Chapter 80: Behind You

Leonidas circled slowly, blood dripping from his shoulder onto the shattered marble.

Dorian did the same. The two panthers moved in a deadly arc, claws clicking softly against stone, their eyes locked. Dust drifted between them like smoke.

We meet again, little king.

The voice slid into Leonidas’s mind. Panthers could speak this way sometimes, mind to mind, and Leonidas had never once hated the gift until now.

Get out of my head, he snarled.

But you were so pleasant to talk to last time. Dorian’s lips curled back over yellowed fangs. Before you ran. Before you left your people to burn.

Leonidas’s heart hammered against his ribs.

How had he gotten in?

The palace was ringed with guards. The walls were warded. Aldric had sealed every gate, every window, every crack in the stone. Leonidas had checked the reports himself just this afternoon.

Damn it.

He had just left Karina. He had just spoken to her, sat across from her, and told her what he wanted done if he died. And now the monster he had feared was breathing in front of him, while his child and other children ran through the halls behind him.

Boots pounded down the corridor.

"Your Majesty!" a guard shouted. Four of them burst around the corner, spears raised, their faces bone white. "Your Majesty, we are—"

No.

Leonidas didn’t have time to turn. He could only feel it in his gut, a cold drop of dread. No, no, get back—

Dorian’s eyes slid toward the guards. Slowly, horribly, he smiled.

He’ll kill them.

Leonidas gathered every ounce of strength in his body and prepared to lunge. If he could drive Dorian back, if he could just buy them three seconds—

Black and gold slammed into Dorian’s side.

The spotted panther hit him like a battering ram and both of them crashed into the wall. Rafael. Blood was still crusted at his temple, and his emerald eyes were wild. He snarled.

Rafael! Leonidas roared through the link. You shouldn’t be here!

And you should be dead. We’re both disappointing.

Then the floor shuddered.

A shape slid out of the dark corridor behind them, long and glossy and black, thicker than a man’s waist.

The guards shrank back.

Corvin.

The great black snake did not look at him. Its slit pupils were fixed on Dorian, and an hiss rolled from its throat that made every hair on Leonidas’s neck rise.

More footsteps thundered in. General Aldric skidded around the corner with a dozen soldiers at his back, sword drawn, his cape torn, his blue eyes blazing. He took in the wrecked wall, the blood, the panthers, and the snake in a single glance.

"Surround him!" he barked. "Now!"

Steel flashed. Armored men fanned out in a tight ring, spears leveled. Dorian stood in the center of them with Rafael’s claws still hooked into his side, his fur matted with blood, his breath rasping.

He wasn’t afraid.

That was the worst part. Leonidas saw it and felt something cold slide down his spine. Dorian looked around at the spears, at the snake, at Aldric’s sword, and the amusement in his eyes only grew.

His gaze drifted, slowly, to the far end of the corridor, the direction where the Empress and her children had just vanished.

Then he smirked.

She won’t be gone for long, he said, so softly that the words barely reached Leonidas.

He moved.

Dorian wrenched himself free of Rafael, sending the younger panther crashing to the floor, and bolted for the gap between two soldiers. But the great snake moved with him, sliding across the marble in a single fluid rush, its coils blocking the exit.

Dorian leaped straight over it.

His jaws snapped toward Aldric’s throat. Aldric raised his sword too late. Time seemed to slow. Leonidas saw the fangs an inch from the general’s neck—

He threw himself forward with a roar and swiped a paw across Dorian’s flank.

Claws tore through fur and flesh. Dorian shrieked and twisted in mid-air, landing badly, his body cracking and reshaping. Fur receded into skin. Muscle folded. In a heartbeat a naked, bleeding man crouched on the stones with his lip split and his chest heaving.

Before he could rise, Corvin struck.

The snake’s body swept around him like a whip. Coil after coil wrapped his legs, his ribs, his arms, pinning them tight to his sides. Corvin’s tail lashed once more and Dorian was on his knees, gasping, his back curved, his face turning red. Scales rippled and squeezed.

"Ugh," Dorian wheezed. He laughed anyway.

Leonidas shifted. His bones snapped back into place, and he stood, panting, pressing a hand to his side. Blood ran between his fingers. He walked forward until he stood over the man he had once called teacher.

"How," he said, low and shaking, "did you get in?"

Dorian tilted his head up. His navy eyes were bright, his teeth stained red.

"Oh, little king." He coughed. "I’m not the one you need to be worried about."

Leonidas frowned. "What the hell do you mean?!"

Dorian’s eyes glittered as he looked at Leonidas, and then, deliberately, he looked away, toward the far end of the palace.

"You might want to check on the Empress."

~

Click.

The lock snapped shut under Karina’s trembling fingers.

She stood against the door, her back flat against the wood. The storeroom smelled of dust and old linen. There was no window, and only a single lantern burned, casting tall shadows over the shelves.

"Here," she whispered. "Come here, all of you. Quick."

She herded them into the farthest corner, behind a stack of crates. Valen came first, once again clutching Soren against his chest. Rynan followed, hiccuping, his tail tucked between his legs. Daerys came last, and his teeth were chattering.

Karina knelt in front of them and gathered them in.

"It’s alright," she said. "Everything is going to be fine. Do you hear me? Everything will be fine."

Daerys let out a tiny sob. "Mama... the monster..."

"I know, sweetheart. I know." She pressed a kiss to his silver hair. "Leonidas is out there. And Aldric, and Corvin. They won’t let anything happen. Everything will be fine."

The words tasted like a lie.

Karina swallowed.

She was sweating. Cold sweat trickled down her back, and her hands were slick against Valen’s shoulders. Her knees ached. She wanted to be sick.

Cheshire, she thought. Where is he? Can you see him?

There was nothing. The little robot had gone silent again, and she didn’t know whether that was better or worse.

Rynan buried his face in her skirt. "I want Papa," he whimpered.

"Shh. I know. Shh."

Karina closed her eyes.

Then, very softly, she began to hum.

It was a lullaby, one she remembered from her old life. Her voice cracked on the first note. She swallowed and tried again.

Hush now, little cubs, the night is long,

The moon will keep you warm...

The crying faltered.

Rynan lifted his head. Soren’s wailing softened into little hiccups. She kept singing, and her hand stroked slowly through Valen’s hair, then Daerys’s, then Rynan’s spikes. Her voice wavered, but she kept it steady, note after note, as the shadows danced and the distant noise rumbled on.

Sleep now, little cubs, the dark won’t stay,

Mama’s here, Mama’s here...

One by one, their breathing slowed. Rynan sagged against her. Soren blinked heavy eyes. Valen’s grip loosened just a little.

Karina’s own heart finally began to quiet.

She had almost finished the verse when Daerys’s small body went rigid against her arm.

His eyes were fixed over her shoulder, filled with pure terror.

"Mama," he whispered.

"What is it?"

"Behind you!"