Chapter 46

CHAPTER FORTY-SIX

T heir horses thundered across the snow covered plains. Terena chanced a look back and saw soldiers gaining on them. Her eyes widened as she saw a few raised bows.

“Arrows!” she screamed, urging Nyx faster. Rydon caught up to her, his body low over his mount. A second later, Cerberus, carrying Sonah and Croak, reared back and fell, two arrows lodged in his flank.

Terena screamed as her brother fell back, Sonah dropping like a stone atop him. Ahead of them, Gabriol cursed as his mount buckled and he, too, slammed to the ground. Rydon swerved toward him, stretching out low over the side with his arm out to grab him but he jerked back as an arrow pierced his shoulder.

Terena unhooked her bow and yanked on Nyx’s reins, leaping off her back. She sprinted for Croak, who had slowly gotten to his feet, but Sonah was still on her back in shock. Terena helped Croak mount Nyx, slapping her rump to take off. When they were a good distance away, Terena lunged for Sonah, wrapping her arms under the girl’s shoulders and heaving her up onto her feet.

“Please,” Terena hissed, panicked, knowing there was no way she could carry Sonah in time to outrun the soldiers. Sonah struggled and lurched forward, and Terena almost sobbed in relief as the girl regained her faculties enough to run.

Terena sprinted behind her, grabbing two arrows from her quiver and pulled the bow over her shoulder. Rydon and Gabriol had gained the river, Croak and Nyx a few steps behind. They didn’t pause as they rode full tilt onto the frozen river.

Sonah slipped and fell hard on one knee as she got to the river but sprang back up, not once looking behind her.

Terena’s feet pounded on the ice as they raced across, the sound of hooves behind her like thunder in her ears.

She dropped to her knees and slid, spinning as she brought the bow up. Terena reached back and grabbed an arrow, nocking it and pulling back on the string, releasing in one smooth motion. Another arrow nocked and fired as the first raced through the air. She fired again, bringing her right foot up and pushed up, gaining her feet as she turned and ran.

The hiss of arrows sounded on either side of her and she hunched her shoulders, hands up to her head as she ran first to the left, then cut back to the right.

Out of her peripheral, Terena saw horses on her right, and she cursed. The soldiers were trying to flank them and she’d failed to notice.

Her steps faltered as she caught sight of soldiers bearing down on Sonah.

Liodari.

Terena screamed, desperately reaching for an arrow as she veered right. Dread coursed through her. The bow shook in her grip as a Liodari grabbed Sonah and threw her over his saddle. In her haste and distraction, Terena slipped and landed hard. The Liodari pulled away, racing back toward the riverbank as Terena fired three arrows at them.

Gabriol roared from her left and Terena looked over her shoulder to see Croak drop short of the snowy bank on the other side of the river.

She stood rooted, closer to Croak and the others than the side of the river where the Liodari were now racing off with Sonah. Soldiers bore down on her from the right and Terena’s heart lodged in her throat. Caught between needing to go after her sister or helping her brother, Terena’s throat closed up in fear.

The world slowed.

Sound stopped.

The loud pressure of silence filled Terena’s head. She watched her brother’s body lying in the snow, Rydon down at his side, with Gabriol a step behind him. The soldiers bearing Sonah disappeared while others rode straight at Terena.

Quick as lightning, she unsheathed the Twins, flipping them once and lifting them high above her head. She brought them together and roared. Fire coursed down her arms when the swords joined, her eyes burning.

Terena slammed the swords into the ice.

For a few endless seconds, there was no sound except for an eerie silence filling her mind.

Sound rushed back in with a loud boom pulsing from the joined swords.

Ice exploded.

A wave of ice and water tore from the fissure and raced toward the soldiers.

They had no chance as an enormous wave crashed over them, obliterating them before they could even scream.

The river crashed and roared ahead of her. Terena looked out in horror a second before the ice beneath her feet cracked. She jumped back, bringing her hands back to her sides. Terena sheathed her swords and turned, bolting toward the shore.

Rydon screamed her name as she leaped. The ice buckled beneath her as she stretched out her arm. Rydon ran onto the ice and grabbed her as the ice collapsed and they both plunged into the freezing water. He tugged at her, dragging them both to the shore. Gabriol kneeled and wrapped his cloak around her.

