Page 17 of A Cage of Magic and Darkness

“Princess Taelyn,” she cries. “What’s happening?”

She’s closely followed by the head of my guard, Balthorne. His near-white hair is down to his broad shoulders. He sees me standing there in my nightwear, and his pale blue eyes widen. He goes to turn his back, as though my modesty is the thing that’s important right now, then changes his mind.

Both stand with their arms outstretched to keep their balance. The floor seems to tilt and buck, and I swear I see the stone slabs moving.

On my left, books slide from the towering mahogany shelves and plummet to the floor. The covers open as they fall, cream pages fluttering.

Terror clutches my heart.

“Get into the bathtub, Princess Taelyn,” Balthorne shouts at me. “Lie down flat.”

I spin to face him. “How is that going to help?”

“If the ceiling comes down, you’ll be safer there.” He looks to Skylar. “You, too.”

Luckily, my bathtub is big enough for us both. Maybe some princesses would refuse to be in such proximity to their staff, but Skylar is more like a sister to me. I’d gladly give my life for hers.

On unsteady feet, we hurry into my adjoining bathroom. Skylar climbs into the tub first, lifting her long skirts over the high rolltop edges and the solid cast iron sides, and then puts her arms out to help me. It isn’t easy with everything shaking around us, but I manage to climb in and lie down with her. We’re face to face, holding each other tight.

“What about you?” I ask Balthorne, twisting my head to look at him and having to shout to be heard over all the noise.

He ducks his head in a bow. “My job is to protect you.”

“From people or rabid dogs,” I cry. “Not this!”

The terrifying racket continues. It’s not only the ceiling I’m terrified of coming down. We’re several stories up, and if the building below us collapses, there will be little chance of survival. An old cast iron bathtub certainly won’t save us.

It feels as though hours have passed since I woke, though it must only be a matter of seconds, maybe barely even a minute.

I hadn’t thought it possible for things to get louder, but they do. Skylar lets out a scream. It sounds as though the whole castle is coming down around our ears. Skylar and I clutch at one another. Everything shakes and trembles, more mortar and pieces of rock fall around us. My hair and skin and eyelashes are coated in dust. I inhale it into my lungs and cough.

Then, suddenly, everything goes quiet and still.

There are a few shifts of rubble, the distant sound of things collapsing. But it’s nothing like what we were in the middle of only moments before. It’s like the whole world is holding its breath, me included.

I find my voice. “I-Is it over?”

“I think so,” the head of my guard says.

Balthorne leans over the tub and puts out his hand to help me up. His wings are longer and thicker than mine, and they lift into the air and help to brace him as he helps us out of the tub. Balthorne is as traditionally Fae as they come, and one of my top members of court.

I take his hand, and he carefully helps me out. Then we both help Skylar up.

“Is everyone okay?” Balthorne asks, his tone deep and rumbly.

“I’m all right,” Skylar says.

I nod in agreement.

What damage has been done to Highdrift Castle? From the amount of noise, I assume we won’t have gone unscathed. What about the surrounding city and the homes there? They’d have been built with far less support than the castle. I hate to think of them razed to the ground, the poor people inside either dead or homeless. I vow to ensure we do everything we can to help those who are left in a desolate situation.

Assuming our own stores have gone unharmed. I suddenly find myself worrying about the horses in the stables, and the chickens, and all the other animals we have. I hope none of them were harmed.

“We should go to the king,” I say to both Skylar and Balthorne. “Find out what we can do to help.”

But Balthorne doesn’t move. He’s standing at the arched window, a silhouette in the moonlight.

“Balthorne?” I say. “We should go.”

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