40 LONNIE
UNDERNEATH
The queen rushed toward us, her long, red robe swirling around her. While her veil concealed her face, I could feel the intensity of her gaze as she sprinted toward us, the sharp edge of a sword gleaming in her hand.
I didn’t understand anything that was happening. Why would she attack us? Why now, when she’d been standing behind me for the last several minutes.
I didn’t have long to wonder.
My muscles tensed as I gripped my dagger, ready to strike. But before I could make a move, Bael pushed me roughly aside, and charged toward the queen. Fear gripped me, and every second felt like an eternity as the two of them met in the middle of the hallway.
I watched in abject horror as the queen’s sword pierced Bael’s skin. My scream of fury and fear echoed through the room, and I started forward to help. Except, then Scion’s furious voice rose behind me. Suddenly, I felt a sharp tug as his muscular arms wound around my waist, yanking me backwards into his cell.
“Let me go!”
I shouted. “He’s hurt.”
“He’s fine!”
Scion held me tighter.
I kicked at him, but he ignored it, reaching forward to pull the door of the cell closed behind us with a heavy metal snap.
“What the fuck are you doing?”
I demanded. “We’ll be trapped in here.”
“Better that than torn to bloody shreds.”
I had no clue what he was referring to, until a guttural growl echoed through the dungeon.
I gasped, and even the veiled queen seemed to falter as Bael’s body contorted and stretched, his skin bulging and shifting into the form of a massive lion. His powerful muscles rippled beneath his tawny fur as he let out a fierce roar.
For a fraction of a second, I wondered how Bael was able to wield magic within the castle walls. Then, I realized that the only individual allowed to use magic in this fortress was King Gancanagh. It seemed Bael had inherited more than an ability to open doors.
“I need to help him,”
I hissed at Scion.
“If that bitch doesn’t kill you, Bael will,”
Scion yelled back. “He’ll kill all of us. It’s not…him when he’s like that.”
As if to illustrate the point, Bael let out a fierce roar and charged after the queen with lightning speed, his powerful paws pounding against the ground as he closed in on his target.
Furious, I kicked harder against Scion. “He won’t hurt me. Let me fucking go.”
Scion ignored me completely, and as I thrashed and screamed, the fight in the dungeon hallway only grew more intense. The queen dodged and weaved, seeming desperate to get to us—to me.
Bael’s powerful claws sliced through the air, narrowly missing the queen’s head. Despite his strength, the narrow pathway of the dungeon was a hindrance, making it hard for him to stand to his full towering height, or land a fatal blow.
With each swipe, the queen deftly blocked or evaded, her sword glinting in the dim light. Panic began to rise in my throat, and I hardly noticed when the bars of our cell seemed to crumble, Bael’s magic tearing through the prison and causing total destruction.
Then finally, with a swift motion, Bael slashed his claws across the queen’s abdomen.
There was a beat, where she seemed to realize she was hurt and looked down. Then, for the first time she made a sound. A piercing shriek of pure agony escaped her lips.
My ears pricked up.
I knew that scream. I’d heard it over and over again in the back of my mind for half my life. Ever since…
no…it couldn’t be.
“Wait!”
I screamed. “Stop! Bael!”
Bael turned his enormous feline head to look at me, and in that moment the queen struck.
One of her hands was clutching her stomach, as if she were holding her inners inside her body with her fingers alone. The front of her red robe looked slick with blood, and I could hear her breath, gasping and ragged, as she stumbled forward. She raised her shaking sword, and with what seemed to be her final burst of energy, she sunk her blade into Bael’s shoulder.
He whirled back around, hissing, and swatted her with an enormous paw. It was like she was nothing more than a fly, her blade merely an annoyance, as she went flying backwards against the stone wall.
As she slumped to the ground, her veil slipped.
Red hair tumbled out from beneath the crimson silk, and my eyes bulged with horror. The confirmation of what I’d already known when I heard her voice struck me like lightning, sending electric pain through every inch of my body.
It was my mother, and she’d just tried to kill me.