and draw them. I storm over and leap over the small front gate before racing up to the front door. I don't bother knocking as I don't need my arrival announced. If the worst I do is scare a family, I'll live with the guilt.
The door is locked, and I glance over to the guard with short reddish hair. He approaches and kicks it open, sending splinters of wood in every direction.
We lunge into a dark long hallway that spans the length of the house. I sweep my gaze left and right, each room empty with bare furniture. Two bedrooms which look used but nothing else. There's no sign of a family ever living here, but more like squatters. Is this where Warrick lives? It never occurred to me he might not have a family, but I've never paid attention to most of the servants. They did their job, got their gold coins each week. But maybe that's part of my mistake in not knowing who my father had invited to work in our palace.
The kitchen is the last room at the end of the hall, and we burst inside where a cold breeze rushes inside from the open door to the backyard. The chill crawls up the back of my neck like spiders, bringing with it an electric spark of magic. Suddenly the floor trembles and dust falls from the ceiling.
I stumble on my feet, my heart thumping faster as I can't remember the last time we experienced an earthquake.
“What is that?” The guard with me murmurs, stepping closer to the open doorway, and I follow him, while staring out the window but seeing little due to the tree right outside.
I’m on his heels and we both emerge from the house into a small enclosed yard with trees along the fence, providing a secluded area. My gaze flicks to a large man. No, not a man, but a fucking hobgoblin. He’s leaping into a circle drawn on the lawn by bright energy like lightning bolts. Warrick stands near, his arms stretching forward and that same energy pouring from his hands into the circle, snapping and crackling like fire.
He’s a goddamn cursed!
The hobgoblin turns to look at me over his shoulder just as the air around him shimmers. He hisses, lips peeled back.
Thunder roars through me as I lunge forward, energy bursting from my hands. Sharp vines dart across the yard like striking vipers.
But he's gone in a flash before our eyes, and my attack passes through the airright where he stood moments earlier. I scan the yard, searching for him, unsure what I just saw. But when my attention returns to Warrick scrambling over the fence to escape, I roar and throw my power after him, corded vines spearing through the air but they thump into the fence, and drop to the ground lifeless. I shake my hands and the vines snap free from my palms.
Warrick slips over the top of the fence and falls, but I've had enough. I slap my hands to the huge oak tree with long, lanky branches. The limbs begin swinging wildly like serpents and I pour my thoughts into the sentient plant.
I feel the tree's movement as if it were my own body shifting, lashing out toward Warrick who clambers to his feet.
Flexible branches whip around his body, strapping him and hurling him back over the fence and into his yard again, dumping him to the ground at my feet.
He yells, kicking his legs, ripping against the vines I force to wind around his hands so there’s no chance for him to use his power. He's not going anywhere, and I keep my hand on the tree to control it, my power racing through me like a storm.
My soldier stands above Warrick, his hand clenching the hilt of the sword pointed to his throat, quieting the man who finally takes stock of who's standing before him.
"P-prince, E-eryk," he chokes on the words.
"You fucking asshole!" I suck in a ragged breath. I had been right about us dealing with a cursed, and this transportation trick is how they got into the kingdom and over my barriers.
I release the tree, fuming and needing to shove my fist into his face. Leaning over, I grab him by the neck and wrench him by his throat, then slam him back into a tree. Fury bleeds through me, and I choke him, shoving my face in his.
His eyes bulge out and he punches me, but I don't feel