“Two homes down,” Blaz answered, ducking past Clariza. He carried several cloaks, handing one to each of us as he went straight to the table, grabbing two daggers. He sheathed one inside his boot.
Malik cursed. “We need to get out of here. Now.”
“I’ll grab our weapons.” Kieran hurried past us, entering the hall.
“You go out the back.” Blaz tossed Clariza a slender dagger, which she slipped under her sleeve. “We’ll keep them occupied for as long as we can.”
Concern for them blossomed. “Can you not come with us?”
Hiding another dagger, Clariza sent me a brief smile. “I’d love nothing more than to see my ancestral home, and I plan to do that one day, but our place is here. There are people who depend on us.”
“Descenters?” Casteel asked as Kieran returned, handing him a sword. I saw that he had my satchel.
Blaz nodded. “Elian can tell you that quite a few people stand in opposition to the Blood Crown. An entire network working from within to usurp the Ascended. You may hasten that when your armies arrive, but until then, we’re needed here.”
At the sound of his ancestor’s name, Casteel shot Malik a look and then stepped forward, clasping Blaz’s shoulder. “Thank you—thank you both for your aid.”
Clariza bowed as I slipped the cloak on. “It’s our honor.”
A knock sounded from the front of the house, and Casteel turned, grasping my cheeks. His touch calmed my nerves. “My Queen?”
“Yes?”
“I think you’ll be happy to know,” he said, sliding his hands to the edges of the hood as he lifted it, “that you’re about to crack some faces.”
A rough, shaky laugh left me, and my heart calmed. I twisted toward Clariza and Blaz as Reaver and Malik moved to the back of the house. “Be safe.”
“We need to be on our way,” Malik said, lifting the hood of the cloak he’d donned as another knock came from the front.
Clariza lifted her chin as she placed her curled fist over her heart. “From blood and ash,” she said as Blaz did the same.
“We will rise,” Casteel finished, hand over his heart as he, the King, bowed to them.
I stepped behind Kieran, looking up at Malik as Blaz went down the hall. “Will they be safe when the guards come?”
“Possibly,” he answered.
That wasn’t exactly reassuring.
“You and I aren’t done with our conversation either.” Casteel stepped in front of me, his cloak hood shielding his face.
That also wasn’t reassuring.
“That’ll have to wait,” Kieran said, his hand on my lower back.
“Where to?” Reaver reached for the back door.
“The harbor,” Malik answered. “Lower Town.”
Nodding, the draken opened—
Four Royal Guards stood there, their white mantles rippling in the wind.
“Where do you think you’re all going?” an older guard asked.
Only Reaver was uncloaked, but the guard took one look at the rest of us, hooded with our identities hidden, and withdrew his sword. “Step back,” he ordered.
I didn’t have a chance to even summon the eather.
Reaver snapped forward, grasping the guard’s sword arm as he stretched out his neck. His jaw loosened, and his mouth gaped wide. A low rumble came from his chest as a stream of silvery fire rippled out from his mouth.
My eyes went wide.
“Holy shit,” Casteel murmured, stiffening in front of me as silvery flames rippled over the guard.
“Yeah,” Kieran remarked.
Reaver shoved the screaming guard back into another, and the unnatural fire swept over the other man. Turning, Reaver let out another powerful stream of flames, quickly laying waste to the guards at the back door.
The scent of charred flesh rose on the wind, turning my stomach as Reaver straightened. “Path is clear.”
Casteel turned to the draken. “Yeah, it sure is.”
A sharp yelp of pain sounded from the house, spinning me around. Clariza cried out in alarm.
“We need to leave,” Malik insisted, toeing aside burnt remains.
We needed to, but…
“They aided us,” I said.
“And they knew the cost,” Malik argued as rough shouts echoed from the front of the house.
“As did we when we came to their door.” I stepped forward. Kieran’s hand tightened briefly on my cloak and then relaxed.
“Agreed,” Casteel said, his grip firming on the sword.
“For godssake,” Malik muttered. “This isn’t the time to be heroes. If you’re caught—”