Veiled Innocence (Book One, The Soul Cycle) (24 page)

Begrudingly, he dr
op
p
ed the jewel into her open palm.
A
hefty sigh of relief
escaped her lips and
streams of sweat
ran down her dirty face as she slipped the necklace
over her
head
. She closed her eyes, looking much calmer despite the chaos all around.

He
stared at her dumbfounded when the sound of footsteps made his heart skip a beat. In one motion, he shoved
her
behind him and drew his sword as he spun around.

In the hallway, tall black boots
materialized from the murky air
f
ollowed by a rustle of feathers
as the two men who had evaded him earlier entered the room. They eyed him like a pair of starving wolves.  

“You’re a de
ad man,” one said.
“I don’t care if you are the Alpha’s son.”

The other grinned, showing several teeth that had been filed down to points, like fangs.

What th
e hell are they talking about?

Rowan
sized them up and swallowed hard, trying to maintain a hold on his courage. There was a rumbling in the background.

More men.

How many reinforcements had they brought? Three? Twenty?

They were trapped. There was no way
he
could fight off more than a handful by himself.

But you have to try
.
You are a knight of Accalia, the Black Knight.
You swor
e an oath to protect your crown!

He cast a backward glance at the crystal. Without meaning to, his eyes caught
Lian’s
. They were frightened, but full of hope.

And trust.
 

With his jaw set, he turned and faced the enemy.
“To hell with my father,” he muttered. “I am the Black Knight of Accalia, and I am no one’s dog.”
Sweat slicked his neck and forehead. He crouched, bracing himself for the onslaught
,
but it never came. Without warning, a man pitched forward out of the smoke, landing a sh
ort distance from where they
stood. His throat had been cut.

“What the –” blurted Rowan
as
Gabriel burst through the doorway.

The two men at the door turned to face him, but they were not fast enough. Gabriel disarmed and stabbed them both within seconds. Sheathing his sword, he
leapt
over the bodies to stand in front of Lianora. Something passed between their eyes, but before Rowan could reflect on it, more shouts resounded from the hall.

They’re getting closer. 

His attention snapped forward, and in that moment
,
nothing else mattered except keeping Lianora safe.

His duty, his oath.

He started to move forward, but Gabriel clamped down on his forearm. “Wait,” he said, sheathing his sword. “There’s a window in here, on the wall directly behind us. If you can get to it, you might be able to escape by diving into the pool and swimming to
the bank
.”

Rowan rolled this idea over in his head, analyzing it from every angle. He was right. If they could make it that far without much trouble, then he could save Lianora. “What about them?” He jerked his head toward the hall. 

Gabriel’s eyes darted to Lianora, then back to him. “I’ll take care of them. Nothing else matters except keeping her safe.”

Rowan frowned. They both knew this would not end well for him, possibly for
all
three of them. 

Gabriel lowered his voice. “Do not fail me, or all of this will have been in vain.”

Rowan grunted in confirmation. He did not like this plan; he wanted to help. But it might be the only chance they had of getting out of there alive. 

Gabriel looked once more at Lianora, who was shaking her head, before turning to look Rowan square on, an unreadable emotion passing over his face. “Promis
e me you will watch out for her
and protect her to your last breath.”

Rowan returned his heavy stare, the weight of his promise sinking in. “I will.”

Gabriel studied him a second longer. Then he marched toward Lianora, took her face in both his hands, and kissed her. 

The animal men spilled into the room out of the smoke, twenty pairs of orange eyes bearing crude axes and swords.

Gabriel pulled back, his eyes closed as he savored the kiss. He slowly opened his eyes and looked down at a speechless Lianora. “I
’ll always love you.
I wanted you to
know that. Be safe. Be happy.”

“I want to help. You know I can,” she said fiercely.

“I’m afraid your bare hands won’t be much use against a sword,” he said. “Go.” He placed a rough, rushed kiss across her forehead, and before she could blink, he
turned
toward
the ambush, cold menace
sweeping
over his features.
At the same time he rounded,
Gabriel pushed her toward Rowan, drew his sword
,
and charged toward the men, screaming ferociously as he plunged into the throng. Years of training kicked in as
he
ably
dodged their advances, countering with several perfect moves of his own. It looked almost too easy, even outnumbered as he was, and Rowan’s jaw dropped as his own battle lust surged restlessly beneath his skin like lightning in his veins. He took a step forward. 

Gabriel shook his head. “Go!”

Rowan caught his breath, watching the older knight fight. 

“
G
o! I’ll hold them off!” Gabriel took down another man. “Get her out of here!”

Rowan nodded and grabbed a protesting Lianora by the wr
ist. She pulled back
as
Gabriel
fatally wounded another assailant.    

“Wait!” she called. “What about you?”

Gabriel paused and gave her a lop-sided smile. “I’ll be fine. Now go.” He said it gently
,
but his voice was firm.

