“Run!” I shouted to Kali, unable to take my eyes off Severn. I heard someone run out of the room and down the hallway, and Severn growled in anger. I pounced, my claws aimed for his throat. He dodged and slashed with his daggers, aiming for my wings. Expecting the attack, I tucked them close to my body and crouched low, swiping his feet from out under him.

“I should have killed you when I had the chance!” I roared, and he flipped up on his feet easily. Damn he was fast.

“Females have made you weak,” Severn snarled back, before a nasty smirk curled on his lips. “Speaking of females, yours is delicious.”

I saw red and threw myself at him. He laughed, jumping and dodging every blow as I lashed out, not quick enough to catch him. If I could just get him—

A bolt of white magick sizzled down his arm and channeled through his blade. I was too distracted by the light, and not quick enough to move out of the way. White fire bit through my skin, and I jerked away as I activated my own blood magicks. My runes danced across my skin, humming to life as they went to attack the white magick clawing through my veins.

“Aren’t you going to scream like the female?”

I reached out with my blood magick, and he ducked as a black fireball flew his way, a deep cut gouging into my chest as the cost. Severn laughed until my dagger connected with his thigh. He fell to the ground, and I readied another fireball.

“I will give you the female back in exchange for the princess.”

I paused, the fire sputtering against my fingers. “You don’t need the princess. You don’t need my queen.”

Severn spit on the ground, blood mixing with saliva. “But you do.”

His smile was deadly. I flared my wings and flashed my fangs, lunging one more time. Severn somersaulted backwards and leapt out the window. I roared in rage.

“Coward!” I screamed even as his figure disappeared into the streets of Aldur. I grabbed my head and squeezed, knowing I needed to calm down and think. The priority wasn’t Severn; it was Kali. I shifted back to the throne room, sliding into my human form to slip easier through the crowd. Princess Kali was on the dais, cradling her mother in her arms. The same dagger Nian had used to kill her husband stuck out from the queen’s own chest, blood pouring down the steps to mix with the king’s. Erias lay at the bottom of the dais, dead. Zara guarded the three of them with feral rage, her long rapier held threateningly at the crowd. Three courtier bodies lay in front of her.

“As I said. We need to leave. Zara will guard her, and so will Spike.” Astrid’s voice came from behind me.

I spun, Astrid nonchalantly batting my claws away from her own. I snarled. “Stop—”

“We need to stay away while the dust clears and quietly reach out after she’s crowned. I suspect our alliance will go through as long as no one kidnaps her. I’m assuming that’s why the Overlord wants her: a princess with sea witch blood.”