Chapter Thirty-Four
“Astryd tells me that you are not eating,” Koral gently scolded, stepping into Kaspyn’s temporary prison.
Kaspyn glanced up as her mother stopped before her. “I am eating, Mother. Astryd worries too much.”
Koral took a seat on the bed next to her daughter. “You do not look well. Perhaps you should have the healer check you over.”
“I am fine,” Kaspyn argued, her hand nearly moving to her abdomen. “Maybe if Father would remove the bars and allow me out of this prison, I would do much better.”
Koral’s eyes saddened. “You know he will not do that. You are to stay in here for the remainder of the year. You are fortunate that he did not sentence you to three or more.”
Kaspyn ground her teeth and fought the urge to allow Thrasher into her thoughts. She’d been fighting against his mental invasion since the day he’d awoken from the sleep-induced coma she’d put him in when she’d left. “Leave me.”
Koral laid her palm over her daughter’s. “Come, now.”
“Please leave me, Mother. I wish to be alone.”
Her mother slowly rose to her feet. “I will check in on you later.”
Kaspyn didn’t respond. She simply stared straight ahead, listening to the retreating sound of her mother’s footsteps.
Once the bars clicked shut after Koral’s departure, Kaspyn’s hand immediately moved to cover her unborn child. Thrasher’s child.
Thrasher would have made an amazing father, Kaspyn silently admitted, tears forming in her eyes once more. He would never be allowed to know his son; never have the chance to hold him and teach him the land walker ways as well as the Bracadyte.
A loud commotion sounded from somewhere outside. Kaspyn jumped to her feet, hurrying to the bars to have a look out.
“Move!” she hissed to one of the guards standing outside her prison as she attempted to see down the hall.
The guard stepped to the side, leaning forward as if to gauge what was happening ahead.
Kaspyn strained to see around the bars to no avail. “What is going on out there?”
The guard closest to her shrugged. “I do not—”
“Kaspyn!” Thrasher’s voice rang out through the halls of Arkadia, echoing off the walls of her heart. And then her stomach heaved. Kryten would kill him.
Pulling at the bars as hard as she could, Kaspyn cried, “Get out of here, Thrasher! They will kill you!”
The sounds of fighting suddenly reached her ears and Kaspyn lost her mind.
She reached through the bars, gripped the closest guard to her by the back of his vest, and pressed into his mind.
He stumbled around, pulled the keys from his side, and opened her prison.
Dizziness quickly assailed Kaspyn with the effort it took to control the guard’s movements. She would have never dreamed of disarming the guard before now, but Thrasher was in Arkadia, and he needed her.
Kaspyn threw her prison door open, bolted into the hall, and ran.
The sight before her nearly took her breath.
She skidded to a stop at the edge of the fighting, as Thrasher, Vaulcron, Hauke, Gryke, Braum, Rykaur, Zaureth, Brant, Fiona, and Syrina fought dozens of Arkadian warriors.
“Cease!” Kryten’s voice boomed, as he pushed his way through the throngs of warriors. “What is going on in my halls?”
And then the king’s gaze landed on Thrasher. “You dare to come here?” his voice deadly soft.
“I came for my mate!” Thrasher shot back, motioning for Kaspyn to come to him without taking his eyes from the king.
Kryten flicked his gaze to his daughter, rage mottling his face red. “You stay back.”
“Come here, Kaspyn,” Thrasher repeated, taking a step toward her.
The king nodded to a group of warriors standing on both sides of him. “Kill them all.”
Zyen broke away from the king’s warriors, stepped up in front of Thrasher, and blocked him with his body. “They will have to go through me first.”
Kryten’s eyes narrowed. “Then you can die with them.”
“Me as well.” Pyre crossed over and stood shoulder to shoulder with Zyen.
Syrina stepped up. “And me.”
One by one the Bracadytes from Aukrabah eased up next to the Arkadians now blocking Thrasher’s body from the hundreds of warriors lining the halls.
Thrasher pushed through the wall of bodies. “I didn’t come to Arkadia seeking war. I came for my mate. I respect that she’s your daughter, but she is plenty old enough to decide where she wishes to reside. And she has made her choice, King Kryten. She has chosen me. Kaspyn? Come here.”
Kaspyn lifted her chin and marched forward to stand by her mate’s side. She would fight alongside him to the end.
“Stop her!” Kryten demanded. All hell broke loose.