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“We made a deal, Adelaide.” Nolan yanked Adelaide to her feet, nearly pulling her arm out of its socket. Her knee hit Regulus’ side as Nolan pulled her up. Regulus moaned. Nolan pulled her away, and she stumbled after him, her left ankle aching in protest. “By denying me and accepting his proposal, you’ve broken our deal.” He pushed her against the side of the couch, still gripping her wrist painfully tight. The back of her legs pressed into the couch arm. “Therefore, his life is mine to end.”
Adelaide trembled. She looked to her left at Regulus panting on the floor and tried to pull her wrist free. Nolan clicked his tongue. “Can you heal your wrist if it breaks again?”
She stilled, unsure. And any magic she had, she wanted to use to heal Regulus. She couldn’t agree to marry Nolan. But she couldn’t watch Regulus die, either.
Nolan smiled. “I do hope you’re right about your magic coming back. I was disappointed to hear while eavesdropping that the prince took it. Ah, well. That was just an extra perk. Magic or no, I desire you.” He moved closer, his eyes fixed on her lips.
Adelaide stiffened and leaned away. Only Nolan’s legs against hers and his grip on her wrist kept her from falling over the side of the couch onto the cushions. “You repulse me.”
She bit her tongue. Hurt flickered in Nolan’s eyes, but he chuckled.
“I’ll change your mind.” He looked at Regulus, who had managed to sit up and was holding his broken arm against his chest. “Not only is my inheritance, my family name, my home, and my pride at stake, but also sweet revenge. The chance to put a no-account bastard back in his place.” He looked back at her, and the greed in his eyes turned her blood cold. “And prove I’m more of a man.”
How did one defend against an immortal? How could she save herself and Regulus? With Regulus and Father injured, did they have a hope of restraining Nolan? Her mind seemed a frozen river, the thoughts moving too slow, too slow. She stared past Nolan at a bookshelf, unwilling to meet his eyes. Etiros, help us, please!
“Look at me, love.” Nolan’s voice was sickeningly gentle.
“Adelaide.” Mother’s voice. “Move!”
Adelaide reacted without thinking. She ducked toward the middle of the room. A fleshy thunk and then Nolan yelled. He dropped her wrist and backed away. The handle of a throwing knife protruded from Nolan’s shoulder.
Nolan cursed and yanked the knife out. Blood soaked into his shirt. He gasped and fell to his knees as Mother threw another knife into his heart.
“I don’t care if you’re supposedly immortal,” Mother said as she readied another throwing knife. “I’ll kill you if you touch my daughter again!” She threw the knife, but Nolan jumped aside and it bounced off the bookshelf behind him.
Someone banged against the door and men shouted. The guards were trying to get in. Nolan looked toward the door, knife still stuck in his chest.
Adelaide spotted her dagger on the ground and dove for it, but Nolan grabbed her hair as she shot past him and pulled her back. She fell to her knees and her eyes watered from the strain on her scalp. The bookshelf blocking the door teetered as the guards tried to break down the door. She twisted around, yanked the knife out of Nolan’s chest, and stabbed at his throat. He held up a hand, and the blade went straight through his palm. He looked at his hand with wide, wild eyes, and pulled away. Blood ran off the knife still in her hand and streamed out of his palm, filling the air with a sharp metallic scent. Nolan yelled and released her hair as he stumbled away.
The door rattled and thumped against the bookshelf. Adelaide pulled on the bookshelf, straining to move it away from the door. Come on! Why wouldn’t it move faster? Nolan half walked, half fell toward the windows.
“You’ll all regret this!” Nolan pointed at her with a bloody hand. “I’ll be back for you. You’re mine. You hear me, Hargreaves? MINE!” He turned and leapt through a window with a crash and a cascade of falling glass.
As three guards burst into the parlor, Nolan ran across the courtyard. One guard hurried to Father and Mother. The second asked her if she was all right. She nodded, and he went to Regulus. The third guard paused only for a moment before heading after Nolan.
Adelaide stared at Nolan and the shouting guard. She scarcely believed how fast Nolan was running for the stables with the blood he’d lost. The guard would never catch him. If he got to his horse, the only way to keep him from escaping would be to make sure the gate was closed before he reached it. She looked at Father, his face pinched as the guard and Mother helped him sit up. Regulus sat against the back of the couch, staring at his broken arm as the guard left him to pursue Nolan. She couldn’t decide which would be worse—if Nolan escaped, or if the guards caught him. Nolan might tear them apart.
