Chapter 2
Lana
Storm straightened, approaching the cocky Guardian. “You, what’s your name?”
A smile spread over his lips as he let out a shrill whistle. Voices and boots thudded behind him until four more Guardians appeared.
He stepped around Storm, ignoring him completely. “Why is it you lot think you can break curfew?”
Curfew?
“I would stand down if I were you,” Jax warned, his arm clutched around Raya as the two remained atop his horse.
The Guardians laughed haughtily, without a care in the world. Did they not recognize Storm, Jax, or Raya as fellow Guardians?
“I said who—” Storm’s question abruptly halted as a blade whipped toward his neck, laying against the skin. His eyes flared with shock at the Guardian’s impertinence.
“We’re the ones who will be asking the questions here.” The man licked his lips and pushed the knife harder against Storm’s neck. “So, let’s try this again. Why are you out past curfew? Tell us now, or, well…” He chuckled. “Die.”
“I am one of the elite Guardians.” Storm grunted through gritted teeth. “You will step down and let us pass. We are on official business for King Dargan.”
The group of Guardians snickered. “You, one of King Dargan’s elite Guardians? Don’t recognize you at all. Seems to me you be tellin’ lies.”
A low growl rumbled from Jax, but if they heard it, they ignored the sound to continue their taunting.
“Yeah,” another soldier jeered from behind. “There is no way you pathetic lot are part of the elite. Doubt you could pass the Blood Oath even if you tried. You smell of traitors.”
One by one the Guardians drew their blades, their smiles unnaturally cruel, twitching with similar tics, while their icy stares sent a chill down my spine.
“Dark ones.” My voice shook as I realized. The movements, the gleam in their eyes. They were Guardians turned by the king. “Storm—”
“I know.” He grimaced, blade still at his throat.
I almost couldn’t breathe. Not again. I didn’t want to fight so soon after what we’d been through. I barely had the energy to have a conversation, let alone take on another group of Fae brimming with Thames’s darkness.
“You will be punished for your disobedience.” Storm glared deep into his attacker’s eyes, daring him to make a move.
“Oh, you think so, eh?” the man at Storm’s throat dared. “I run this town now. You see, I have it on good authority—the king is dead.”
My heart stuttered. Impossible.
“The king, dead?” Jax cocked an eyebrow, steadying his anxious mare. “Who’s telling lies now?”
One of the men from the group behind their leader strode forward.
“Hear that, Samuel?” he snarled. “They claim to be the king’s elite and don’t even know the truth.
” The man twirled his blade in a circle before pointing it toward Jax and Raya.
“He is dead, and Thames rules this land now. Pledge your loyalty or you can perish like the rest of the dissidents.” The man used his own sword to pull up his sleeve, revealing an inky black mark.
The wavy line that looked like an eye cast in a circle—I recognized it instantly. It was the same mark on Hale’s arm. The same tattoo branded on Andras.
The mark of the dark ones who willingly turned. These men were not ones turned by force. No, these Guardians were infected by choice.
Thames had been free for less than two days, and if these Guardians were telling the truth, he’d already overtaken at least one major city in Mysthaven. How had Thames accomplished that so quickly?
I fought to keep down the bile rising in my throat. The power and control Thames already wielded would bring the world to its knees and he scarcely had to try.
Samuel glared at the man beside him. “Idiot, shut your mouth.”
The slight distraction was all Storm needed. He raised his hands, shooting balls of fire toward the men before him.
Screams erupted in the alley as a few of them burned, falling to the ground as their clothes ignited. Those still standing surged forward, swords drawn.
I shared a quick, passing glance with Jax. He repositioned himself and whispered something to Raya. I saw her head nod gently once. She wouldn’t be able to fight; she could hardly keep herself upright. But we needed her to if we had any hope of making it out of this alleyway alive.
Jax leapt from his horse and partially shifted into his panther form. One of his hands formed into sharpened claws, yet he appeared Fae-like everywhere else.
The control he had over his shifts left me reeling. If only Ian could see this.
A shout drew my attention back to the fray.
Samuel, unfazed by his shirt catching fire, swirled his hands in front of him in a sweeping motion, conjuring the air around him into a tornado.
The magic lifted the dirt from the alley into the air and dropped it over his body, completely snuffing out the flames.
Maniacal laughter left his lips as he pointed at Storm. “You’re mine.”
Storm conjured another wave of fire and threw it at Samuel, but the Guardian's air magic pushed the flame out of his way.
