Chapter 5 #2
Alexia smiled, slow and knowing. “Are you sure about that?”
Beside her, Cade stiffened and finally took his eyes off the gate. “What are you talking about?”
“I told you…” Cassia began, stopping when the guard stepped between her and Cade to grab Alexia and drag her forward.
Cade held the Andarrian girl back, despite the guard’s protests. “Tell me what you know,” he demanded.
Their father let out a growl that reverberated over the gate’s drowning hum. “Enough. I’ve given you more than enough time to get what you want from her... and you still haven’t shown any gratitude.” To the Shaman, he ordered, “Hurry up and get on with it.”
The Shaman nodded. Moments later, the gate began to vibrate more than ever before, and the echoing whirl almost brought Cassia to her knees. Over the noise, she barely heard Alexia’s next words.
“Maybe I know something you don’t. Maybe the rune on my skin protects humans from the curse.
Either way, I have a feeling you’ll find out soon enough.
” The guard pushed Alexia toward the gate.
She stumbled, then dug her feet into the dirt before she careened into the stone head first. Sneaking a look at Cade over her shoulder, she asked, “Where do you think I should look for Bridget first?”
“You’re bluffing,” Cassia said, though the words tasted thin. Alexia wouldn’t make it through the gate with her memories… it was impossible. And yet, the certainty in her eyes made Cassia’s pulse spike.
The lanterns around the gate flickered. Bridget is dead.
Cassia wanted to scream it, wanted to force Cade to hear it, to stop haunting himself with false hope that he would see her again.
But the lie wouldn’t help, not when Cade’s fist was already raised, magic coiling tight around it, ready to snap Alexia’s throat from across the room.
Cassia tried to push his arm down, but he wouldn’t budge.
The corner of Alexia’s lips lifted. “Am I?”
Cassia wasn’t sure what sent Cade charging forward, the taunt or their father’s laugh. Her father’s guard jumped in his path.
“Don’t you dare go near her,” Cade snarled, knocking the King’s guard into the wall with a flick of his wrist.
The Shaman’s incessant, deafening chanting shook the stone, almost making it appear opaque. Alexia raised her hand.
“Stop!” Cade ordered.
Before Cassia could blink, Alexia had disappeared.
A shudder ripped through the gate and sent a wave of power throughout the small expanse.
Cassia fell to the ground, while Cade and her father merely stumbled backward.
As she got to her knees, a crack split her eardrum.
She looked up at the vibrating gate, expecting another wave of magic, but Delphine rushed past her.
What the hell?
Only then did Cassia realize what the crack had been… Delphine, appearing behind her.
Of course. Why had she let herself believe, even for a second, that they didn’t have some sort of idiotic plan?
The second their father pulled his glowing dagger from its sheath, Cade raised his fist and knocked it to the ground. With his other hand, he froze the Shaman in place, preventing him from stopping the spell that kept the gate open.
Snarling, her father sent a pulse of magic toward Cade.
It boomed when it collided with Cade’s in the air, preventing either of them moving an inch.
Cassia spotted a trickle of blood escaping from Cade’s ear as he used all his strength to keep their father and the Shaman from the gate.
Delphine was going to cross to find Bridget.
That much was obvious. But Cassia doubted Cade getting distracted by Alexia had been a part of the plan, though.
The timing was off. Cade and their father were fighting too close to the gate.
Delphine only had a small pathway to get to the stone. And the guard…
“Delphine, look out!” Cassia shouted.
Delphine looked up in time to dodge the guard’s sword that had been aiming for her back.
The movement sent her stumbling to the ground beside her.
Before the guard swung again, Cassia launched herself to her feet.
Using all her strength, she pushed the guard into the cave’s stone wall.
Momentarily dazed, he grabbed his head before charging back toward her.
Her push had been impulsive. Now she had no idea what to do. Backing away, Cassia ran into Cade. Whipping around, she stared at her twin, whose gaze frantically darted between her, the guard, their father, Delphine, and the Shaman. He only had seconds to make a choice.
Cade could stop the guard whose sword was aiming for the two of them, only a few feet away, or hold the Shaman long enough for Delphine to get back up and get through the gate.
Blood poured from ears as he strained to keep his father and the Shaman subdued. Resigned, Cassia closed her eyes, the ache settling deep in her chest. She knew what he would choose.
But then Cade let out a resigned, angry roar.
He flicked his wrist. A heartbeat later the Shaman flew into the wall.
An earsplitting crunch echoed against stone before he dropped lifeless to the ground.
The gate stilled. Breathing heavily, Cade lifted his hand to stop the guard.
Before he could, though, the guard suddenly froze.
Inches from them, blood spurted out his mouth.
The guard twisted to the ground, their father’s favorite weapon speared in his back.
Cassia’s jaw dropped as she watched their father remove his dagger from the man.
“Now look what you made me do,” their father said calmly, casually wiping the blood off his dagger on his forearm.