Garrin had been attempting to glean as much information from Zed as he could, but enough was enough. Too much time had passed since he’d seen Lex. He waited until his body was partially healed and then mentally reached out to his powers. They were muted, but the alchemists reining them in grew weak. Zed would send in replacement alchemists soon, and Garrin couldn’t have that.
He froze the metal shackles binding his wrists and ankles and immediately froze the guards and alchemists where they stood. Nothing deadly, just enough ice cover to pin them in place while Garrin escaped.
Garrin stumbled toward the metal barring his exit from the dungeons. The surge of power it took to break his shackles and freeze the men had weakened him, but with the alchemists temporarily frozen, so too were their powers. With each breath, Garrin’s body healed and his powers returned.
He lifted his hand and waved it across the bars, taking the metal to subzero temperatures. A loud pop sounded, and cracks splintered the metal.
Garrin kicked the bars, breaking them apart. He ran out of the dungeon and down freezing basement passageways. When he rounded a corner, two familiar faces headed for him.
Amund and Zirel had their swords drawn, which they quickly sheathed after they saw it was Garrin.
His men had been beaten, their clothing bloodied and torn. “Where have you been?” Garrin asked.
“Indisposed,” Amund said. “They thought to torture information out of us.” Amund looked up as though the stone ceiling were made of glass. “We must hurry. They move in as we speak.”
Garrin didn’t care about the damned soldiers. He’d trained most of the newer ones before he left, and he knew how to avoid the rest. Though the fact there was so much turnover was worrisome. “Is Lex safe?”
Zirel kicked open a locked basement door to a room full of weapons and supplies. “I’m told she escaped with Your Highness’s court female they call Em.” He handed Garrin a sword and grabbed outerwear for the three of them.
Amund pulled on a coat as they ran. “Others travel through our land, and they move in Lex’s direction.”
“You know where she is?” Garrin asked.
Amund sent him a sidelong look. “You may have glamoured her, but her power level is distinct for those aware.”
The glamour should have downgraded her power. “If you sense her—”
“The king’s alchemists may too,” Amund finished.
The road that took Lex and Em to Em’s parents’ house was lined with hundreds of partially frozen allon trees. A caretaker stood on a ladder and blew on the branches of one of the trees they passed, melting the ice with his magic.
Freed from their cold prison, leaves fluttered happily from one branch to another, as though butterflies dashing through a eucalyptus field.
Thanks to Mertha, Lex remembered the magic of allon. The leaves were in shades of purple, blue, orange, and pink, shifting from one branch to another, and yet she missed the variety of plant-based food she’d grown used to in the Earth realm. And fast food. She’d kill for greasy fries right about now.
“We’re here,” Em said as they climbed slippery stone steps to a home that wasn’t quite a castle but far grander than most homes they’d passed.
If Mertha’s place was an Irish cottage, Em’s house was an Irish manor. Beneath snow and icicles, Lex could make out three stories of ornate stone walls, a dozen paned windows, and two massive chimneys bookending a pitched roof.
Em pushed open the ten-foot entry with her body and let out a sigh. She smiled at a liveried man rushing forward, wearing a red and black uniform. “Alaric, please bring us hot tea.”
“Certainly, miss.” He draped wool blankets over Lex and Em’s shoulders and handed their coat to another servant.
Em walked down a wide hallway, and Lex followed her to a parlor with walls covered in red damask wallpaper and gilded mirrors that stretched to ornate black and gold crown molding. Em’s house was filled with ornate antiques and decorated like the Dark Kingdom castle but on a smaller scale.
Lex sank into an upholstered wingback chair next to Em and a fireplace, and was soon handed a piping-hot cup of tea. She stared after the…footman? Servant? She didn’t know what to call the helpers, but there were a lot of them. “It almost seemed like they were expecting us,” she said to Em.
Em sipped her tea, shivering before she answered. “Mother trained the staff to be ready for any eventuality. Particularly if her cousin the king should stop by.”
Lex gripped her cup. “Cousin?” She half stood, the blanket slipping off her shoulders. “You said they were related by marriage. You didn’t mention anything about cousins. Your parents can’t hide this from family. I should leave.”
“Cousins by marriage.” Em blew on her tea and twisted her mouth to the side as though thinking. “The castle guards are likely using spells and magic and interrogating everyone to find out where you’ve gone.”
Lex wrapped her arms around her middle and paced in front of the windows, searching outside. “Why would you bring me here?” Fear lanced her chest. Had Em set her up?
Em quickly set her cup down. “It will be all right. They don’t know where we are. We can’t stay for long, but we can remain long enough to get nourishment and proper clothing.”
“What about your parents? What if others learn they helped me? And now you’re caught up in this too…”
“I pledged my oath to the prince. No one will question my loyalty after Garrin bade me care for you.”
“Don’t the king’s wishes trump Garrin’s?”
Em waggled her head. “In matters of war, certainly. But when it comes to court politics, it is more of a gray area.”
Lex might have hazy memories of Old Kingdom, but her knowledge of nobility was a giant blank. She remembered a small house, bland food, and playing with a couple of other children. She must have been poor in Dark Kingdom.
Something else Em said had caught Lex’s attention. “What does it mean for a woman to pledge an oath to Garrin? Is he essentially married to all of you?”
Em tipped her head back and laughed.
Lex crossed her arms. “I’m glad my ignorance amuses you.”
Em caught her breath and waved her hand. “It’s not the same as a marriage pledge, though there is commitment. Once the prince pledges himself to you as his wife, it will supersede all others, with the exception of his commitment to his people.”
But Lex and Garrin were never supposed to marry.
Regardless of what they were to each other, a court full of women pledging themselves to him made her ragey and possessive.
Lex continued pacing. “I shouldn’t stay. I should find my mother and try to help Garrin.”
Em stood too, glancing out the window. “The guards will double back and find us. We shouldn’t tarry too long. Come,” she said, and moved toward the door. “I’ll have someone bring us fresh clothes, while I find my parents and gather supplies—”
Before Em could reach the door, the air shimmered in front of her and she froze, forcing Lex to stop behind her or risk running into her.
“What is it?” Lex whispered.
“Someone is entering my home through a portal. Father!” she yelled. And then Em was running toward the fireplace, where she reached for a sword that crisscrossed another above the massive mantel.
That was when all hell broke loose.
People wearing thick black winter coats and combat boots tumbled through the portal at the same time an older-looking couple ran into the room along with several servants.
The older woman wore a court dress, minus the flimsy material Garrin’s harem sported, and leapt onto the arm of a settee. She bounced off the seat cushion and grabbed the second sword above the mantel in midair. She landed beside Em in a matching sword stance.
The older man who had entered the room casually set a snifter of what looked to be brandy on a tray one of the servants held and pulled out a dagger with a ruby hilt.
Holy hell. Shit was about to go down.
And then Lex got a good look at the soldiers in black who’d tumbled through the portal. “Jas?”
