Page 202 of Shadow Queen
Alexander had no intention of sitting down. His eyes dropped again to his sword.
“Sit down, Alexander,” James said, stepping into the doorway.
He whirled around.Even James?“Where is Norah?” he asked again, more desperate now.
James stepped closer to him, with his eyes full of sorrow. “We had no choice.”
Alexander shook with a fury seeping into his heart at the man he trusted most in the world—the man who’d guided him his whole life, mentored him, believed in him. He lunged toward his sword, but his body failed him, and he dropped to his knees.
James caught him, softening his fall.
“We had no choice,” came the words again, as the darkness closed around him.
Norah stared at the mercenaries looking back at her with intentions of death in their eyes. But Cusco and Cavaatsa growled and leapt forward, each downing a man, and she darted out of her chamber.
The sound of steel rang through the air. Suddenly, Soren crashed into the hall with a half-dozen mercenaries around him. “Salara!” he roared as he fought them back.
Norah desperately searched for a weapon, but there was nothing close around her.
Soren cut down another man, then he grabbed her and barreled down the hall to the side door as the dogs took down another two mercenaries. “We need to get out of here!” he snarled.
“No! Vitalia’s back there! She’s been poisoned!”
“You can’t help her now.”
“I’m not leaving her!” she screamed as she fought him. He pulled her closer for a better hold. She caught his chin with her elbow, briefly stopping their flight, but he grabbed her as she tried to jerk away.
“Let me go!” she cried.
Soren pulled her back to him and clutched her close under his arm, covering her mouth and stifling her screams with his hand. He pulled her into a connecting hall and down a stair. The dogs followed.
From behind, she heard the wisp of an arrow. A dog yelped. Then only Cavaatsa was beside them.
She managed to pull Soren’s hand free. “Cusco!” she screamed.
But the dog didn’t come. And Soren didn’t stop.
More footsteps came behind them. Soren called out in the Shadow tongue, and Cavaatsa turned back to slow their pursuers.
Soren dragged her down another hall and to a small side room, where they nearly collided with Caspian.
“Caspian!” she cried. “You have to save Vitalia!”
Caspian stepped forward and gripped her in Soren’s hold. “Norah, listen to me. The council—they’re trying to kill you.”
“I can’t leave her!”
“She’s gone,” Soren said firmly.
But she shook her head. She couldn’t accept that.
Caspian clutched her firmly, looking into her eyes. “Norah, we have to get you out of here.”
A sob escaped her throat.
Caspian rapidly led them down another stair and through the tunnels under the city. They came up through a row building, out the back, and to a small side street on the mainland, where they found a public stable. Caspian quickly set to saddling a horse.
Soren shoved her up and then mounted behind her.
