Page 126 of Fractured
We were here now, no matter how we’d gotten to this point. We’d tried to find the truth and it hadn’t worked.That’s okay.
But we were getting out of here tonight one way or the other, and I was going to freeze this room, this entire fucking court just like I did the forest in the Mercove if I had to, to make sure of it.
And Rune knew it.
There had been a lot of soldiers in this room because even though many were dead on the ground, there were at least another dozen fighting Rune and Raja, blocking Rune’s way to the king and to Vair, who had yet to get past the shadows that were protecting the king as he spun and drewon the floor.
Rune knew—and that’s why he saved his breath when he looked at me, didn’t tell me to run again.
Then a soldier’s sword came at him, and he had to duck,get out of my sight—and Vair hit the floor on his back for the third time.
The king.
I ran to the other side of the railing in the middle of the room, and I caught a glimpse of what was underneath, what that opening looked out at—the side of a mountain. Black rocks, and water pouring down, ending with a rocky shore possibly over fifty feet below.
I didn’t even have a second to be terrified because Vair was right there, growling at the king still—and he’d slowed down his movements. My God, the closer I got, the more I realized that he actuallyhaddrawn something on the floor—with shadows. They’d set themselves on the marble into a wide circle with more circles and squares and all kinds of symbols inside it.
“Vair,” I said, falling on one knee next to him, about to haul him over my shoulder and take him to Rune and Raja so he could do that glass wall projection thing he did before, and we could get the hell out of here. In my mind it was a solid plan.
Except…
“Banishment,” Vair spit. “He’s preparing a banishment ritual, Nilah. He mustn’t finish!”
My stomach turned and the frostfire in my veins reacted as if something hadjerkedit to the sides. The pain made me hiss.
“Rune,” I choked. “He wants to banish Rune again.” Just like he’d done when he was a boy.
“He mustn’t be allowed, Nilah,” Vair said, his eyes wide and so full of fear I could have been looking in a mirror.
“He won’t. Rune’s not going anywhere. Come back with me and get those soldiers off with that shield you did, Vair.We can run—come on!” I stood up and waved for him to follow me, but…
“No, Nilah—the king must die!”
My heart fell all the way to my heels. “What the hell, Vair?!”
“He must die—hemust.” And again, he started growling and movingtowardthe king—not Rune and Raja.
“Why, Vair, why? What are you doing?!”
Except he didn’t listen to me. He didn’t answer.
Instead, he ran again, faster than before, and his fur did glow against the shadows. He jumped, and then one of them came up even faster, materializing out of thin air.
I screamed when he hit the floor for the fourth time, this time face first.
A heart-wrenching howl that I felt to my very soul. It waspain.Not physical, but something deeper. Something I had no idea how to even begin to understand.
But I leaned down and I grabbed Vair in my arms, pulled him up with me and backed away as fast as my legs could carry me.
Unfortunately, it wasn’t fast enough because the Midnight King was done playing with his shadows.
Now, his eyes were wide open, and he was looking at me.
Something about the look in his eyes, that darkness that gathered between his temples. God, he really did look like a monster.
I ran.
With Vair in my arms, I ran to Rune, and he spun around and cut the head clean off a soldier’s neck, then made for me while Raja still fought the remaining six.
