Free War of the Princes 03: Monarch by A. R. Ivanovich Page A

it.” He leaned his back against the rail and tossed his hair out of his face. “I knew that if I told you, you'd say the same things I would, if I was in your place.”
    A sigh gusted from my lungs. Ruby would have believed him. Maybe it was time I learn ed from her example. I didn't want to accept the possibility that he was actually right. But what kind of friend would I be if I didn't trust him? “In the nightmare, did you actually see yourself die?”
    He thought about it. “No. I didn't.”
    “ Well, there's that.”
    “ No one could survive that much fire, and I have to be focused to heal, but, it's something to hope for.” I could tell that he was trying to sound like he felt better. “Thanks, Kat.”
    I looked down at the water and saw a huge blue fish with a tall dorsal crest and a pointed nose. It broke from the surface, leaping skyward as though it would glide forever. But gravity won, plunging it back into the depths. It was gone before I could say a word. Was that a poignant metaphor for life? One moment, you're free of the current, soaring through the air, glistening in the light, and the next, you're gone. Poof. Just like that, it’s over. Your story has ended, and you didn't even have time to react.
    No. Not me.
    No matter the odds, I would survive. I'd make sure my friends and family were safe, and happy. Maybe I couldn't wield a sword any better than Ruby, but I was a fighter. I still wasn't sure what I would do about the princes, but I knew that I'd make the right choice for Haven, at any cost.
    “ I'll never let anything hurt you, Kyle,” I said, dropping my hands from my pockets. I didn't care about the discomfort of the cold any longer. “I swear.”
    Despite himself, Kyle managed to pull off his signature lopsided grin. “That's the most ridiculous promise I've ever heard.”
    As if on cue, a blood-curdling scream ripped from the aft of the ship, glass shattered, and a plume of blue fire shot from one of the cargo hold's many side windows.

 
    Chapter 11: All Smoke, No Mirrors
     
     
     
     
     
     
    A second blast of fire jetted from the cargo hold window, licking all the way up to the copper and brass railing of the rear second-floor deck.
    I tore down the curving stairs, lost my footing, skidded over three steps, and leapt, landing on the main deck at a dead run. Kyle was a split second behind me only because I'd partially fallen down the stairs. We reached the wide doors of the aft cargo hold together.
    A thick cloud drifted overhead, impeding the daylight and feeding the shadows that pressed against the only entrance to the hold. The wicked darkness crept outward from the doorway, seeping over the golden ship, outstretching to reach me. I froze in place. Any moment a shadow creature would claw up from oblivion and lash me down into that dark place between places. Or worse.
    Kyle stopped short, right beside me.
    It's the Prince. It's Raserion. I agreed to help him, didn't I? What does he want from me now?
    Kyle and I exchanged glances, each of us wide-eyed with dread.
    “ The fire ,” he said helplessly.
    Sunlight spilled over us in the cloud's wake, chasing the expanding shade away to a hasty retreat. There was nothing unnatural going on here. No monsters. No prince. This was just me, jumping at shadows.
    I growled, frustrated by my paranoia, and charged the doors.
    Shouldering one of them open, I turned back to Kyle. “It's okay, its only Rune.” I wondered if anyone had ever made such a statement before.
    Facing the cargo hold, my lungs seized and I began to cough. A thick cloud of smoke beat against me, rolling out of the entryway. I pulled my scarf around my mouth and nose and took an easier breath. My entire body buzzed with alarm and I waved Kyle to stay back.
    It was dark inside, and dry. I smelled ash and wood and burning hair.
    Closing my eyes, I concentrated, funneling the electricity that lived within me up to my head and out of my skin. A circle of fine electric