Page 11 of A Crown of Tears and Treason
The gorgeous, sacred garden turned into pure chaos. People cried, screamed, pleaded, prayed, tried to speak anything and everything that might save them. Some crumbled to the ground and didn’t rise again.
Allie ducked under the altar arch, pulling me along with her. Another vase splintered into a million shards. She gripped my shoulders, waking me from my stupor. Her green eyes were wild and afraid.
“Find the stone steps, go to the grotto, get on the boat,” she told me, her stern voice cracking in tune with my heart. Allegra, the woman who could make the entire continent quiver, was trembling. “You don’t stop until you reach the stronghold in Aquila. You donotlook back–"
"I’m not leaving without you. These people are dyi–"
“You can’t help anyone. Someone has voided our magic, Evie!”
My protest died on my lips as my face and Allie’s were sprayed with blood from an arrow shot straight through the priest’s head, piercing his left eyeball.
His body fell between us.
"I need my arrows and knives,” Allie muttered, horrified. “Uncle Maksim must have hidden a crossbow somewhere on this forsaken island."
She gave my shoulder one last squeeze. “Leave!” she said, her tone now strong and not leaving any room for argument.
Before I could argue, she turned and disappeared in the flood of people. They clambered over the priest’s body, desperate for cover as the arrows hissed toward us, tearing through everyone and everything.
I couldn’t see any of my other cousins. They’d vanished in the sea of frantic bodies looking for refuge. The sweet, expensive scents that had wafted from the guests during the ceremony had now been replaced with the metallic tang of blood.
I’d survived too long to be killed by an attacker too cowardly to show his face. Who in their right mind would ambush three of the most powerful Clans in Malhaven? Most importantly,why?
I didn’t have time to think about it now. I hiked up my ridiculous skirt, kicked off my shoes, and bolted from the bloody altar.
An arrow hissed past my ear. Blood pumped faster in my veins, urging me forward.
The stone steps. I had to find the–
The path leading toward them was overflowing with bodies. Whatever innocence I still had wouldn’t survive this wretched day.
You can’t help them. Run.
Panic rose, heating my face. Another arrow landed right next to my foot, startling me into a run again. There was no way off this island. Not right now.
Hide. I had to hide.
Instinct took over as my frantic gaze searched the garden.
The trees.
I was good at climbing.
I made a hard turn for the biggest sycamore I saw. A crunch resounded behind me. My heart leaped in my throat as I turned.
One of Fabrian’s biggest, ugliest guards thumped my way, angry to the point of spit dripping down his chin. He had a massive rod clutched in his veiny hand, with sharp metal prongs sticking out of one end. That was one way to bypass the no-weapon rule and it wasterrifying. That thing could tear me apart with one blow.
Fabrian had gone through all that trouble to get me back, and now he’d sent his guard to kill me because of one measly stab wound? It hadn’t been a mortal injury, only a stab at his damn pride, for gods’ sake.
The guard swung the rod with all his might, just as a tall Serpent guest ran between us, her heels getting stuck in the ground. To hit me, the guard would strike her, too–and he looked like he didn’t care which other bodies he took down, as long as mine was one of them.
No other innocent life would be snuffed out because of me, not even a Serpent’s.
I didn’t have the time or strength to pull her to safety. I fell into a crouch and extended my right leg in a wide sweep that hit her knees.
She toppled to the ground face-first just as the guard swung. The metal prongs hit the tree right behind me, splintering it.
That would have been my head.
