Chapter 18
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
I dove out of the way, taking Nathaniel with me, and the creature landed where I’d been standing only a second ago.
“Primelle!” Kole roared again.
I stayed crouched in front of Nathaniel and immediately drew upon my magic.
I blasted the creature with the full extent of my mind-control powers, but it moved so fast that it was only inches away, its clawed hands reaching for me.
By the time my magic seized its mind, it’d nearly grasped a hold of me.
I fell back, landing hard on my arse. The creature slumped to the ground at my feet. My magic had rendered it catatonic, but I scrambled upward just as fast, slipping slightly on the cold soil. I had no idea how strong the creature was or how long my magic would keep it down.
“Run!” I yelled at Nathaniel.
Kole bellowed his fury, but he sounded closer. He was obviously still mistphasing, moving from row to row, searching for me, but additional distant growls filtered to me as well.
More snarls.
Growing closer.
Stars and galaxy, there were more creatures.
“Oh Gods!” I wrenched Nathaniel around the next corner. “I’m running, Kole!” I called to the warrior. “There are creatures here! They’ve breached the wards!”
“I know!” he responded just as fast. “I’m coming!”
“What . . . How . . .” Nathaniel tripped behind me, nearly taking me with him just as another creature appeared in the bend that I careened around.
I stopped short, and Nathaniel plowed into me from behind, pitching me forward.
I landed on my hands and knees, soil sinking between my fingers and pain slicing up my wrists.
“I’m so sorry, Princess,” Nathaniel reached for me, but I ignored him and shot to my feet.
The creature stood in the shadows, fully erect, and its dead-looking eyes locked onto me. Vicious snarls emitted from its throat, and razor-sharp fangs hung from its gums.
“What in the realm?” Nathaniel stared at the creature standing before us, a stunned expression on the lordling’s face. “Is this real? How did that hideous-looking creature back there fall unconscious? Was it an illusion? Is all of this another trick of the maze?”
“No,” was all I managed a second before the creature lunged.
Magic blasted out of me, seizing the thing a second before it was upon us. Like the first, it fell limply to the ground, but it’d been close. Stars, galaxy, and all the moons, but the creatures were fast. I needed to react quicker. No waiting. Offensive magic only.
Panting, I surveyed the area and flung my magic out, unleashing it entirely. One, two, three . . .
My magic instantly catalogued everything around us as I counted the creatures that had infiltrated the maze.
“Dear Gods, there are so many.” Heaving in breaths, my heart felt like it was going to explode. They were still coming. For me.
“Primelle!” Kole’s roar sounded closer.
“Here!”
Nathaniel continued staring at the creature at our feet. “What is that? And if it’s real, did you do something to it?” He eyed my cuff, and since he didn’t sound panicked, it was obvious he had no idea that they were real and incredibly dangerous.
A female’s scream rose in the distance, then another fairy’s cry.
“Lillith!” Koraline yelled, her voice faint.
My oldest sister’s call reached my ears just as two more creatures leaped over the hedges to surround Nathaniel and me.
But neither of them gave the lordling a second glance. They were here for me, and he was likely safer if I left him behind.
“Don’t move!” I yelled at Nathaniel. “And don’t follow me!”
Each creature lunged for me, and their timing was aimed perfectly with my footsteps.
Magic erupted out of me, seizing both of them before their feet hit the ground. I leaped out of the way at the last second to avoid being landed on by them, but my gown caught in the hedge and ripped.
Gemstones cascaded to the ground around me, but I gripped the fabric and tore it more until it’d ripped clear to my thighs so my legs were at last free of the tangling garment, then I took off sprinting. Soil kicked up behind me, and my bare toes sank into the ground, helping to give me momentum.
“Lillith!” I screamed, searching for my sister with my magic.
My power locked onto Kole’s essence first. He’d nearly reached me. “Keep following my voice, Kole. I’m running to Lillith!”
“Primelle, stay put!” he yelled back.
“I can’t! She’s my sister!”
Power emanated from me as I raced through the maze.
I catalogued each creature’s location, seizing their minds and rendering them immobile as quickly as I identified them.
Screams from surprised and terrified fae came from everywhere, and I thanked the gods that I’d met my sisters enough times to recognize their magical essences.
Lillith was growing closer, but I cursed the maze each time I reached a dead end and had to backtrack.
Sweat poured down my back, and my heart thundered.
The creatures kept coming, and I had the vaguest realization that they were entering the palace grounds through the maze.
Each of them was coming from beneath the soil, in the same spot, and the understanding hit me that they’d either breached the palace wards, or wards weren’t placed underground, and the creatures had taken advantage of the shifting hedges in order to penetrate the palace’s defenses.
