Defy (35 page)

down the stairs. “Now where’s he going?” Jude asked.

When Iker reached the bottom of the stairs, passing Mateo

without acknowledging him, the crowd parted. Iker walked swiftly

across the grounds to the ten steps leading to the massive palace

doors. He walked up the stairs until he stood directly in front of

the entryway, cutting off anyone who wished to f lee inside the

palace. He was visible above the crowd, but anyone who wanted to

fight him would now have to cut their way through hundreds of

men and women first and then climb a f light of stairs to reach him.

He would easily be able to use his sorcery to stop anyone who tried

to get to him.

“I’ve got to get closer to him,” I said.

We began to work our way closer to him yet again when I saw

one of the king’s guards drag Jaerom up the steps to stand in front

of Iker. It looked like his eye was swollen shut and his mouth was

bleeding.

“Deron, stop!” I grabbed his arm and we froze, watching in

fear as Iker bent over Jaerom, his face twisted with sudden fury.

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We were too far away to hear what was said, but it was obvious Iker

was asking him something because Jaerom kept shaking his head.

Iker suddenly grabbed his throat, and Jaerom’s eyes widened.

“Jaerom!” Deron cried out, but luckily the noise of the crowd

masked his voice.

“No, Deron!” I yanked him back. “We can’t help him; Iker

will kill all of us!” Deron continued to fight me. Jude had to grab

his other arm as Iker shouted something at Jaerom loud enough

for me to catch the words
where
,
tell
, and
now
. Jaerom’s whole body began to quake violently when he shook his head no again,

refusing to speak. Icy-hot fingers of panic spread through me. I

had a sinking feeling that someone had discovered I was missing

and Iker was torturing Jaerom to find out what had happened.

Iker finally let go of Jaerom, who fell to his hands and knees

on the ground in front of the smaller man. Deron fought wildly

for us to let him go, and it took every ounce of our strength to

hold him back, even though my eyes burned with tears. Jaerom

was protecting me. I was sure of it.

Iker shouted again, his face mottled with rage. Jaerom looked

up at him for a long moment, and I held my breath.

And then he spit in Iker’s face.

Iker grabbed the sword from the guard’s scabbard and Jaerom

didn’t even put up his arm to block the blade as Iker swung it

around toward his neck.

“Jaerom!” Deron’s howl of pain and fury tore my heart to

pieces. He finally stopped fighting us when Jaerom’s body fell

to the ground in front of Iker, rolling down a couple of stairs

before stopping, lifeless. Tears blinded me as my captain dropped

to his knees, his face pale with shock.

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“Deron, you have to get up,” Jude said, tugging on his arm.

“People are looking at us. Iker’s going to notice!”

But before Deron could respond, the whistle from the watch-

tower high above us split the air.

An icy chill of dread ran down my spine.

The Blevonese army was here.

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 forty-one 

A
ll of the conversations around us stopped. A deathly

silence fell over the crowd as the warning whistle was

repeated.

Deron slowly climbed to his feet, still staring at the stairs,

where Jaerom lay. I couldn’t look and, instead, turned to the

wall, where I could see lines of archers at the ready, their bows taut and arrows notched, ready to f ly.

Where was Damian? Would he be at the front, expecting the

gate to open and welcome Antion’s prince back to the palace with

the Blevonese army at his heels? And Rylan? Where would he be?

My heart felt like it might explode in my chest from the panic and

pain pounding through me. I couldn’t let myself think about it. I

had to focus on Iker — that was my job, my duty. Nothing else

mattered if I didn’t find a way to stop him.

When the first volley of arrows was loosed, I turned to see if

Iker still stood on the stairs, but they were empty except for

Jaerom’s body. In the brief moments that I’d spent looking at the

wall, he had disappeared.

“Deron! Where did he go?” I asked, grabbing his arm.

“He went into the palace,” he replied tonelessly, his hands

hanging at his side.

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“They’re here, Deron. The army and Damian are here. I have

to find Iker!”

He looked down at me, his face and eyes empty.

“Captain, please!”

But there was nothing. He was broken.

“Alex, come on. I’ll go with you,” Jude said from my other

side. But before we could move, the ground began to shake and a

roar filled the air. All around us, people screamed and shouted

in fear.

“The sorcerers! It’s the sorcerers!” people began to yell. “Kill

the sorcerers who murdered our queen!”

The sound of a massive explosion rocked the air and I spun

around to see the giant iron and wood gate blown to pieces before

my eyes. All the people who had been standing near it were

knocked to the ground, shards of wood and iron piercing their

bodies.

“They’ve breached the wall!”

“Swords at the ready!”

I could barely see the rows and rows of Blevonese soldiers out-

side the wall before Jude grabbed my arm. “Come on, Alex. We’ve

got to go now before it’s too late!”

I turned and followed him through the crowd toward the

steps as the sounds of fighting broke out across the grounds from

us. Blades hitting blades, screams as people were cut down. As

people died. More booms, more screams. I couldn’t look back. I

had to find Iker.

I had to kill Iker.

And then he was there. Only this time, he wore robes of all

black, and on one hand was a strange glove made of metal, inlaid

288

with jewels. He gripped a sword in his other hand. He stood over

the crowd, surveying the destruction. Instead of fear or sadness,

his face was lit with a terrifying look of
hunger
. Of exultation.

“I’ll approach him first, to distract him,” Jude said from beside

me. “Then you can attack from the other side, and take him by

surprise.”

“Jude, no!” I grabbed his arm before he dashed off. “He’ll

kill you!”

He turned to look at me with the same chocolate brown eyes

as his brother’s, and gently pulled his arm out of my grasp. “I

know. But you said it yourself — you have to stop him. And if you

just go running at him, he’ll kill
you
, and then we’ll all die.”

