Page 75 of Spirit Rites
I’m currently trying to avoid being burned to a crisp.
Panic burns through me, but I stay quiet. I don’t want to distract her. I close my eyes as pain and frustration burn through me. This day has gone so horribly wrong. “Your Highness, why don’t you sit down?”
My eyes snap up, and I stare at the hard face of the captain of the guard. “Sit down?” I hardly recognize my own voice. “My mate and the king of this kingdom and his team are fighting for their lives against a guivre. My bonded jaguar is out there as well. And I’m sitting in a room hiding. He just made me queen of this kingdom—this kingdom that I have only been living in for...... days. And you want me to sit down?”
His face hardens, but I regret nothing. There’s a knock at the door, and he turns swiftly, pulling his sword. He nods at the guard standing next to the door, and the guard unlocks the master deadbolt, which unlocks all the others. Every single guard stands on alert, weapons drawn and ready. The door opens, and I sag in relief when I see it’s more guards. “We need to move,” the guard at the door says without any preamble.
“They didn’t kill it?” Zarreth asks.
A grim expression fills the guard’s face, even as another screech sounds. “Two more just landed in the arena.”
“No.” I’m rushing forward before I realize it. “Is Kaldar out? And Taren?”
The man looks at me, and I can see the answer all over his face. “No.” I rush forward. I don’t know what I intend to do, but I have to do something. Somebody pulls on my arm, stopping me. “I’m going—”
“Where?” Zarreth demands in my face now. “Out into the arena? To be killed along with Kaldar?” His words light me up from the inside out. “Like it or not, you are the queen now. If you die, we will be without a queen. We will be vulnerable to our enemies. There will be no one to make the hard calls. It is my job to protect you and if that’s against yourself, then so be it. My initial judgment of you was that you weren’t selfish, putting your own needs before others. Don’t make me change that belief now.” His face softens for just a moment. “I know what it’s like to lose someone. I’m not saying you can’t fall apart. I’m just sayingyou can’t fall apart right now. We need you.” For just a moment I see the look of someone who’s loved and lost and lived to tell the tale.
And just like that, we have something in common. For just a moment, I’m not in this crisis; I’m lost in the past. I’m the little girl who lost both parents. I take a breath and try to find some kind of calm in the midst of this terrible moment. I close my eyes for just a moment and remember that I’m stronger than this. I survived losing both my parents, I survived growing up in the banished community, I survived the Trials, and I will survive this. When I open my eyes, my racing heart has slowed. I lift my gaze to Zarreth’s. “What do you need me to do?”
He nods approvingly. “We have to get out of here. We’re sitting ducks here.” He’s not saying anything I don’t already know.
“Okay.”
He eyes me a second longer, maybe waiting to see if I’ll fall apart. When I don’t, he turns to his men. “We are going to move the queen. We can’t stay here. There are at least three guivres that we know of. I don’t need to remind any of you what they can do. We move fast. We’re going underground.” I have no idea what that means, but I know they’ll tell me. Zarreth turns to me. “Ready?”
I nod. We’re just about ready to move when a thought hits me. “Wait. If Kaldar dies, don’t I die?”
The room goes quiet, and I notice it. When I look around the room, the guards all drop their gazes. “What?” I demand. Zarreth meets my gaze.
“The only way for you to become queen if Kaldar died is for him to have broken the bond with you.”
I shake my head, not wanting to hear what he’s saying. “He didn’t. He couldn’t...”
Zarreth picks up my wrist. “When he put this on you, he gave you all ruling power and the old magic that’s tied to it. The only way he intended for you to be queen if he died was that he had to have broken the bond.”
I stare at him in horror. My heart can’t take any more. “But...” The words die on my lips when Zarreth shakes his head. I know we don’t have time for this. Even though my heart is breaking, I push away thoughts of Kaldar. Otherwise, I won’t even be able to put one foot in front of the other. I definitely won’t be able to leave this arena; I don’t honestly know if I’ll be able to anyway. I push all emotion deep down. “Let’s go.”
“Weapons out. If the guivres come after us, Ren and I will stay on the queen; everybody else defends. Let’s go.”
Veyra, we’re moving.
The guy at the door throws open the door, and the guards surround me as we head out. Zarreth stays right at my side as we run. I’m thankful once again that Rakel made this outfit the way she did. Several more guards join us as we run, and Zarreth shouts orders on the go. When we get to the bottom of the stairs, I see that people are still trying to get out. I can’t imagine why there are still so many people. And then I realize why. There’s a guivre right outside the entrance, literally picking off people as they run out. People try to run the other way, but that leads to the arena where I can hear another guivre shrieking. Zarreth shouts orders, and we redirect. But I slow down. “Keep moving,” Zarreth shouts, but all I can hear are the sounds of people screaming, and I want to cover my ears.
I face Zarreth. “Help them.”
He shakes his head. “We have to keep moving.”
“No. Not until that guivre is killed, so our people can get free.” I notice one of the guards has a spear like Jorren carries. I turn to him. “Soldier, can I use your spear?”
He holds it out to me but doesn’t release it. “What are you going to use it for?”
“To kill the guivre.”
The man, to his credit, doesn’t scoff or laugh. Instead, he pulls it back. “I’ll do it.” He turns to Zarreth.
Zarreth gives me a stern look but then nods. “Your Queen ordered it. Go.” He calls several more soldiers’ names. “Go.” They don’t question him. The guy who has the spear shouts orders, and then they’re running towards the guivre. They’re not even trying to be silent; there’s no use at this point. There are so many sounds coming from everywhere; we can only hope it confuses the guivre. I don’t look away as they fight the guivre; I can’t. I’m the one that gave the order, and I will each of them to come out of this fight alive. They’re not nearly as good as Kaldar and his team are, and I wonder how many guivres Kaldar’s team has taken down. I wonder if they get called out every time one comes. I nearly cry out when one of the guards nearly gets burned alive, but he manages to get out of the way in time. But the next guard doesn’t, and I do cry out this time. One minute there’s a guard standing there with a sword in hand. The next he’s gone; there’s nothing left of him. I lean forward and choke, trying to breathe and not throw up. I hate the guivres; I hate everything about this day. More guards join the fight, and they finally kill the guivre. But it’s not soon enough. Several more guards lose their lives in the process. As soon as the way is clear, people start running again. They shove forward panicking, and I turn away. More of them are going to get injured.
“They’re free. Now, let’s go.” Zarreth barks out orders, and we head into a hallway and run. I don’t keep track of where we’re running. Eventually, somebody pushes a door open, and we burst out into the light. We don’t slow down. After a few minutes, the Grove comes into view. “Inside!”