She hesitated,
and Rowan shook her hard. “W
e have to go.” He steered her
to
the bac
k of the room toward the window while she thrashed and tried to break free.
If they could just reach it in time…

Rowan heard grunts and cries of pain from behind him, and his jaw clenched. It took every ounce of discipline he had to keep from looking back. He had faith in Gabriel’s capabilities, had seen him in action, but Gabriel was just one man. Eventually, he would fatigue
,
and they would overwhelm him. He had to make sure Lianora was out of there before that happened. 

Flipping his sword around, he broke the window with the pommel.
He
rapidly pushed away the remaining slivers of glass and stepped onto the sill. “Come on!” He held out his hand to Lianora. She looked at him then back at Gabriel. Their eyes met, and a man rushed at him from the side, tackling him to the floor. His bulky hands closed around his throat. Gabriel gasped and sputtered, and his eyes rolled over to where Rowan and Lianora stood watching.

“Get her out of here, Rowan!
” he choked out, grappling with the man on top of him.
Gabriel
finally managed to roll
the man
to the side where he punched him square in the jaw, knocking him unconscious. By the time
Gabriel
stood up, two of the attackers had slid past him and were running toward the window.

In less than a blink, Rowan grabbed Lianora under the shoulders and lifted her to the windowsill. 

“Swim!”

As the men were upon them, he pushed her out and grasped onto the frame for support as one of the men grabbed him. Rowan swung his elbow back, crushing the man’s nose. He leapt around and grabbed the top of the window frame. As the two men lunged at him again, he pulled himself up and kicked out with both feet. He caught the men in their stomachs and sent them flying backwards where they plowed into a third man who had been running to help them. 

Without a second glance, he
leapt
out the window and dove into the pool below. Cool water enveloped him as he sunk lower and then rose, swimming upward when his momentum had ceased. When he s
urfaced, he scanned for Lianora
and felt his muscles ease w
hen he saw her climbing onto land
.

“Thank the g
ods,” he sputtered through mouthful
s of water, swimming toward the embankment on the opposite side of the pool
.

Lianora was stumbling around
when he hauled himself onto the
grass
. Her pale green eyes were glazed over, and he saw the fire reflected in them as she stared, horrified, at the burning fortress.  “Gabriel. Ana. Father,” she said in a tiny cracked voice over and over again.

There was a loud roar, almost like an explosion, above and behind him. Lianora screamed
Gabriel’s name
as Rowan turned around to discover that flames were greedily licking the window they had come through. Though it had consumed three quarters of the palace, the fire’s insatiable hunger could not be quenched, and it continued to spread, cracking the mortar until the weight of the heavy stone structure caused it to begin to crumble. 

Lianora fell to her knees
,
her body trembling from shell shock as she stared at the fire unblinking.

“
Wake up
!”
he snapped, clasping her chin and forcing her to look at him
.
Though her eyes met his, it was as if she was looking through him and not at him. “If you sit here like a rock and let them catch us, then a lot of good jumping out the window will have done us!”

He tried to pick her up, but she would not budge. Finally resolving to drag her along if he had to,
he
firmly grabbed her under both of her arms and shoved and pulled her to the grassy pl
ain that looped around the lake. He surveyed
the area for more invaders as he struggled to maintain his hold on her. He could make out the dark outline of the forest less than a mile away, and he knew that would be their best bet for safety. Its dense cover would provide enough hiding places for them should they be sought out by the enemy, and having grown up in those woods, he was certain he could shield her from any harm that might threaten them.

And it was old, far older and more sacred than the monsters that would hunt them.

They won’t come into the forest. They are damned, all of them. Th
ey cannot cross sacred ground. The wood is Dreaka’s realm.

A screech ripped through the air that made
his
blood run cold. 

A great shadow rose from the smoke. It spread two massive black wings, flinging sparks into the night. It wailed once more and fixed its beady orange eyes on them.   

He took a single breath that echoed in that frozen fragment of time.  

“Run!” He seized her arm and jerked her along, stumbling through holes and
over
rocks as they raced toward the forest.

The monster cried out as it swooped down the valley, its razor sharp claws closing in on them. 

“Come on,”
he
said
. They hobbled
toward the forest, its leaves glowing with that odd light. They were both soaked to the brim, and the balmy night air was making it difficult to
maintain a steady hold on her.

The smell of sulfur overwhelmed him
,
and he gagged. His legs were burning fiercely, but he kept running. The forest was less than ten feet in front of them.

Something sharp grazed his back
,
and he cried out as he shoved Lianora into the
bramble and dove on top of her. T
he great beast abruptly broke its dive and keened, as if it had met with an impenetrable wall only it could see or feel.

They breathed heavily as it tried once more to enter and again was denied entry into Dreaka’s Forest. It cried out in fury and wheeled sharply around, gliding back toward the smoke before vanishing into the darkness altogether. 

They lay like that, each panting hard, and after a few quiet moments of nothing but the sound of roaring fire,
he
rolled off of
her
a
nd immediately squinted
as white light flooded his vision.

The teardrop was glowing.

Hurt

“DID YOU SEE THAT?
Did
you see it glowing
?”