Finally, Caden and Sydney fly down the stairs. Lucan staggers behind, clutching a bleeding shoulder.
“What happened?” Duke asks.
“Flying glass,” Caden spits. “Someone can heal him once we’re safe.”
At her mate’s urging, Sydney darts for the other women. At the back door, Sabelle draws her wand, braced for a fight. I turn my body so I can see both doors with a subtle turn of my head. Sabelle won’t be the one battling for our survival. I’m determined to spare her that.
Duke lifts the creamy silken drapes covering the windows on either side of the front door. Outside, the swell of black robes grows and grows. They begin to fan around the house, scurrying like ants from one place to the next. More join moments later. Then more, until there aren’t hundreds, but thousands.
Lucan and Caden exchange a glance as they fall into a battle-ready stance. The front door groans and splinters. It’s going to give way any minute. Sabelle cannot be near the hell about to break loose.
“Take the Rions and the book. Lucan can help me defend the door. As soon as you’re in position, I’ll send him to you,” Duke insists.
I want Lucan nowhere near her, but I bite my tongue. Realistically, there’s safety in numbers, and nothing is more important than Sabelle and the diary. “Fine.”
“We’ll split up to confuse Mathias, divide the Anarki forces, and make them chase us in all directions.” Duke’s face is grave with concern. “Keep the book from Mathias, no matter what. If he gets control of it…”
We all die.
I nod. “I’ll contact you when it’s safe. Where will you go?”
Duke winces when the door splinters again. Gray smoke begins to seep in, the same cloud that’s slowly killing Bram.
The warriors shout and curse as they scramble back from the insidious smoke clawing across the floor and crawling up the walls. Mathias himself is here.
Heaven help us all.
Chapter
Five
“Go now!” Duke shouts.
I race to the back door, heave Bram back onto my shoulder, then press an urgent hand to the small of Sabelle’s back. “Backpack?” She nods. “Good. Outside. Now. Stay in shadow. We’ve got two minutes, at most.”
The princess sends me a shaky nod, but she’s surprisingly composed, rather than panicking or demanding I carry her, too.
“And Lucan?”
Who gives a shit? After losing his mate, the bastard used Sabelle because she’s beautiful, kind, and convenient. I hate him for it. “Behind us.”
She nods. “We can wait here for him. Bram had extra protections here, just in case we ever needed to escape.”
Good to know. As I open the back door, I check to make certain no Anarki has made their way to the back of the massive estate. I see none, but I hear them, beating at Bram’s weakened magical defenses, zapping and gnashing their way ever closer to the Doomsday Brethren’s fallback position at the back door.
I urge Sabelle onto the terrace, in the shadow of the overhang, then slide out behind her, covering her body with my own. For a heartbeat, we’re pressed together, her soft curves molding against me, her pulse racing where my fingers grip her wrist. I release her quickly, but the brief contact leaves my skin burning.
She stiffens, caught between pressing back against the wall and maintaining distance from the dangerous wizard her brother has warned her about. The December chill wraps around me, and I embrace the bite against my skin. Snow is beginning to fall. I hope the Anarki bastards are having a miserable time. I’d be happy to send any to their deaths if they threaten my Sabelle.
Well, she’s not mine. The princess belongs to me only in my fantasies. A Rykard and a Rion together? The magical world would implode before that happened. So I shush the foolish voice in my head, then guide her to the corner of the terrace while laying Bram at her feet in case I need both hands to fight. With concrete at her back and sides, I can shield her.
Keeping my back to her, I pin her against the wall and scan for potential threats as Marrok, Olivia, and Tynan pour out of the house. They take a few steps forward before the wizard grabs the mated couple and teleports them away. Sydney and Caden follow.
Everyone is abandoning the estate. I need to get Sabelle to safety before it’s too late. Where the hell is Lucan?
Duke stumbles through the door, dragging an injured Lucan behind him, who’s now bloody from head to toe.
Behind me, Sabelle gasps and tries to wriggle free. I whirl on her and mercilessly flatten her to the wall with my body. “The Anarki are nearly upon us. You are not rushing through the danger for MacTavish.”