That theory formed in my mind just as a flash of magic flared at my side, and then Kole materialized.
Tousled hair covered his head, and his eyes shone like sapphires in the moonlight. Chest heaving, he clamped a hold of my wrist. “I’m getting you out of here. Now.”
I wrenched out of his grip. “No, you’re not. You’re going to help me find Lillith.”
My magic told me that she was standing between me and one of the things, and I knew the creature wouldn’t think twice about slicing through her to get to me.
I took off running again. Kole cursed but followed behind me.
Moonlight lit the way, and around the third bend, I stopped short. Lillith lay on the ground, tears streaming down her face. Another fairy, a male who’d been with my sister and Koraline inside the ballroom, was also with her, but my oldest sister was nowhere to be seen.
Blood trickled from a long gash on Lillith’s arm. It looked deep, and my stomach lurched, because if one of the creatures had slashed her with their black claws, had infected her—
A low snarl had my attention snapping upward. My stomach tumbled. One of the creatures stood behind Lillith and the lordling, then another, and then another behind it.
My eyes widened to saucers when I spotted the hole in the ground at the end of the maze’s pathway. Creature after creature emerged from beneath the soil.
I stumbled back. “Kole, there are so many.”
The warrior was in front of me before I could blink, his movements blurring as his lethal magic flared. He didn’t hesitate. Didn’t think twice about putting himself in harm’s way to protect the royal family.
Sharp awe and gratitude squeezed my chest, and I rushed to my sister just as half a dozen sword tips cut through the hedges around us.
Branches were thrown out of the way, and Imperial Warriors were suddenly there, flooding the space around us.
They had all hacked their way through the maze, and once they surrounded us, the six males moved with perfect synchronicity.
Within a blink, Kole and the warriors had formed a protective barrier around Lillith and me, their backs to us. Above the commotion, I heard Koraline yelling for Lillith in the distance, but she sounded far away, and I imagined they’d been separated by the hedges too.
I sank to the ground at my sister’s side, letting the warriors take over. They tore down creature after creature as each one emerged from their underground tunnel.
In a burst of self-cleansing magic, I washed my hands, then reached for Lillith.
“We need to stop the bleeding.” I tore off a portion of my skirt that wasn’t covered in grime and wrapped it around her arm in quick movements, then knotted it and held my hand to the wound, applying pressure too.
Trembling, Lillith stared at me with dazed eyes, shock apparent in her expression.
“Did any of them touch you?” I asked and also looked to the male at her side.
Lillith remained mute, but the male frantically shook his head. “No, we were running from one when a sharp branch cut her. The cut was from the maze, not those—” He gulped.
I nodded. “We need to get her to a healer. Can you carry her?”
Pale and shaking, he dipped his head and got to his feet, being careful to avoid the warriors’ swinging arms as they fought around us.
I laid a hand on my sister’s arm. “Lillith, it’s all right. We’re going to get you inside and somewhere safe.”
She glanced at where I’d touched her. Recognition sprang into her eyes, and some of the fogginess in her features lifted. “Primelle?”
“Yes, it’s me. We’re going to get you back to the palace.”
The fighting around us slowed, but the scent of death and decay remained heavy in the air, and I suddenly wondered how I would get my sister inside. I didn’t know how to get out of this maze, and I still couldn’t mistphase.
“Are any more coming through?” one of the warriors yelled. He was tall with skin as black as the night and had an aura brimming with fire.
“No.” Kole’s terse reply followed. “We need to get the princesses out of here now. Lucus, Onix, and Jamie, guard the tunnel and burn these bodies. I’ll contact the palace’s spellcaster to fix this breach as soon as we’ve ensured Primelle and Lillith are behind warded doors.”
“Yes, sir,” they all replied in unison.
It vaguely hit me that Kole was issuing orders to his fellow Imperial Warriors, but before I had a chance to contemplate that, Kole was back at my side. Blazing irises met mine, and another warrior brushed off Lillith’s friend who’d been struggling to lift her.
“We’ve got this,” he told the lordling.
I shot to my feet and reached for Kole just as fast. His hand clasped mine, his grip tight and hot.
Eyes blazing, he growled, “You’re not leaving my side ever again.”
I sagged against him. I’ve never felt happier to have someone with me. Never felt such relief that of all the fae here, it was Kole who guarded me and could get my sister out of here. “Let’s get her inside. She’s lost a lot of blood.”
I didn’t have to ask twice. The warriors, Kole, my sister, and I disappeared in a blast of mistphasing magic.