If we succeeded, if I was finally free of the tower, would he still want me?
No. I was overthinking this, as usual. I needed to forget him, forget the kiss, and move on with my life.
But something inside me fervently resisted that notion. I liked spending time with Raj. I liked his smile and his simplicity. I liked his optimism. When I was around him, I felt happiness unlike I’d ever felt before—I felt hope. No one else made me feel that way.
The wind’s incessant howling sounded like a shrill wail. A low thud pounded the wall outside. I tensed. It was most likely the wind battering a loose object.
A nightmarish scream pierced through the air. I bolted upright. Raj also sat up, his eyes wide as he grabbed for his sword.
“What was that?” he asked.
“I don’t know. I think someone’s out there.”
He got to his feet and I did the same. We stood at the window, moved the furs aside, and peeked out. An orange glow appeared from the stable. Other than that, we saw only blackness.
“I’m going out there,” Raj said.
“I’m coming with you.”
I expected him to argue, but he said nothing as I grabbed my knife off the floor. The wolf and elf both slept soundly, and I decided not to disturb them as I followed Raj outside.
As we pulled the door shut behind us, the wind blew so hard it threatened to knock me over. I had to close my eyes against the onslaught of sand. It blasted my skin, rubbing it raw. The ground chilled my bare feet. I cracked my eyes open as best as I could, using my cloak to shield my face. Raj walked away from the hovel and I followed.
We approached the stable. Flames roared from the thatched roof.
My heart stopped.
The horses were inside.
“We have to save the horses,” I yelled over the wind.
“It’s too dangerous,” Raj yelled back.
“But we can’t let them die.”
Despite Raj’s hesitation, I pushed forward through the wind. When I made it inside the stable, heat blasted me. The rafters smoldered, and thick, yellowish smoke choked the air. The horses shrieked from their stables.
As if on impulse, I raced to the gray nag’s stall—the closest one—and tore the gate open. The horse bolted outside, running faster than I thought possible.
Raj’s mare stood in the next stall, and I repeated the process of yanking open the gate. The horse galloped out of the stall and away from the fire.
I turned toward Sable’s stall when someone entered behind me. I turned, thinking it was Raj, shocked to come face to face with the guard I’d faced at the inn.
Cold, glaring eyes met mine as the man stood straight, firelight reflecting off the basilisk carved into his breastplate. He held his claymore between us. I yanked the knife from my boot, its small blade reflected in the firelight.
“How did you find me?” I demanded.
“I tracked you, love. Did you really believe you could escape me? Now I’ve found you, I’ll take you to the high sorcerer. You’ll never leave that tower again—assuming you survive the journey back.” His laugh made a cold chill creep up my spine. “Accidents have been known to happen.”
“You’ll kill me?”
“Aye, if you give me trouble.”
I couldn’t let him take me. I refused to be his prisoner. I refused to let Rapunzel continue to suffer. This ended now. He would never have me.
“You’ll never get the chance.”
“Is that so?”
He took a step toward me. In one swift motion, I flung my dagger at him, turned, and sprinted for the exit, but the ceiling collapsed. Sparks sprayed the air and burned my face. I fell back, my hands smacking the ground.
The guardsman bellowed behind me. I twisted around as he closed the distance between us. Blood streamed from a wound in his shoulder where the handle of my knife peeked from the joint in his armor.
Rage fueled his movements as he barreled toward me. I tried to stand, but he moved too fast, flinging the cowl from my head and grabbing me by my hair. My scalp screamed with pain as he hauled me to my feet.
“You’ll regret that,” he hissed in my ear, his stale breath making me queasy.
I fought back, jamming my elbow into his ribcage so hard, I heard something pop. He screamed, releasing me for just a moment, long enough for me to scramble out of his grasp.
Fire blocked the exit, so I backed into a stall, bumping against the wall. Sable shrieked as her stall filled with flames, burning the hay around her. Tears stung my eyes. I stood against the wall, trapped like Sable.
Embers flitted through the air, giving a strange, glowing sheen to the guardsman’s blade. Lightning fast, he stabbed the blade through my middle. Pain exploded through my entire body. A shuddering scream filled my throat as he pulled the blade out, wet with my blood.
Behind him, Raj appeared. I fell to the ground, unable to think or move, except to clutch my hands over the wound. Warm blood seeped between my fingers, and I inhaled shuddering gasps.
Raj fought the guardsman, but he was too late. I would never survive. My gaze went to Sable. Fire engulfed her stall. I could no longer see her, but her pain-filled shrieks filled the air. Painfully slow, I crawled toward her. Every movement was torture. I had the selfish urge to curl into a ball and pass out, but I couldn’t let Sable die, so I crawled, slowly, gaining one inch, and then another.
Smoke stung my nostrils and burned my eyes. The tears stinging my eyes made everything look blurry. I made it to her stall, but as I reached up for the latch, my wound sent fresh waves of pain through my body.
I cried out, cradling my stomach, trying to think through the pain.
Save Sable. Open the stall.
Fire crackling with hellish fury around us, I ground my teeth, reached for
