“I will never tell you how to reach Nyx,” Lu announced in a low, firm voice.
Safa turned her gaze over to Kamal, dark eyes alight with rage and determination. “Do you know how to reach the godstone?”
Kamal placed his free hand against the wall and pushed upright again, wincing and favoring his injured knee. His wide eyes darted to Safa and he hesitated. He didn’t know.
He didn’t know where the entrance to the godstone cave was.
That was keeping Lu alive for now.
Caelan was just struggling to figure out how to protect Lu from both Safa and Kamal. Where were the guards for the High Luminance?
The room was suddenly filled with a pained scream from Safa. Kamal jerked, his full attention moving to the woman in the doorway. Caelan thrust his sword into the man’s chest past his guard. He pulled it free as he staggered back and sliced the blade across his throat, finishing the bastard off.
Free of one threat, Caelan whipped around in time to see Safa throw Lu across the room. They crashed into the tapestry frame, bringing the half-finished tapestry down on top of them. Safa snarled as she pulled the long silver needle from her stomach. She threw the bloody thing aside and took a step in Lu’s direction.
“Stop!” Caelan shouted, raising his sword toward Safa.
The woman turned her menacing glare on him. Her dark eyes turned bright red, and the air grew thick with the scent of blood. The goddess’s powers pricked along Caelan’s flesh like the drag of a thousand nettles. His fingers tightened on the hilt of his sword and he wrapped himself in the power of Tula. Okay, maybe he’d happily wipe away Safa’s mind and leave her a drooling lump on Lu’s floor.
With a mental thrust he pushed Tula’s gift at Safa, and pain radiated through his brain. It had been like hitting a stone wall. Nothing reached the woman.
Kaes cackled in his mind. You didn’t think it was going to be that easy, did you?
Actually, yes he did.
She’s bonded with Zyros. You can’t touch her with only my gift. You’re evenly matched, Tula murmured.
Caelan would have sighed at the gods if his head didn’t hurt so much. It made sense considering they were sending him to the various godstones. If it was so easy to defeat Safa and Zyros with one god, he would have simply stopped with Kaes and gone straight to New Rosanthe.
Safa growled and rubbed her own temple with the heel of her palm. He almost laughed. She’d likely made the same discovery the hard way. “Guess I’ll just have to do this the fun way.”
“Cael! Cael!” Drayce’s voice echoed through the long hallway accompanied by Eno’s. Oh, thank the gods, his friends were here to support him.
Safa hesitated, her eyes jumping to the doorway and to Caelan. Outnumbered and soon to be cornered, she had few options. With a frustrated grunt, she ran out of the room and down the hall, moving in the opposite direction of the sound of his approaching companions.
As soon as she was out of sight, Caelan leaped over fluffy cushions and shoved the table aside to reach Lu. They hadn’t moved from where they landed or made a sound. He placed his sword aside but kept it within easy reach in case someone else stopped by to cause trouble.
With care, he pulled aside the tapestry and heavy wooden frame to find the small figure with a new bloody cut on their bald head and wide white eyes staring out. They flinched as the tapestry lifted but didn’t make a noise.
“It’s me. You’re safe,” Caelan murmured. “Safa is gone. Kamal is dead.”
“Thank you,” Lu whispered, closing their eyes.
“Are you hurt?”
“My—” Lu’s response was cut off by the thunder of footsteps as Drayce, Eno, and Rayne charged into the room. Caelan flashed his companions a weary smile, trying not to give in to the swell of panic at the sight of their dirty, blood-streaked faces. If they’d been caught exploring the city when the attack started, they would have had to fight their way to Caelan.
“Eno, help me with Lu,” Caelan said.
“Caelan?” Lu’s voice was filled with anxious fear.
“It’s okay. These are my friends. They’re just here to help. And you can call me Cael.”
“I think my arm’s broken, Cael,” Lu admitted.
“I can fix that up.” Caelan moved back a little as Eno kneeled in front of Lu. With infinite gentleness, Eno cradled Lu’s slight form in his arms and lifted them free of the tangled tapestry. He carried them over to a pile of pillows that were largely undisturbed by the fight and laid them down again.
“As much as I’m going to regret this question,” Rayne drawled while Caelan kneeled on Lu’s right side. They were holding that arm and biting their lower lip, trying to keep from making any sounds of pain.