Adelaide tried to control her violent shaking as she walked over to Father and Mother. “How bad is it?”
Father straightened with a groan and put a hand to his back. “I don’t think anything is broken. Just blacked out for a minute there. There’s definitely bruising and something is out of place.” He smiled bitterly. “Were I twenty years younger, I’d be unfazed.”
Mother grasped Father’s face in her hands and kissed him. “Don’t you scare me like that, mareh piahre.”
Father tapped her under the chin. “You don’t have enough faith in me. It’ll take more than a traitor under the influence of dark magic to kill this legend, piahre cha mareh gehvam.”
Love of my life. Adelaide smiled and walked back to Regulus as her parents kissed again. But as her gaze fell on the jagged bone pressing against his skin, her smile dropped. She sat next to Regulus. “How are you?”
“Nothing’s bleeding, so there’s that.” He smiled, but the tightness around his eyes spoke to his pain as a cough rattled in his lungs. “Your father speaks Khast, then?”
“A little. Basically all he knows is curse words, terms of endearment, and some flirtatious phrases that make my mother blush.”
“How do you know about that?” Father demanded.
Adelaide smirked. “Because you’re so used to no one knowing what you’re saying, you forget I speak Khast, too!” She rolled her eyes and turned back to Regulus.
“What phrases? Dresden says my flirting needs help.” Regulus coughed and grunted, his face twisting. “Any...good ones?”
Her brows pulled together. “What are you doing?”
“What do you mean?”
“You seem...oddly calm.” Her own hands still had a slight shake.
“Distracting myself.” He closed his eyes and leaned his head back on the couch. “It’s how I helped my men through bad injuries. Get them to think and talk about anything else.” He coughed and moaned. “Just...talk to me?”
She opened her mouth to ask what hurt the most but jumped when her half-brother’s shout interrupted her.
“Fath—what happened!” Landon stood in the doorway, face pinched and eyes bulging as he took in the chaos in the parlor. “I heard shouting, and a guard said a guest attacked...” He gestured at Regulus. “Who’s this?”
“This is Lord Regulus Hargreaves of Arrano.” Adelaide ground her teeth. “Nice to see you too, brother.”
“Oh. Adelaide. I was glad to learn you’re alive and well.” Landon crossed to Father without a second glance at her.
She clenched her jaw and turned away. Eleven years her senior, Father’s second child and eldest son had never paid her much attention—but neither had any of her other half siblings. Of course, disappearing with little explanation with her mother for several years hadn’t helped.
Questioning concern reflected in Regulus’ eyes. She shook her head and took his broken right arm as Father told Landon that Nolan was a liar and a traitor to the crown. “Maybe I can try—”
“Don’t worry about it.” Regulus shook his head. “What if you use what you have and then it’s gone for good?” He coughed and a bit of blood leaked over his bottom lip.
“I’ll take that risk.” She held her hand over the jutting bone, hoping that would be easier and faster than his ribs, which based on his coughing, might have punctured his lung. If she healed the ribs first, she might not have enough magic left for his arm.
She dug deep for the spark of magical energy flickering in the carved-out place in her soul. Rather than removing a cork from a full flask like when she used her magic before, this felt like squeezing the last drop of water out of an empty wineskin. The familiar warmth spread across her hand, and she perspired from the exertion. Regulus relaxed as the pale-blue light spread over his arm. The bone straightened, no longer threatening to break through the skin. She focused on his arm. In the energy flowing out of her and into him, she sensed the bones and muscles and tendons pulling back together. Healing.
She could feel his arm was healed, so she moved her hand to his ribs. White spots danced in her vision, and she blinked them away. But she detected four broken ribs and internal bleeding. She focused on the bleeding first—healed the puncture and collapsing lung and forced the blood to reabsorb, then worked on maneuvering the ribs back together. Her hand shook.
Regulus placed a hand on her shoulder. “Hey, perhaps you should take a breather—”
“Shh. Concentrating.” Black circled the edges of her sight. She swayed and her hand bumped Regulus’ ribs. “Sorry.” She shook herself. A bit more. Come on. Give me a little more, Etiros.
“Adelaide, stop!” Regulus sounded panicked.
The conversation behind her died as Landon exclaimed, “What in creation?”
Her eyes drifted shut as she sank into unconsciousness.
