Page 46 of Winds of Destiny

I’ve ruined everything.

“Take Lulu and go!” Turo shouts as he dodges one man’s slash, then stabs him in the gut. One more down, but there are still too many left.

I know that Kai would agree with Turo if he had the breath for it. I know it’s what Ishoulddo. I’m not a good enough fighter to tip the scales in our favor, and my power isn’t strong enough to blow all these men away. They want me to leave them.

Leave them to die.

“Go!” Turo shouts again, exasperation and fear warring in his voice. He’s half turned toward me, looking to ensure I’m being obedient—which is why he doesn’t see the warrior behind him raise his curving blade, then bring it down hard against his back. The scrape of it against the whelver shell is loud, but Turo’s guttural groan is even louder to me. He sinks to one knee, his free hand going back to clutch at his hip, and—

Before I know it, I’m astride Lulu, only I’m not running away. I can’t, it’s impossible. Instead, I’m charging toward the knot of attackers closing in on Turo, screaming, my sword in the air. Lulu beats her wings, lifts us briefly off the ground, and then… It’s a massacre.

She slashes and kicks her way through the offenders, dancing a ring around Turo but not stepping on him once. My sword ends up being used to defend her from the near-misses she takes, and I’m not perfect. Soon half her white feathers are pink, but everyone attacking Turo is dead. He’s still on his knees, staring up at me in horror and awe. I bend down, reach for his hand—I’m going to get him, then we’re going to save Kai and flee this awful place together, and—

Suddenly Lulu is moving, jolting forward so quickly I nearly fall off. Lulu is high on bloodlust and charging toward the next closest group of attackers—where King Embros is. I should pull her back, but if she can do it, if we can kill him now, then his men will scatter. I might yet be able to save not only us but countless other lives that he would take in the wars he’s so desperate to wage.

I summon my power, this time to give Lulu a boost as she leaps toward the king. We fly twenty feet high, and the long, sharp blades growing from the backs of her legs are bared, ready to scythe his life out. She falls, screeching triumphantly.

Embros raises his hands, and a surge of green light shoots toward her. It creates a ripple in her feathers a second before we hit the ground.

She collapses in a heap, stone dead. I tumble off her, losing my grip on my sword and hitting my head hard enough to see stars. My pearl necklace tumbles to the ground, ripped from my neck during the fall.

Turo and Kai scream my name.

I want to go to them, but everything hurts. Before I can gather myself to move, I’m hoisted upright and pulled into a regrettably familiar pair of arms.

“Prince Camrael.” Embros sounds pleased as he drags me in close. “You’re even more useful than I imagined you would be.” He forces my hands behind me and wraps them up with a leather strap faster than I can react, then does the same with my mouth. I’m bound, gagged, and very thoroughly captured.

Fuck me.

All I can do is hope that the Kamorans leave now that they seem to have gotten what they wanted.Please, let Turo and Kai live…But we’re not moving yet.

King Embros opens his mouth to speak, and I close my eyes to pray.

Chapter Twenty-Two

Turo

Cam!

I want to run to him, but I can’t. It’s not the soldiers between me and him that stop me—I’m not afraid to face them. I’ll killanyonewho gets between me and Cam.Anyone. But the man who has Cam in his grasp right now is no simple Kamoran soldier. He just took Lulu down without even touching her. I wouldn’t believe it if I hadn’t seen it with my own eyes. There’s only one person in Kamor I know of capable of killing like that.

King Embros. He has one poisonous hand wrapped around Cam’s neck and the other resting over his heart. If I charge in, Cam will be dead before I make it ten paces.

Embros whistles, sharp and piercing. It leaves my ears ringing, and I almost miss the fact that the fighters closest to me are backing away now, retreating toward their lord. Two of them are practically carrying a third, and if their looks could poison me from a distance like Embros, I would be dead right now. My legs tremble with the urge to follow them, but I stop myself.

“Well fought,” Embros calls over to us. “Well fought indeed. Consider keeping your lives here the ultimate victory.”

“Give back Prince Camrael,” Kai says, his voice low and menacing. “Or prepare to spend more of your men in your effort to keep him.”

“I suggest you worry about keepingyourselfout of trouble,” Embros replies. He sounds almost jovial, so pleased with his prize. It doesn’t matter that he’s lost over half his people. All that matters is that he has who he wants.

Who I want back. Right the fuck now.

“Muchas I value the young man in my arms, rest assured that Iwillkill him if I have to. You both know of me, I believe.” He tilts his head in question. “Have you ever supposed me to be merciful, Prince Eleas?”

Wait, what?

Cam stiffens, his eyes popping open with shock.

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