Capture the Crown (Gargoyle Queen #1) -Jennifer Estep Page 0,154

years old again, watching the turncoat guards slaughter everyone around me.

A miner screamed and crumpled to the ground right in front of me, a sword sticking out of his chest, but in my mind’s eye, it was Uncle Frederich, stabbed through the heart with a dagger. Another miner screamed, felled by Milo’s lightning, but to me, it was Lord Hans, burned alive by magic. More lightning clipped the shoulder of a woman running past me, so close that I could feel the electric sting, which morphed into Xenia being battered with magic as she tried to spirit me to safety.

The sensations and the similarities went on and on and on, until I was all tangled up in my own mind, not sure what was real and what was a nightmarish memory. I drew my knees up to my chest, still rocking back and forth, and back and forth, desperately trying to find some way to steer my tiny internal ship through the massive tidal waves of fear, panic, and pain that just kept slamming into me one after another.

“Gemma!” Reiko yelled, trying to wade through the chaos to get to me. “Gemma!”

A guard rushed up and stabbed Reiko in the side with his sword. She screamed and spun around, raking her talons across his face. He yelped and stumbled back.

Reiko slashed her talons across his throat, killing him, but another guard came up behind her and punched her wounded side. She snarled and staggered forward. Her boots slipped on a piece of the fountain rubble, and her legs flew out from under her. She hit the flagstones hard, her arms and legs splayed out at awkward angles.

Reiko’s pain spiked into my mind, and the hot shock of the wound in her side stole my breath. More tears streamed down my face, but my mind kept spinning and spinning, and I struggled not to vomit as the roiling sea of thoughts and emotions kept cascading over me.

A Mortan guard charged toward me. I watched him come with wide eyes, wondering if he was real or if this was just another awful memory. The man grinned and raised his sword high. Too late, I realized that he was real. I lifted my hand to try to fend him off, although I knew that I wouldn’t be able to manage it—

An arrow-tipped tail slammed into the guard, knocking him away from me. Suddenly, Grimley was there, peering under the cart at me, just like Everleigh Blair had done all those years ago during the massacre.

It’s okay, Gemma, his rough, familiar voice sounded in my mind. Breathe. Just breathe. Your magic doesn’t control you—you control it. Remember?

The gargoyle’s low, rumbling tone cut through some of the overwhelming thoughts and emotions. I sucked in a breath and forced myself to breathe, in and out, just like he said. The steady rhythm helped to clear out some of the screaming cobwebs cloaking my mind.

Grimley smiled, sensing that my paralysis was easing, then leaned down and licked my cheek, his rough tongue scraping across my skin—

A bolt of purple lightning zipped through the air and hit the gargoyle, knocking him away.

“Grims!” I yelled. “Grims!”

He slammed into the base of the fountain, and his pain jolted all the way down my own spine. Grimley snarled and tried to get to his feet, still determined to fight, but his paws slipped, and he was too badly injured to manage it. He looked at me, his dazed eyes meeting mine.

Run, Gemma! Save yourself!

My head snapped back and forth. The guards were still cutting down everyone in sight, while their strixes kept destroying the merchants’ carts. With Reiko and Grimley down, the Mortans had free reign of the plaza, with Milo standing in the center of the destruction, grinning widely as he shot bolt after bolt of lightning out at the panicked people. He wasn’t even trying to kill the miners, merchants, and shoppers. No, he was just toying with them, making them run back and forth and straight into the guards’ swords.

Suddenly, another memory, another voice filled my mind, rising up above all the others—I should have done more. I should have fought harder.

Alvis had said that to himself in the woods when he thought that he and Xenia were going to be killed by the turncoat guards.

His voice vanished, replaced by Xenia’s. Fucking traitors. I’ll kill as many of them as I can . . . Maybe Gemma can live, even if Alvis and I can’t.

The two of them

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