Chapter 5 - The Prince with Black Eyes
988 Words
Elara POV
No one moved.
Rain poured over wrecked cars and shattered glass. Sirens screamed in the distance. Fires hissed where water struck them. Yet the only thing I could hear was my own heartbeat.
The monsters were kneeling.
To me.
I yanked my hand from Kael’s as if he had burned me.
The creatures immediately lifted their heads, snarling and restless.
Kael caught my wrist again.
“Do not do that.”
“Do not do what?”
“Let go.”
“I don’t enjoy holding hands with kidnappers!”
His jaw flexed. “You prefer being eaten?”
The nearest wolf-creature snapped its jaws as if to prove his point.
I shoved my free hand against his chest. Hard muscle met my palm.
“Explain. Now.”
“We do not have time.”
“You always say that!”
“Because disaster keeps interrupting me.”
A spotlight suddenly cut through the rain.
Then another.
Military trucks screeched into the street from both ends, tires spraying water. Doors flew open. Armed soldiers poured out in black uniforms, rifles raised.
People nearby screamed and ran again.
One soldier shouted through a megaphone.
“Step away from the female! Hands where we can see them!”
I looked at Kael. “Do they mean me?”
“Yes.”
“Why does everyone want me tonight?”
“You are carrying an ancient weapon while commanding monsters.”
I glanced at the kneeling creatures.
“When you say it like that, it sounds bad.”
“It is bad.”
The lead soldier raised his rifle.
“On your knees! Now!”
Kael’s expression turned cold enough to freeze the rain.
“Stay behind me.”
I crossed my arms. “That phrase is becoming repetitive.”
Bullets opened fire.
The world erupted.
Kael moved faster than sight. Shadows surged from the pavement and formed a wall in front of us. Bullets hit the darkness and dropped harmlessly to the ground.
I stared.
“You can do that too?”
“I can do many things.”
“That sounded arrogant.”
“It was factual.”
He swept one arm outward.
The shadows shot forward like spears, ripping rifles from soldiers’ hands and throwing them across the street. Men shouted in panic.
One truck flipped onto its side.
Another exploded.
I stepped back. “You’re insane.”
He glanced at me. “And yet, useful.”
Something huge crashed down between us and the soldiers.
A winged creature landed on a burning car, scales gleaming black in the rain. Its roar shook windows.
The soldiers scattered.
Kael cursed softly.
“That one is not kneeling.”
“Can you make it?”
“No.”
“Why not?”
“It answers to no one.”
The creature lunged.
Kael grabbed me around the waist.
Before I could protest, the ground beneath us opened into living shadow.
We dropped.
Cold darkness swallowed us whole.
I screamed.
Then we slammed onto solid ground.
I stumbled out of his arms and nearly fell again.
We stood in a narrow alley several streets away. Rain still fell, but softer here. City lights glowed beyond the buildings.
I bent over, gasping.
“You… cannot… keep doing that.”
“Teleporting?”
“Kidnapping!”
He looked mildly offended. “I am saving you repeatedly.”
“Without permission!”
“You continue surviving.”
I straightened slowly. “You’re impossible.”
“And you complain too much.”
We glared at each other.
For one absurd second, I forgot monsters existed.
Then a sharp pain hit my temple.
I hissed and grabbed my head.
The crown pulsed once in my hands.
Visions slammed into me.
A throne room in flames.
Kael younger, chained in silver.
A man with golden eyes raising a sword.
Blood on black marble.
I staggered.
Kael caught my shoulders.
“What happened?”
“I saw something.”
“What?”
“You in chains.”
His face emptied instantly.
“That was not for you.”
“What does that mean?”
“It means the crown is showing memories.”
“Whose?”
“Sometimes yours. Sometimes mine. Sometimes the dead.”
That was horrifyingly casual.
I pulled away from him. “Take it back.”
“I cannot.”
“Break it.”
“I cannot.”
“Throw it in the ocean!”
“It would return.”
I wanted to cry.
Instead I laughed.
A little hysterically.
“This is my life now. Great.”
Kael studied me for a moment.
Then he removed his coat—when had he gotten it back?—and draped it over my shoulders.
The fabric was warm.
It smelled like smoke and cedar.
I stared at him.
“Why did you do that?”
“You are shaking.”
“I’m wet because the city exploded.”
“Yes.”
“That does not answer the question.”
His gaze flicked away briefly.
“You are distracting.”
I blinked.
“Excuse me?”
“You shiver loudly.”
“That is not a thing!”
“It is tonight.”
I should have argued more.
Instead, heat crept into my face.
Ridiculous.
He looked up sharply toward the alley entrance.
Someone was there.
A girl stepped from the shadows in a long silver coat, rain untouched by her somehow. Beautiful. Pale. Elegant.
And glaring at me like I had insulted her bloodline.
Her eyes moved to Kael’s coat on my shoulders.
Then to the crown in my hands.
Then back to me.
“Well,” she said softly. “This is disappointing.”
Kael’s entire body went still.
“You should not be here, Seraphina.”
She smiled without warmth.
“And yet I am.”
Her gaze returned to me.
“So this is the human you replaced me with?”
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