Chapter Thirty-Eight
Everything moved in slow motion. The shattered glass exploded around them, tumbling in their tiny gravity bubble. They were going too fast, and whatever force had hit them, threw them into a tumble that would kill any human not protected. Danica still wore her harness and helmet, her head protected, her body fastened down. Phi and Arden hadn’t been wearing harnesses. Phi managed to grab onto the seat, keeping him mostly in the same spot despite being slammed against the roll cage. But seconds after they began to roll, Arden lost his hold and began to tumble with the car. Danica began to scream but Phi couldn’t do anything to help, not while they were still moving.
Phi had two seconds of excitement, of a desire to celebrate winning, before they’d been tossed end over end. The car wouldn’t survive, but Phi didn’t care about that. All he cared about were the two people in the car with him, both fighting to help him.
Attempting to cushion the helmet Danica wore from slamming against every item, Phi just barely held himself together. The roll slowed, the car crunching with each turn, until it finally slammed on its side and tipped over, putting them upside down. Phi dropped against the roof in the back, Arden slumping down in the front. There was blood everywhere. After this, they would both need to feed in order to gain their full strength back, but that wasn’t important at the moment. Passed the ringing in his ears, all Phi could think about was Danica where she hung upside down, still strapped into her seat. Her arms were limp, her body not moving. Was she breathing?
“Danica,” Phi grunted, forcing his body up on his hands, shaking the haziness from his mind away. “Danica!”
She grunted, her hand reaching up toward her head, and he breathed a sigh of relief.
Arden shifted and grimaced, but he was already healing, forcing himself to fight against the lethargy he would no doubt have from a loss of so much blood. Despite their healing powers, he would still need time.
Phi shifted forward and began to check Danica over, searching her body. There were cuts on her arms, and a trickle of blood on her cheek where a piece of glass had sliced in while the helmet visor was up, but otherwise, she seemed intact. Her chest rapidly rose and fell, but she was alive. She was safe, even as she hung upside down. The blood would no doubt be rushing to her head.
“We won,” she grunted, her body in pain. She would bruise from the harness, but that harness had saved her life. “And they still attacked us.”
“There’s no surprise as to who most likely orchestrated it,” Phi breathed, and it was that breath that the smell hit him. He sniffed again, his eyes widening. “We need to get out now. Arden, help me.”
Arden pulled himself up and smelled, his own face twisting. “The car’s leaking gas.”
Danica gasped but Phi was already reaching up toward the harness and tugging. “Time to go, speed racer.” He sliced through the rough material with nails sharper than most and only barely caught Danica as she fell. Arden attempted to help but he only ended up cushioning her fall more than helping.
“Get her out, Arden!” Phi hissed, pushing them toward the shattered window. Glass littered the ground but there were worse things than sliced palms. “Now! Get her out!”
Arden grabbed Danica, the urgency giving him a dose of adrenaline as he began to drag her out of the mutilated car. Her feet cleared the window just as Phi dove to push out of the window.
The car erupted in flames, exploding around him. Phi could hear Danica’s scream even with the sound of the explosion around him, the fire burning his skin as he tumbled free. Quickly, he patted the flames along his arms and his hair, quickly putting it out but it did its damage anyways.
Phi scowled as he stepped free of the flames, smoke rising from his shoulders. Danica blinked at him, at the no doubt destruction of his once envious hair. But he didn’t care about his appearance. All he cared about was the audacity of the King.
“Coward!” he shouted into the air, at the screens around them showing him standing. They were no doubt no longer streaming their position. His father wouldn’t want this part witnessed. “You can’t even face me like a man. Instead, you’ve tried to kill me after we won fair and square. The rules are the rules!”
Danica was breathing hard beside Arden, both of them leaning on each other. The silver dagger glittered on Danica’s thigh, and somehow, she’d managed to grab the large wrench from inside the car, but either it was too heavy for her current state, or she realized it would do no good, because she dropped it to the ground littered with glass and metal pieces a second later.
Arden glanced down at his watch, the one that monitored the race system. “They’ve cut the feeds,” he confirmed Phi’s suspicions.
“Of course, he has.” Phi snarled and faced the air. “Coward! Traitor! You’re nothing but a fool playing a King!”
The baiting worked. Attack a man’s pride and he’ll retaliate. Phi wasn’t surprised when the door to a small quaint building opened before him and the King stepped out, every inch the regal asshole he’d always been.
The Fae team rolled to a stop behind them, the crunch of their tires on the glass softer than should be possible, but Phi didn’t turn to look at them. Only Danica did, her eyes searching them out and holding for a second before facing the King again. Her fingers curled around the handle of the knife at her thigh.
Phi tilted up his chin and faced his father. Instincts told him to bow his head, but this man didn’t deserve that respect. This was no longer his father. This was a dictator that needed to fall, and Phi was willing to be the one to bring him down.
“I’m still your father,” the King spoke, his brow raised as a threat. His guards filled in around him, guards who might as well be nothing more than chess pieces.
“You’re no more my father than I am your son,” Phi spat. “We never truly had those ties. Now, I’ve won the race. All three of us crossed the finish line alive. You must hold up your end of the bargain, regardless of if you want the world to see this or not.”
“Ah, you think you know what I must do, do you?” the King said, the corner of his lips curling up. Danica tensed behind him, but Phi didn’t turn. He was too aware of her, and he wouldn’t risk his father turning his attention on the others.
The King eyed his own son with disdain, disgust, as if he couldn’t believe Phi would fight back against his cruel rule.
“We made a deal,” Phi repeated. “We won the position on the council. Arden will be spared. And you’ll hand your crown over to me, the rightful heir.”
The King tilted his head to the side. “But no one will see you attack me, will they?” he said, goading. “No one will see me killing you in self-defense.”
“He’s not attacking you,” Danica spat, stepping forward. The King’s eyes snapped to his speed racer and Phi tensed.
“But who will the Council believe, hm?” The King grinned. “The King of the Northern Sect, or the disgraced prince who can’t argue his innocence?”
Phi tensed.