The Girl King (The Girl King #1)(110)
“No, I can’t,” he mumbled, the words moving his lips out of the kiss. “We can’t.” Renewed resolve wove threads of steel through his soft voice.
Lu drew back, lowered herself to the floor beside his knees. “Because of Jin?”
He looked away. “This was never going to be anything real, I know that. I’m not stupid. But I can’t just . . .”
The air trembled, dissolved his words like salt in water. For a moment, Lu did not understand, and then she did: a sound. A roar. So big, so loud it exceeded what her ears could comprehend. Terrible and wrong and physical. She felt it everywhere, in the cold stone floor beneath her, in her teeth, in her blood. Every part of her shook with it.
It was gone as quick as it had come, replaced by a stillness near as terrifying—silent but for the high ringing in her head.
An earthquake? But Lu already knew the answer in her heart—nothing natural had moved the earth that way.
She had fallen over, but she stood now, reaching out instinctively to help Nokhai as he struggled to his feet. His lips were moving wordlessly. It took another moment, a hard shake of the head, for her hearing to return. Even when it did, his voice was dim and distant.
“. . . you hurt?”
Lu shook her head again, half in an answer, half to clear it. “You?” She had the feeling she was shouting, but from the look on his face she could tell he couldn’t hear her well either. He shook his head.
“What was that?” she said.
“Nothing good. We need to find Nasan,” he said tersely. “She couldn’t have gotten too far.”
They went to the door, Lu grabbing her sword along the way. They moved stooped and cautious, wary of a second attack. With each moment that passed, none came, and soon enough they were trotting down the corridor, side by side. It wasn’t unusual for the passageways to their apartments to be empty, but the silence chilled her now.
When they opened the doors that led out onto the Heart though, all was chaos. Streams of panicked people running, children and bundles of their most prized possessions in tow. They were making for the main temple—the most secure of the large buildings, shored against the mountain.
“Lu!”
She stopped at the sound of Nasan’s voice and saw the girl standing at the top of the temple steps, Vrea at her side. Lu must’ve been easy to pick out in the crowd—the red slash of her tunic sticking out amid the gray.
“Come on,” she said, grabbing Nokhai by the hand. They ran to the others, dodging the panicked Yunians dashing into the open temple doors.
“What’s happened?” Lu looked between Vrea and Nasan.
“The city is under attack,” Vrea said. Her face was calm, tracking something in the sky that Lu could not see. “They have found one of the gates.”
“Who has?” Lu demanded. “My cousin?”
Before anyone could answer—was there even an answer to give?—Prince Jin ran up to his sister. “Shen gave orders for everyone to shelter in the temple. I’m sending soldiers to check all the homes, to make sure the elderly and sick are helped.”
“Do you know what’s happening, Jin?” Lu interrupted. “Who is behind this? Is this Set’s doing?”
Before he could respond though, the second attack came. This time the roar was punctuated by a deafening crack, followed by a cacophony of screams from the Yunians flooding past them. Lu ducked, throwing her hands over her head.
Madness, she thought as the earth shook around them.
When she tried to stand, she found Prince Jin covering her, as though he meant to shield her with his own body. She gently pushed him away and saw the others were safe as well.
“It is time,” Vrea whispered, almost to herself.
“Time? Time for what?” Lu barked.
Beside her, Jin gasped. “It can’t be.”
“It is,” Vrea said, maddening, insistently placid. “It has come to pass. Look for yourself.”
“Look at what?” Nokhai demanded. “What’s happening?”
Jin pointed upward, his already pale face gone milk white with terror. “The gate to the Inbetween, the seal between the worlds! It’s been destroyed.”
Lu followed his gesture and saw it then: a slash of eerie, earthly blue in the gray Yunian skies.
CHAPTER 34
The Temple
Nok watched, scarcely understanding, as fingers of blue sky bled through the gray.
“Get them inside, Jin,” Vrea said. For the first time, Nok detected an edge to her voice. Not fear—not exactly. But a strain. “Get them to safety, then meet me and Shen in the Heart. We cannot hide any longer. It is time.” And then she was gone.
The temple was eerily quiet, though not silent. Half a thousand Yunians huddled around the edges of the stone chamber, whispering among themselves. Somewhere, a baby wailed. When they saw Prince Jin, though, dozens leaped to their feet, a few half bowing but most disposing of decorum to shout at him.
“What’s happening?”
“Is it the Hu? Have they found us?”
“I can’t find my son, has anyone seen—”
“I saw the blue in the sky!”
“Where is Vrea?”
Prince Jin held up a hand. “There has been a breach in the gate, but my brother and sister have gone forth to reseal it. Please stay calm. The mountain and this temple are wrought through with extra protections—Vrea’s spells, and some things that are older. It will protect us from—”