A Dawn of Onyx (The Sacred Stones, #1)(97)

“You will do as I say,” Kane insisted before turning to the rest of his guards in the throne room. “You all will. Nobody is to come with me. Now go.”

“Well, I’m coming with you,” I said, following him out and grabbing the longsword from the table beside me.

He barked out a dark laugh. “Absolutely not.”

“You’ll never find her without me. I know her better than anyone.”

My mother held tightly to Ryder, who let the debate unfold in silence.

Kane considered me, his eyes burning like the fires that surrounded us. “No, Arwen. If something were to happen to you…”

“You won’t let it.” I looked down at the sword in my hand. “And neither will I.”

Without giving him a moment to argue I pulled my mother, Ryder, and Mari into quick embraces. “Stick with Griffin. Get to the ships. We’ll be right behind you.” And then I pushed my way out of the throne room, Kane following closely.

“Where should we start?” Kane asked, dodging a toppled statue.

I couldn’t let myself believe that someone had taken her, or worse. I pushed the thought from my mind. “If she fled, she would have gone high up. She’s a sneaky climber.”

We hurried up a thin spiral staircase toward the thatched roof of the fortress.

“Leigh!” I called out. Kane echoed my cries. We looked through the floors, each room, each nook. Long minutes passed with no sign of her. There was nothing but destruction and despair and death.

The castle had started to fill with smoke. As we dug through a slowly crumbling parlor room, I coughed and rubbed at my eyes.

I felt Kane watching me.

“Don’t even say it.”

“You should get to the ships. I’ll take you there and double back for her.”

“No—”

A charred plank of wood dislodged above us and fell with shocking speed. I jumped out of the way and grasped at my heart, willing air into my lungs, then coughing hard. Not air then, but smoke.

“Arwen!” he roared. “You can’t save her or anyone else if you are dead.”

It’s all he had asked me to do from day one. I closed my eyes and tried not to let my face crumple. I could not break down right now. I just wanted to hold her in my arms and know she was all right. Please, I begged the Stones. Please, not Leigh.

“Let’s just try the stables. She loves animals. Maybe she tried to escape on horseback?” I said.

“No,” he growled. “You cannot leave the castle walls. It’s swarming with soldiers and salamanders out there.”

“I’m going whether you come with me or not,” I snapped. “I think I’m a lot safer with a Fae such as you than alone. Don’t you think?”

He ran a beleaguered hand through his hair. Ash had coated both our heads, and it rained down onto the floor beneath us. He must have agreed with me, because he gave one curt nod, took my hand, and we ran toward the back of the castle.

The balmy night was filled with a cacophony of anguish and damage. Amber, Peridot, Onyx, and Garnet soldiers crowded the courtyard like ants on spilled honey. We ran for the hills that marked the stables, and I tried not to think of all the other people who were looking for—and losing—their families too. And how it was my fault.

Once the structure was in view, I sprinted.

“Arwen!” Kane’s voice rang out through the night air, but I moved as fast as my feet would carry me. The area was clear of soldiers, of people in general. It was too quiet.

I looked in each stall, under every gate.

The stables were empty.

“Where are all the horses?” I breathed. Kane caught up to me, catching his breath, and looked around.

“Perhaps the stable hand freed them when he saw the fire.”

“No, I did,” came a small voice from the corner.

The relief was so intense it nearly knocked the wind out of me. I choked back a sob. Leigh popped her head up over a haystack and ran into my arms, shaking with emotion. I tried to hold mine together for her, but blubbering tears slipped down either side of my face.

“What were you doing out here?”

She looked up at me sheepishly. I wiped the tears from my face and stroked her honey hair back.

“I couldn’t sleep. I was looking for the dragon.”

The sound of footsteps sent shivers up my spine and across my neck.

“Come,” I whispered, pulling Leigh behind a wooden stall. Kane slipped behind the one across from us.

A lone soldier in Amber armor strolled through the path between the stalls. I squeezed my eyes shut and held Leigh to my chest, quieting the breath in my lungs.

“Halden!” Leigh gasped, dashing from my arms and throwing herself at him.





TWENTY-NINE


Bleeding Stones.

Halden held Leigh at arm’s length, disbelief in his eyes.

“Leigh? What are you doing here?”

But too quickly he put the pieces together and scanned the stable for my face. There was no hiding now. I emerged from the stall.

“Arwen,” his face hardened. Leigh looked from him to me, and her face fell. She had always been too perceptive.

Inching her way back, she stood behind me.

I knew I’d have to beg. “Please. Just let us leave.”