: Chapter 51

The king is struck before I can fully block him. He takes the first shot in the shoulder, but it’s better than his neck.

I lift an arm to block a second shot with my bracer, and the arrow slices right across my bicep.

The sudden pain nearly brings me to my knees. I’ve been shot before, but not like this. The arrow burns where it breaks the skin, stealing my breath. Jax’s father already has another bolt loaded.

The next one hits Grey in the leg, and he goes down.

“Da!” shouts Jax. “Da, stop!”

I go for my throwing knives, but the fingers on my injured arm are slow and clumsy. Silver hell.

“The arrows,” Grey gasps. His knee hits the dirt. “You were right. They’re Iishellasan steel.”

I don’t have an arrow embedded in my arm, but blood flows freely down my sleeve. Stars flare in my blood, but I can’t heal it at all.

Jax’s father hasn’t fired again, but he’s got another bolt loaded and aimed right at us both. I’m panting, but I slip a throwing knife into my left hand. My aim won’t be anywhere near as good, especially with him behind the table, but I wait for a clean shot.

“They weren’t attacking me!” Jax cries, as if his father could possibly be seen as defending him.

“I know that,” Ellis says. “We’ve been waiting for him to show up. Now go down the lane to tell the guards at Callyn’s that we’ve got the king, too.”

Too. My heart clenches.

I wonder if that means Callyn is part of this.

Ellis stays behind the work table. I’m sure Grey’s got a weapon in hand, but there are two steel arrows driven through his skin. He’s breathing harder than I am.

“Can you use magic?” I whisper to Grey in Emberish.

Grey’s eyes are dark with fury. When he speaks, his voice is strained. “If I could use magic, this man would be dead already.” He looks at me. “You need to find the queen.”

“I’m not leaving you.”

“I can see what you’re planning,” Ellis says. “But I have no problem killing you both. They knew you’d come here! They knew!” He’s all but crowing with glee. “They’ll probably give me a reward. Boy! I told you to go down to Callyn’s!”

“I’m not helping you do this,” Jax snaps.

Ellis turns his glare on his son, his eyes red with rage. “I told you to—”

I see my chance. Those knives spin free of my hand before he can shoot. It’s a bad angle, so the first one misses, but the second one skips right across the man’s shoulder. He cries out, then aims to shoot me. I fight to get a third knife.

Jax tackles him. He doesn’t have the strength to bring his father to the ground, but they grapple for the weapon, and the shot fires wildly. The lantern shatters and the workshop goes dark. Jax cries out, and my head whips around.

“Tycho!” Grey says. He’s got blades in his hands now, too. “You need to find Lia Mara,” he says. His breathing is quick and ragged. “You don’t know what other weapons he has.” He winces. “Go now, while you can.”

I don’t want to leave him. I don’t want to leave Jax.

Ellis has another bolt loaded. I hear the click of a crossbow, and time seems to stop right in that moment. There are too many people at risk.

“I’ll do my best to keep him alive,” says the king. “Tycho. If they’ve taken the royal family, they’ve taken Syhl Shallow.”

He’s right.

I run.