Chapter 46

CHAPTER FORTY-SIX

Ellery

Some of the tension in my chest deflated when I spotted my mother in the center of the dance floor. I had no idea how I would get to her, but I would figure that out.

As the battle waged around her and the others, the trapped guests cried out while the guards pushed the rebels back. As they retreated, both the rebels and guards stepped on them, fell over, or attacked the guests trapped in the middle. Some of them tore away the jewelry of the partygoers who couldn’t escape.

My heart lodged in my throat at the ruthless cruelty they unleashed on all those in their way… not just the guards. I understood their rage and sympathized with it. I’d felt the same emotion burning within me ever since Ivan started implementing his unfair and restrictive policies on all those he deemed beneath him.

But not everyone here was an oppressor. Some of us were as entangled in the web of loss, terror, and torment as those in the hoods. We all had roles to play, and if we didn’t play them well, we would die.

The rebels didn’t understand that. The guests were defenseless. Yes, many of them were assholes who I’d gladly take down, but others, like my mother, had no say over their lives anymore either.

My heart thundered as the rebels and guards clashed around my mother. Switching my grip on my sword to one hand, I wiped my sweaty palm on my dress and then did the same with the other hand.

My grip on the weapon was a little more secure afterward, but that wouldn’t last. I was far too nervous for this, and I had to get control over my volatile emotions if I was going to be of any use to my mother.

I had no idea how I’d get to her, but I would do it.

Bracing myself to sprint onto the floor, through the rebels and guards, and to my mother, I was about to run when another clap of thunder quaked the entire room. This one lasted a lot longer than the last.

The chandeliers clinked and rattled against each other as they swayed violently. Pieces of crystal broke off; those clear shards reflected the torchlight and cast myriad colors around the room as the sharp pieces plummeted to the ground.

Amsirah on all sides of the rebellion screamed as those shards pierced flesh, sliced across skin, and tore clothes. Thankfully, my mother wasn’t beneath one of the chandeliers as one of them broke free of its mounting and crashed to the ground.

It crushed two guards beneath it; their bodies crumpled like paper as bloodstained crystals burst across the floor. The increasing intensity of the thunder booming throughout the room almost had me slapping my hands over my ears.

While I resisted the impulse, some of the others didn’t. They covered their ears as they tried to dim the racket.

Another boom of thunder created a giant tear across the floor. It zigzagged through the retreating rebels, tripping some of them as the floor shifted and groaned as pieces of it rose.

Tearing my gaze from my mother, I frantically searched for Ryker through the chaos. He was the one doing this; he was the only one besides me who could.

Something had to have happened for him to unleash such wrath on the room. As that thought raced through my mind, someone cried out behind me.

Spinning, I staggered away from the hooded amsirah, who had been nearly on top of me. Their mouth gaped as they fell into the three-foot-deep hole that had opened in front of them. Their chin smashed off the floor when they crashed onto it, and blood spurted from their lips.

I blinked at them as realization sank in. It hadn’t been Ryker who was in jeopardy… it was me .

I’d been so focused on my mother that I hadn’t paid attention to my surroundings, and they’d been almost on top of me with their sword in hand. I knew better than to become so focused on one thing that I forgot everything else.

My father had drilled it into my head from the time I was a child until the day he died, that I always had to take in my surroundings and pay attention to everything. And I had known to do that; I always had. That was why I had survived the Revenant Woods when so many others fell.

But here, amongst this anarchy, I’d been so focused on getting to my mother that I’d almost blown it. I cursed my stupidity as I slipped away from the amsirah, who was trying to push themself up from the hole, but their hands kept slipping in their blood.

It didn’t matter if they got free as another amsirah emerged from the shadows with a sword in hand and their mouth compressed into a flat line as they stalked toward me. Their eyes scanned me, not with lust but with the analytical assessment of someone seeking something.

I wore no jewelry. I had none left. We’d sold it to help keep the manor afloat. They seemed to have realized this as their eyes met mine again. They gleamed with hostility.

The only jewelry of any worth that remained in my family’s possession were my mother’s and father’s wedding rings. There was also a beautiful ruby necklace my father had given my mother on the day they married. I’d sell the manor before I let her give up either of those things.

My hand tensed on my sword as I prepared to take on another attacker. I wasn’t a killer, but I’d do whatever it took to keep me and my mother alive.