Page 111 of Hidden Kingdoms

“Fuck you!” I spat at him, stepping around the giant in front of me and taking up the space between me and the Prince once again.

Probably wasn’t the best move, but I wasn’t fuelled by rationality right now.

I was fuelled by a burning rage that was reflected right back at me in those blistering eyes. I could sense the soldiers around me turn our way, hear the slight rattle of weapons but I didn’t care.

“I’m going to help whether you want me to or not. After that, seeing as you despise me so much, you cansend me home,” I gritted out, fighting the urge to recoil from the heat emanating from him.

The now familiar zip of magik flooded my fingers in retaliation, but I held back as best as I could. I wasn’t stupid enough to be throwing magik at royalty while surrounded by their guard.

“Youdo not tellmewhat to do.” His lips pulled back as he sneered, green eyes blazing with fury as the heat ramped up. If this wasn’t so serious, it would be funny how riled up he got, but then again, he had the same effect on me.

Stepping back instinctively from the flare of heat, a large hand curled around my hip pulling me back. Marcellus’ heat was comforting, unlike the inferno that threatened to consume my front. I couldn’t even enjoy the way the icy bite to the air had been somewhat chased away because it came from, well,him. Alow growl left Bastian as his eyes zeroed to where Marcellus held me.

“Not you, too. Surely what she’s got between her legs can’t be that good,” he snarled, fingers twitching as Kaius’ head whipped towards Marcellus. The chest I was pressed against vibrated, grip tightening as the insinuation spread through the three of us.

And no doubt everyone else in earshot.

“Jealousy isn’t a good look on you, but I’m not sleeping with either of them.” I forced myself to look him in the eye, turning my humiliation against him. “Yet.”

Marcellus’ hand flexed on my hip pulling me into him a little more, and Kaius didn’t even try to hold back his bark of laughter. I looked his way, the smirk on his face and heated look in his eyes had no place here in the chaos that loomed all around us, but that didn’t stop the bolt of need it shot through my body.

Bastian’s mouth opened to speak, but conveniently, a tremor ran through the ground saving me from having to hear another word from his infuriating mouth. The earth shook beneath our feet as the wards trembled under the pressure upon them. It was enough that I lost my footing and found myself pulled fully into Marcellus’ immense form, arms banding around me in a vice-like grip, my face tucked against him, frozen toes just touching the slippery ground.

My heart was slamming against my chest so vigorously, I was sure he could feel it, and I breathed him in while shouts of alarm carried through the air. The clattering of armour and weapons added to the noise as people were knocked off their feet. The heavy presence of The Darkness made my head pound as I pressed myself against him harder, the feeling of safety that ran through me as he held me tight confusing yet comforting all the same.

The floor evened out as the shaking subsided, and he gently set me back down, my hand gripping the swell of his bicep, which I noticed appreciatively was likely bigger than my thigh.

“Thanks, Tiny,” I whispered, before he could straighten completely. The growl that rumbled through his chest did nothing to slow my heart rate. Releasing my hold on him, I felt my mind slip free the moment our connection broke, felt it race away from the restraints of my body.

The Darkness was still a suffocating presence as I sped towards the palace. Dark patches of grass and mud flew by underneath, and I found I had no control over the direction I was heading in.

I couldn’t even turn to see what had happened to the me I’d left behind.

Had I collapsed?

Or was I standing there with a very evident expression of emptiness, because I knew for sure I was no longer trapped within the confines of my body?

The palace came into view faster and faster, stone groaning and glass smashing as screams filled the air, and people streamed out the front doors only to find being outside was no better.

I stopped.

Hovering above them, watching as they rallied themselves.

The Darkness was thinner here, but its cloying dread permeated the air, penetrating even my wisp of being. Feeble arcs of magik were sent from those who had stumbled out the doors, but they weren’t enough.

Another boom rang through the air and the unmistakable grating of a building collapsing followed. I willed myself to go down, to help them, but I couldn’t.

My mind prickled with apprehension as I was spun to look back the way I had come, a scream devoid of any sound searing my mind as I saw a thick, inky streak of The Darkness break away and shoot across the sky towards me.

I could only look, only watch in horror as the people below…

“Elodie!” a voice called, rough hands gripping my face as tired grey eyes met mine.

“Kaius,” I gasped, as my mind settled back where it belonged, and I wrenched his hands from my face, head tipping back to look up at the shield above us.

Kaius followed my line of sight, and we both saw the moment The Darkness cleaved itself in two, sending its counterpart roiling across the sky in a direction that sent shards of ice into my heart.

The others turned moments after us, as Kaius pointed at the inky patch that was clearly on a path towards the palace, wisps of smoke trailing in its wake.

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