Page 87 of To Kill a King
Aliya bolted upright, covered in a cold sweat, with her tunic and skirt tangled hopelessly around her. Her heart hammered against her ribs. Cressida! Elessan!
Malkov wouldn’t tell her his plans unless he knew she would be too late, and he was just trying to draw her out. He wouldn’t risk anything else.
But that didn’t matter—her friends’ lives were on the line. She jumped up and slid her feet into her shoes. Where could she find Lady Brightleaf? Aliya had no idea where the woman lived—they always met in the same spot every morning.
She ran outside. The sun hung low in the sky. A shape moved across the clearing, so she sprinted toward it.
“Lindir!”
The young archer startled and turned, his eyebrows raised. He reached out. “Aliya? Is everything alright?”
She paused, trying to catch her breath and calm her racing heart. She couldn’t be too late. “Where’s your aunt?”
“Cressida?” He tilted his head. “Why do you ask?”
She grabbed his arms and shook him. “This is important!”
“Okay. This time of day,” he scanned the area, “sometimes she’s in the Grove of Shadows, meditating.”
Without bothering to thank him, she bolted toward the gardens.
“Wait,” he called, running behind her. “What’s going on?”
She glanced over her shoulder. “Assassins are coming. We need to warn her!”
He came up beside her, his long legs easily matching her speed. “What? How do you know?”
She didn’t bother responding but doubled her pace as the white stone path pounded beneath her feet. Grunts and crashes echoed through the trees in front of them. A fireball launched into the sky, exploding overhead with a crackle.
“Someone’s in the grove,” Lindir said, pulling ahead. “Hurry!”
They burst from the forest. Five black-clad figures in white metallic breastplates surrounded Lady Cressida—humans judging by their rounded ears. The old elf held her magic around her like a bubble. Their weapons bounced off, ineffective.
“Both of you, get behind me now!” Cressida’s command snapped Aliya to attention.
Lindir planted his feet, drew an arrow, and shot it at the closest adversary while Aliya positioned herself as ordered.
Aliya’s stomach plunged to the ground. If only her power wasn’t so unpredictable. Her fingers itched to call a fireball and fling it at the men, but there was no guarantee it would obey her in such a stressful situation. The fire may well cause more harm than good.
The sphere of Cressida’s magic warped and expanded, surrounding Aliya.
“I’ve sent for help,” Cress yelled as her shield repelled another volley of arrows. “We just need to hold them off long enough for reinforcements to arrive.”
Of course. That must have been what the aerial flare was for.
Aliya shook her head. Her eyes burned with unshed tears. “I’m so sorry. This is all my fault.”
Lady Brightleaf fixed her with a hard glare. “Unless you conspired to lead them here, this is not your doing. You cannot control the actions of a power-hungry king any more than I can manipulate the weather.”
“But they’re here because of me.”
Cressida shot a ball of magic through her shield into the midst of the group of assassins. An explosion obscured the humans in smoke. “It doesn’t matter that they found us or how they got through the forest, they won’t leave Filathas alive.”
One of the attackers charged Lindir, swinging at his neck with a sword. Aliya’s heart froze.
“Lindir!” He should’ve listened to his aunt and gotten inside her protective bubble like she’d told him to.
He dropped prone, rotating his leg around to catch the other man’s ankles.