them before me as I tried to open a portal; nothing happened. I hadn’t been able to open a portal out of the city of the dead before, but that was when the Heart of Stone was here.
Things could have changed after its reunification with the gargoyles. They didn’t.
Lightning danced around my fingers as I surveyed my surroundings. Rocks, wood, and other debris surrounded me; the whole space was probably only four feet by four feet.
I couldn’t stretch out in it, but I was certain I’d gotten a lot luckier than most who’d gone down with the palace… because of me.
My chest tightened to the point where I couldn’t breathe as my thoughts turned to Ryker. I’d never forget the look on his face when the ground gave way and we plunged into the abyss of rubble and death.
But somehow, I survived. Did he?
His lightning still thrummed within me; it was a powerful reminder of the beautiful man I loved so dearly.
Had I lost him? Was I the one who killed him?
My heart ached so badly I could barely breathe. What did I do?
And what of Scarlet, Luna, and Callan? Did they make it?
With my left hand, I wiped away the tears filling my eyes. Had I killed my family and the love of my life?
How could I live with myself if I had? What did I do?
A choked sob escaped before I stifled it. Samael had been with us too, but I had no attachment to him. However, I didn’t like the idea of killing him, even if he was a twat.
I leaned my head against the jagged rocks behind me as my lightning played off the walls of the prison I’d created for myself… and for those I loved most. Someone had to find them.
If they lived and weren’t still fighting a war, the others would try to find us, but the palace was a monstrosity of a building, and we’d fallen into a rather large town deep below the earth. There was so much wreckage that it could take years to dig us out.
What would we be by then?
I shuddered at the possibility of that bleak future and winced when it jarred my still-healing wrist. Holding my breath, I chanced a glance at the injury and recoiled when I discovered the bloody, broken bone still poking through my skin.
Do not look at that again!
For once, I agreed with the annoying little inner voice that normally pissed me off. But this time, that bitch was right.
Okay, so it would take a while to dig us out. The gargoyles would help, I hoped, but it would still take a lot of time to free us.
“Hello?” I called, hoping someone would hear me and respond.
I’d never felt more alone and sought some proof that life still existed somewhere in Tempest. Same as the last time I tried this, no one responded.
Sorrow encompassed me as my mind raced. Did I doom us all? What of Tempest and the amsirah? Were they at least free, or had they lost the battle?
They had to be free; they had to have won. And even if they did have to retreat, they were closer to being free than they’d been in years.
The duke was probably trapped down here too, and we’d destroyed all the aristocrats… or at least most of them. Those who survived our night of slaughter were most likely in the palace when it fell.
If they were still alive, there weren’t enough of them to mount a war against the amsirah. They were far outnumbered now.
Without the palace and central ruling figure to hold it all together, they wouldn’t beat the amsirah back. I had to have faith they’d win and take control of the realm, that even though I’d sacrificed everything, they’d have the lives, freedom, and love they deserved.