I reached to my thigh, yanking out the blade, and went to jump from Onyx’s back, but hesitated when I heard Raya whimper to my right. Her body slumped forward. “Fuck,” she hissed.
She looked so defeated. Conflicted, I watched Storm and Jax battle the evil Guardians, but I knew the most vulnerable person here was Raya. I had to protect her. Jax and Storm would never forgive me if something else happened to her. I would never forgive myself.
Fates, Kade would never forgive any of us if we weren’t all alive and well when he returned.
I refused to lose another person I loved.
Moving toward Raya, I positioned Onyx between her and the fight before me.
Jax fought two men, swords and claws clashing in the night.
Another Guardian, still on fire, hadn’t regained control as he rolled on the ground trying to put out the flames overtaking him.
Samuel flung his arm toward his fellow Guardian and doused him in dirt, just as he had done for himself earlier.
In the blink of an eye, he was back on his feet. His lip curled as vines shot out from the ground around him. Thick, thorny branches crept toward Storm’s ankles. I cried out to warn him, but the vines lurched faster than my shout and he fell flat on his face, taken by surprise.
A flurry of emotions bubbled beneath the surface of my skin. I had a duty to protect Raya, but I couldn’t lose Jax or Storm to the dark ones either. A flicker warmed inside of me.
I had magic. I knew deep down it was there, but calling it the way the others could didn’t feel natural for me. The flicker from earlier was all there was, nothing more.
Come on, I pleaded internally.
I looked at Raya, her eyes glistened as her mouth opened. Jerking my attention forward, I noticed another group of dark ones stalking toward us from an alley away from the others.
We were utterly surrounded.
“Run, Lana,” she rasped, her voice gravelly. “Leave me and run. You must get to the others. To warn them.”
“I will not leave you here to die. To be infected with their darkness,” I barked back. “Can you stay on your horse?”
“I don’t deserve to be saved,” she cried out. “Go!”
My heart raced faster at the certainty in her voice, simultaneously breaking for Raya at seeing her so vulnerable. I’d have to deal with her words later—right now I had to fight. I would protect my friends.
Leaping from Onyx, I grabbed the other blade from my boot. The white dagger I’d found hidden in my parents’ coffin hummed in my grasp the second my hand wrapped around the hilt.
Pushing down the fear at how vastly outnumbered I was, I readied myself against the four Guardians closing in on me.
One ran forward, as the others jeered and taunted. At least they weren’t attacking all at once…yet.
The Guardian fought arrogantly, unaware I could possibly know how to wield a dagger. I sliced it across her forearm, and she laughed. “Little pretty wants to play.”
I yelled in frustration, ducking low before stabbing her in the gut. The smile fell from her face as a cloud of darkness exploded out of her in a shadowy burst. She collapsed to the ground.
The other three watched, their eyes widening in horror before narrowing, prepared to engage me without further hesitation.
“Tits and daggers. Storm!” I yelled over my shoulder above the commotion. “Might need some help over here.”
One of the Guardians shouted Samuel’s name.
As if in slow motion, the scene unfurled before me. Storm had taken down Samuel and was fighting with Jax against the three remaining Guardians, but that didn’t include the group headed my way. Raya struggled behind me to get her dagger out of its sheath.
My resolve strengthened. I wouldn’t fail. Two more steps and one of the remaining Guardians would be within fighting distance.
When the dark one swung his blade in my direction, I was ready. Crossing my daggers, I formed an X, and the attackers’ blade landed in the middle, allowing me to push him off balance.
Grinning, he attacked once more. Parry after parry, I deflected his blows, not allowing him to gain any footing. But another joined the fight, and my strength wavered after so little rest on the road.
My hope faltered. In the past, Storm and Jax could take out dark ones with ease, but these ones were stronger. Quicker, somehow.
Panic pooled deep in my belly as we continued our fight. The hopelessness threatened to take over, pushing me near a full-blown panic attack, back to a place I’d worked too hard to overcome.
My breathing shortened, becoming shallower with each passing millisecond.
Worthless.
Counting my steps to ground myself, I continued my frenzied dance, letting my rage fuel me forward. I’d done so much to overcome these panic attacks, and here I was, yet again.
Andras’s voice had no place here. Not anymore. I knew myself—knew the truth. I am not worthless.
The dark one in front of me hissed as his block missed its mark and my dagger sliced into his thigh.
I am Illiana Dresden.
I am worthy.