I wanted to argue with him. I wanted to tell him he couldn’t

do this. But he was right, and I knew it.

“You can do this, Alex. I wouldn’t try to help you if I didn’t

think you could.”

“Alexa,” I said, my voice thick with tears.

“What?”

“My name is Alexa.”

He stared at me for a long moment, and then his eyes filled

with understanding — with sorrow. “I know you can do this,
Alexa
.”

I nodded and swiped at the wetness on my cheeks, under the

mask. Jude reached out to grip my hand for just a second, then let

go. He took a deep, shuddering breath. “You go left, and I’ll go

right. Watch for me to move first. Once he’s distracted, attack.”

I stared at him, at his scarred face and his familiar eyes, and

nodded.

“Tell my brother that I love him,” he said, his voice suddenly

choked. And then he turned and was gone.

289

I stood there frozen, tears running down my face beneath my

mask, until another huge boom sounded from behind me, fol-

lowed by more screams. I glanced over my shoulder and saw a vast

hole in the Antion army. The opening in the wall where the gate

had once been was like a gaping mouth spewing Blevonese soldiers

and sorcerers into our midst. They were hewing the Antion sol-

diers down as if they were ants. I thought I caught a glimpse of

Borracio’s dark head. And Iker just stood there, watching. What

was he waiting for?

Clenching my jaw, I forced myself to turn and push my way

toward the steps to the palace. I had to stop this. I shoved soldiers out of my way, but most of them weren’t paying any attention to

me; they stared at the oncoming army, waiting for it to reach them.

Finally, I was only a few people back from the edge of the

stairs. Iker stood far above me, surveying the massacre. As I

watched, he lifted the hand that was covered in the strange glove,

palm raised toward the sky. He closed his eyes, a look of almost

blissful happiness on his face. I stared in horror as a ball of fire

suddenly materialized above his hand, swelling and growing, until

it was three times the size of his head. His eyes opened again, and

with a horrifying grin of pleasure, he f lung his arm and the ball of fire rushed through the air. I spun around and saw it crash into the

front line of Blevonese soldiers and sorcerers, sending bodies and

dirt f lying as it exploded with a blinding boom of fire and smoke.

Many of our own army turned to stare at Iker in horror, but

he was already summoning the fire again. And then they had no

choice but to keep fighting as more Blevonese soldiers rushed for-

ward with swords raised. I didn’t see Eljin or Rylan or Damian or

anyone I knew.

290

It was now or never.

I turned back to Iker, and noticed Jude creeping up the stairs

toward him while the sorcerer’s eyes were shut, creating his next

fireball. I did the same, staying a few steps lower, crouched near to the ground, my hand slick with sweat on the hilt of my sword.

Iker opened his eyes and threw the fireball at the oncoming

army again, and just as he did, Jude stood and hurtled up the stairs

at him, sword raised.

Iker spun to face him with a look of anger at being inter-

rupted. As soon as his back was to me, I jumped up and ran toward

him as well. I knew Iker wouldn’t spare Jude, but it still took

everything in me not to cry out when he turned his gloved hand at

my friend and shot a stream of fire into Jude. Tears of fury and

anguish burned my eyes as he f lew backward down the steps, land-

ing on the bottom, his body broken and charred.

With a scream of rage, I hit the top of the steps and rushed at

Iker, sword in the air.

291

 forty-two 

I
ker spun to face me, his eyes widening momentarily, and

then a look of grim satisfaction crossed his face. I was sure he

recognized me, even with the mask. He lifted his hand, but I was

ready for it and twisted out of the way. The jet of fire just missed

me. With another scream, I swung my sword with all of my might

at him, but I felt the shield go up right before my sword would

have cut through his abdomen. My arms shook from the impact,

and I had to spin while ducking to the ground to avoid another jet

of fire. It hit the door instead, which burst into f lames behind me.

I had to be better than this — faster than this — or else he was

going to kill me.

“I knew you’d come for me,” he said before lifting his hand

again. I threw myself to the ground, rolling as fast as I could, but

I wasn’t fast enough. The edge of the fire scorched the left side of

my body. Pain exploded across my cheek, neck, and shoulder. The

smell of my own f lesh burning nearly made me throw up. But I

forced myself to jump to my feet, still gripping my sword with my

right hand, and barely dodged yet another stream of fire.

This time, when I swung my sword at him, he was still trying

to hit me with the fire, and didn’t get his shield up as fast. I man-

aged to get a piece of his left arm with my blade before the power

292

of his shield knocked me to the ground. My head hit the stone,

and I lay there dazed for a moment, knowing I was going to burn.

But when my vision cleared, I saw Iker gripping his left fore-

arm, his hand hanging useless at his side, blood rushing from his

wrist. He howled, an almost inhuman sound. Grabbing his sword,

he lunged at me.

I scrambled back and collided with the wall. Just before Iker

ran me through with his blade, I threw my body’s weight to the

side, rolling across the ground and coming up into a crouch, ignor-

ing the excruciating pain radiating down the left side of my body.

He turned to face me, fury mottling his features.

“You think to stop me? You think you can defeat
me
? You have

no idea the power I wield, little girl.”

There wasn’t even time for me to be shocked that he knew my

secret, because he was stretching his arms out to both sides, his left hand bent at a funny angle and blood dripping to the stones below.

That same horrible scent from his chamber all those weeks ago

filled the air. He closed his eyes again, but this time, a cloud of

darkness began to form in front of him, rising from his blood on

the ground, crackling with power. I could see it, f lashing like

lightning within the depths of whatever black magic he was creat-

ing through the offering of his own blood.

I glanced around frantically, looking for cover. The door