Page 47 of Awakening Storm

But the scepter lay on the bed not far from her.

Since she was still turned away from him, he slinked into the room. He was about as close to the scepter as she was now, and he swallowed hard.

As he stepped toward the bed, she turned with a hiss. “How dare you?” Her entire body was shaking with rage, and she lunged for her scepter.

Aidan crouched, then sprang forward, transforming into his tiger in midair as he leaped. His huge paws hit her square in the chest, knocking her back. He jumped again, this time to the bed, changing back to his human form with seamless ease.

He reached out and swept up the staff without breaking momentum and rolled off the bed, landing on his feet. Even with the scepter in his hand, unease ran rampant through him. Until it was destroyed, there was always the chance she could get ahold of it again. He would have smashed it on the ground if not for his uncertainty about whether he needed it to get out of this blasted universe or not. And he needed to accomplish that first.

As if fleeing a dangerous animal, he backed up quickly. The door was only a few feet away.

Just a little farther.

Theodora rose and spun around, grabbing something from the dresser. A red-stoned ring, he noted, as she slid it on her finger. She touched the stone, and it began to glow. She extended her hand, and the room began to move. Things shifted just as they had when he’d ended up in the dungeon.

He eyed the scepter in his hand. “But . . . but how?”

He heard footsteps coming up behind him and then Rhianna was bursting through the door.

“The ring!” she shouted. “We need to get the ring!”

He glanced back to Theodora. The ring was still glowing—the true source of her power.

Rhianna took two long strides, the second landed her on the bed and then she vaulted off the other side.

“No!” His heart rose in his chest, pushing into his throat. Theodora had already taken her life before. He couldn’t stand to watch it happen again.

The room was moving as if it were a boat on a stormy sea. Rhianna cartwheeled over to Theodora with seeming ease. She had executed the move so fast, Aidan couldn’t believe what he’d seen. She grabbed Theodora’s arm and held it over her head.

Theodora twisted and struggled to touch the ring with her free hand to no avail. “Let go of me,” she snarled.

In a blink of an eye, Rhianna reached up and removed the ring, gliding it from Theodora’s finger and into her closed fist. The room instantly stilled.

“Run!” he yelled, even as pride filled his chest.

Rhianna darted over the bed again and out the door in front of him.

Theodora ranted at their backs, her voice shaking with fury. “The Demon Prince will hunt you down. The ring is mine; Riam is mine. Youcannotleave.” Theodora’s cry of anguish bounced down the hall behind him, powerless.

Clutching the staff in one hand, Aidan ushered Rhianna forward with the other.

“We did it,” she exclaimed.

He couldn’t help but smile at her. “Now we just need to get out of this universe . . .”

* * *

They ran down the staircase. When her feet hit the landing, she halted, looking left and then right. “What happened to Katsu? Have you seen him?”

Aidan shook his head. “No. The last time I saw him was outside your chamber, before we were dumped in the dungeon.”

“Do you remember where that was?” she asked.

He angled his head, thinking. “The other side of the library.”

She nodded resolutely. “Let’s go. I can’t leave without him.”

Aidan’s jaw tensed, and he pulled back his shoulders. “Rhianna, we need to get out of here. We may have the scepter and the ring, but there is no telling if Theodora has other sources of destruction at her disposal.”