The Wish Granter (Ravenspire #2)(54)

“Sebastian!” The princess’s voice was bright with panic. She grabbed his hand and spun him to face the western wall. A bone-chilling cry echoed across the ballroom as the monsters from Llorenyae stood upright in the open doorways that led to the garden, their amber eyes feral and vicious, their snouts dripping saliva as they snarled at the crowd.

Behind the tallest beast, Teague stood illuminated by the garden’s torchlight, an ivory pipe in his mouth. He smiled, cold and cruel, and said, “Ithe.”

With bloodcurdling screams, the beasts launched themselves into the ballroom.





TWENTY-THREE


“GET TO THE cellar!” Ari yelled to those around her. When they stared at her in confusion, she grabbed the closest servant. “Lead the way to the cellar and get as many inside as you can. Shut the door and lock it behind you, and don’t open it again unless you’re sure it’s a person knocking and not those monsters.”

The maid dropped her tray of pastries and ran for the east exit.

“Follow her.” Ari pushed those closest to her in the right direction, while terrible screams of pain rose from the western side of the room. “Go!”

Sebastian shoved past a knot of panicked nobility to reach her side. “What was the command to stop those creatures?”

“I can’t remember.” Her hands shook as she snatched at the tunics of a pair of older women who were huddled on the floor sobbing and pulled them to their feet. “Get out of here. See where the crowd is going? Follow them. You’ll be safe in the cellar.”

She hoped she was telling the truth. Surely those monsters couldn’t break down a stone door that weighed as much as two horses.

A man cried out—a terrible, wet sound of agony that ended abruptly—and the crowd fleeing from the western side of the ballroom slammed into Ari and tore Sebastian from her side. She went down hard, and someone kicked her in the back, sending her sprawling.

“Daka!” She tried to get to her hands and knees. Her (gorgeous, but ill-suited for crawling) dress made it hard to gain any leverage. Especially when she was having to cover her head with her arms to keep from being crushed.

Another kick hit her in the chest, and the air rushed out of her. She panicked, clawing for breath, trying to curl up in a ball to protect herself, but there was no protection. She was simply an obstacle lying between the crowd and safety.

She was going to die. Trampled, suffocated, and then torn limb from limb by those terrifying beasts. Tears pricked her eyes as she struggled to draw in a full breath.

And then Sebastian was there, shoving people away from her with one hand while he reached for her with the other.

She took his hand and struggled to her feet, her breath whistling in her lungs. Another wave of panicked people struck them, and Sebastian braced his feet, wrapped his arms around her, and hauled her against his chest.

“Where’s Thad? And Cleo? Were they on the west side of the ballroom? I have to find them.” Her teeth chattered, and her hands were ice.

“Think,” Sebastian murmured against her ear, his body swaying as the next wave of panicked guests jostled him on their way to the eastern exit. “You can remember. Close out everything that’s going on around you, and think back to the courtyard. Hansel. What command did he tell the handlers to use to stop the beasts?”

She closed her eyes, latched on to the sound of his voice, and buried her face in the front of his shirt while she replayed the scene from the courtyard.

Hansel, with his chain and his easy smile. The handlers trembling with fear. The beasts howling with misery in their crates until Hansel said—

“Nach!” She pulled away from Sebastian’s chest, and was nearly thrown to the floor as a man used her shoulder for leverage to pull himself over another man who’d been trampled and lay unmoving on the floor beside them. Sebastian grabbed her arms and pulled her against his body.

“Good.” His voice was calm, but he was breathing quickly, and his body was tensed for a fight. “Nach!” he yelled, but the panicked screams of the crowd swallowed his voice.

“We have to get closer,” she said, though everything in her wanted to run in the opposite direction.

They pushed against the crowd, many of whom were injured and were trying desperately to crawl toward the eastern doorway. Ari let go of Sebastian as they sidestepped a group of nobility who were stumbling toward the exit, and her horrified gaze took in the carnage that spread across the western side of the ballroom.

Blood and bodies littered the floor and splattered the gilt-covered walls. The two beasts hunched over mangled bodies, snarling and snapping at each other.

“Nach,” she said, but her lungs still ached, still refused to take a full breath, and her voice was too weak to reach them. Sebastian tried as well, but they still weren’t close enough to be heard.

In the doorway leading out to the garden, Teague stood, watching it all with a wicked smile on his face.

Another wave of screams rose, and Ari tore her gaze from Teague just in time to see one of the beasts lunge across the ballroom heading toward the eastern doorway, its long arms reaching for the fleeing crowd.

The other beast was coming straight for Sebastian.

He was facing her, keeping her safe from being trampled by the crowd. He wouldn’t be able to move in time.

“No!” she screamed as she launched herself in front of him.