Coughing and sputtering, Terena scrambled over to her brother, a whimper tearing from her throat. As she reached him and turned his face to her, his eyes fluttered open, a half smile on his lips.

“Always so dramatic,” he said, his voice weak. Terena choked on a sob and dropped her forehead to his.

“Sonah,” she sobbed as her body convulsed.

“What?” Croak said in with a crack in his voice. Terena cried harder.

“Where is she?” Gabriol yelled, falling to Terena’s side.

“They took her!” she screamed in Gabriol’s face. She shook her head in misery.

The sound of hooves made her spring back up, her sword in her left hand as she crouched over her brother. Rydon and Gabriol had daggers raised.

“That is quite the entrance,” a familiar voice called out as the riders pulled up.

Terena tensed as she watched soldiers wearing unfamiliar armor stop a few feet from them. They moved their mounts aside so the man who’d spoken rode closer.

“ Orry?!” Terena exclaimed. Her vision blurred and tears stung her eyes. He dismounted and rushed over to them, throwing his arms around Terena.

“He found us a week ago,” the man beside him said. Glancing up, she saw he was tall—even mounted on his warhorse. His dusty blond hair fell over his forehead and down to his neck as he leaned forward and grinned down at them, his deep blue eyes locked on hers. “He had a marvelous story to tell about what delayed your arrival. He assured me you’d be here soon, though, and here you are.”

Terena’s mouth dropped open when she glanced to her right and saw both Rydon and Gabriol drop to one knee, their heads bowed.

“Your Majesty,” Rydon said, and Terena whipped her gaze back to the blond man.

He dismounted and Terena shifted, unsure what to do.

The blond man grinned and sauntered over to them. He held out a hand to Terena as she eyed him warily.

“We meet at last, Terena Luca. I am Hermes.”

Sonah stood with her arms crossed, staring out the window at the thick clouds obstructing her view of the city. King Altos had assured her more than once she was not a prisoner, yet she refused to leave her rooms.

After arriving back in Sparta a few days ago, the servants had put her in the same rooms she’d had the last time she’d stayed in Arestia Castle. The dresses King Altos had had made for her were still in the wardrobe, but Sonah had refused to wear anything other than the leggings and worn shirt and corset Terena had bought for her. Her boots now had holes in them, yet she’d refused his offer to have new ones made.

Sonah would rather die than take anything else from that man.

When Daris had brought her before him, the king had told her she was brought back for her own protection, but she knew she was leverage to use against her sister. Daris had said as much on their way back. He’d said having Sonah with him ensured Terena’s return. Burning to ask why he wanted her back after how he’d betrayed her, Sonah kept silent. Daris was not the same man she’d come to know. The man who’d left her at her bedchamber door was cold and scary.

And very dangerous.

The doors opened and servants bustled in carrying pails of steaming water. Sonah looked over her shoulder with disinterest before turning back to the window. She could hear the sounds of water being poured in the room off to her right. Soon, she’d go through the ritual of taking her bath while the servants laundered her outfit, then wait patiently wrapped in nothing but a towel while she waited for them to return with her clothes. For some reason, that small bit of rebellion made her feel better.

When the servants hurried from the room, Sonah made her way to the bathing chamber. She had removed her corset when a thump sounded on the other side of the wall. Clutching the garment to her chest, Sonah stilled.

This again ?

A minute passed without another sound, and Sonah resumed removing her clothes. As she settled in the bath, another thud sounded. Gripping the sides of the tub, Sonah’s eyes widened. She strained to hear. Behind her, a scraping noise reached her and Sonah scrambled out of the tub, sloshing water onto the marble floor. Cursing as she slipped, Sonah grabbed onto the edge of the tub and snatched at the stack of towels beside it. Shaking one out and wrapping it quickly around her body, Sonah tiptoed out of the bathing room and into the bedchamber.

“There you are!”

Sonah’s mouth dropped open, and she thought she might faint. The man standing before her had shorter hair than when she’d last seen him.

“ Isher ?”

Sonah’s squeak made the smile disappear from the prince’s face. She lifted a trembling hand to her mouth and took a step closer.

“No, Sonah,” the prince said with a sad smile. “I’m Lerek.”