Chapter Forty-one

Lorelle

The mushroom of natural fire was like a sunburst in the sky, and both Lorelle and Zaith shielded their eyes.

“What was that?” she asked. There were so many natural phenomena in the noktum that she wondered if this was something expected, something she simply hadn’t seen before. But one look at the alarm on Zaith’s face told her this was nothing he’d ever seen before.

“The dragon,” she murmured.

“Grina…” he whispered. “What did we do?” Zaith threw his wine glass to the ground and sprinted back up the path, moving with more speed than she’d ever seen. Lorelle hurried after him, but fell quickly behind. She’d never seen Zaith run at full speed with no care whether she could keep up or not.

Lorelle burst into the courtyard before Aravelle’s palace seconds after Zaith and skidded to a stop next to him. All the partygoers were frozen, looking to the north where the fire was fading, leaving a silhouette of smoke behind. The onlookers were fixed on where the fire had been, but Lorelle searched the skies around it…

And spotted the dragon. Its lithe, black silhouette moved against the indigo sky. It seemed like a bat at first, but it soon got bigger and bigger, and it was coming their way.

A scream rose from the group as the dragon’s shape became clear, far too large to be any normal animal.

Zaith stood with his mouth open, as if his mind couldn’t comprehend what he should do next to protect his people from the dragon.

“Aravelle,” Lorelle said, and that snapped Zaith out of it. He launched himself forward, leaping over the heads of the stunned Nox to land on the veranda. Lorelle leapt after him, barely clearing the crowd and almost kicking one of the former dancers in the head.

“Where is she?” Zaith demanded of the stunned attendant who had given them wine. The young man just stared at him. Zaith grabbed him, showing teeth. “Where is she?”

“Th-The library,” the attendant stuttered.

Zaith spun on Lorelle, a snarl on his face, his eyes flashing. For a breathless instant, she thought he would attack her.

“Get Aravelle,” he growled. “Find her. Get her into the shadows. If you ever had any care for us at all, get her out of here!”

Zaith jumped off the veranda, clearing the wall and landing on the courtyard below, before heading into the city.

“Where are you going?” she shouted.

“Get her! Protect her!” he yelled back, and then he was gone, vanished around the edge of a house.

She shot a glance to her right. The dragon was so close he seemed to swallow the horizon. She spun and sprinted up the steps into the palace. The screams rose behind them as the partygoers scattered.

“Aravelle!” she shouted. Doorways and windows flashed by as she ran for the library. She sprang onto the wall and ran across it in an arc before regaining the floor to keep her speed up. Her legs burned as she pounded down the hall toward the library.

“Aravelle!” she called again. The old Nox was just exiting the giant double doors on the right and she looked up when she heard her name. One of the old Nox’s attendants was further down the hall, as if Aravelle was about to go from the library deeper into the palace, probably to her rooms.

The Nox attendant’s eyes widened when he saw Lorelle bearing down on them. The attendant snarled as he drew a dagger. From the very beginning, most of the Nox had thought Lorelle was an assassin. She’d started to gain their trust, she’d thought, but no doubt the attendant was sure this was his worst nightmare coming true, that Lorelle was finally showing her true colors. Lorelle didn’t have time to explain, nor to tell the attendant that a far worse nightmare was almost upon them.

There was a window directly across from the library’s great double doors, and Lorelle’s plan came together in a second. Crooked, nonsensical shadows hovered on either side of the window and just beyond.

The attendant moved fast, drawing and flipping the dagger at Lorelle. Aravelle simply stood there, unafraid, a look of concentration on her face, as though she might understand why Lorelle was running at her, full tilt.

Lorelle let go of her control, let the darkness flow through her. She saw the dagger coming her way, but more than that, she felt it pass through the two irregular shadows near the wall.

She swayed, her left shoulder leaning back even as she reached for Aravelle. The dagger missed her by a hair as she caught hold of the old Nox.

“Lorelle—”

But Lorelle didn’t answer, didn’t say anything.

Get her into the shadows…

Aravelle’s mouth turned into an “O” as Lorelle spun, using the old Nox for a counterlever as she propelled them both in a tight three-quarter circle toward the shadows, toward the window. The attendant cursed and gave chase.

Lorelle felt the cool strength of the shadow envelope her. She felt the glass of the window shatter as her back hit it, her arms protectively around Aravelle.

The palace exploded in fire.