Shadow Heir

“At afternoon tea,” said one of the guards. “We are to relay your message to her.”

“You can tell her to go fuck herself,” I replied. I turned back to Dorian and gently brushed hair away from his face. “Stay with me,” I murmured. “It was bad enough with the dryads. You can’t keep doing this to me.”

“If that is your ‘answer,’” said another of the guards coldly, “then we are to return you to your cell.”

“Fine,” I said, still not looking at any of them. “What about Dorian?”

“He stays with us,” said the female torturer.

My head jerked up. “What? He needs a healer! You’ve already pushed him to the edge. He’ll die if you keep at it.”

“I believe that is the point,” said the male torturer. He arched an eyebrow. “What exactly did you expect? That you could refuse and Her Majesty would free him? If you want him healed, comply with her requests. Those are your only choices.”

No, I actually had a couple of other choices. One was to fake them out and claim I would give in to Varia. After all, that was hardly the kind of decision I had to immediately act on. I didn’t have the Iron Crown with me. It was hidden far away in my own lands. If I claimed I would give it to her, I had plenty of time to figure out the rest of this before I actually had to produce said crown.

Just then, Dorian started coughing. No, not coughing. Gasping. Like he couldn’t get enough air. His eyes fluttered open, a frantic and desperate look in them as he fought to breathe.

“Dorian!” I cried, grabbing hold of him. “Dorian, breathe! Relax. You can do it.”

Yet, it was clear he couldn’t hear me or see me. He was somewhere else, somewhere locked in pain that had done so much damage, it was now about to finish him off. I looked up at all the gathered people in the room, unable to believe they were all just standing around.

“Ah,” remarked one of the torturers. “I wondered when his lungs would give out.”

“Do something!” I yelled. “Help him.”

Dorian suddenly stilled, a look of horror on his face. I shared his feelings because I realized he was no longer breathing. A new sort of panic shot through me, as well as frustration and a terrible aching sadness. I possessed a power that could bring many to their knees, a power that was widely envied. What good was it, I wondered angrily, when it left me completely helpless to defend those I cared about?

“We do nothing until you make your choice,” replied the male torturer.

Choice? Yeah. I was going to make my choice—and it wasn’t going to be giving in to Varia. It wouldn’t even be faking her out. It was going to be the choice I’d wanted to make from the very beginning.

I was going to blow this room apart and get Dorian out of here.

Magic surged within me, the power of water and air that surrounded all living things. The room grew thick with humidity as the air swelled and tensed, just as it had in my morning meeting with Varia. Now, I went further. The scent of ozone spread around us, and I felt the hairs on the back of my neck stand up from the electrical charges in the air. Some of those gathered sensed me pulling on my magic. Everyone else simply felt the obvious signs of a storm about to break loose. People tensed, weapons were drawn. Good luck with that, I thought.

A huge burst of air, reaching a breaking point, suddenly exploded and took out one of the room’s walls. Stone and debris flew everywhere, and I barely had the presence of mind to lean over and shield Dorian with my body. My own injury didn’t matter. Others in the room didn’t have such protection.

The funny thing was, though, I wasn’t the one who’d blown the wall apart.

From a now-visible room next door, Kiyo and Rurik surged in, the rest of our soldiers right behind them, along with some Hemlock fighters. And behind them were Jasmine and Pagiel, tipping me off about what had happened to the wall. Immediately, the Yew soldiers jumped forward to engage this new threat, forgetting all about me.

“Alistir!” I yelled, somehow making my voice heard above the fray.

Dorian’s soldier jerked his head toward me. I beckoned him over. He gave a curt nod, after first dispatching a Yew warrior. Dodging a few others, Alistir soon made his way to me. I gestured frantically to Dorian.

“Help him. He hasn’t been breathing for almost a minute.”

Alistir blanched. Quickly he put his hands on Dorian. I couldn’t sense his healing magic, but from the look on Alistir’s face, he had a struggle ahead of him. I didn’t doubt Alistir was gifted, but I also wished just then that we had brought a sure healer like Shaya after all.

“Eugenie!” Kiyo’s voice drew me from the healing drama. He punched a Yew soldier and then gave me an incredulous look. “What the hell are you doing here? Get out! You know what you have to do!”

Feeling conflicted, I cast an anxious look at Dorian. How could I leave him? I couldn’t tell what Alistir was doing or if Dorian was even breathing again.

“Go!” screamed Kiyo.

“There’s nothing you can do, Your Majesty,” said Alistir through clenched teeth. “Go. Leave him to me.”