Princess of the Midnight Ball - Jessica Day George [79]
The princes’ twelve boats were too far down the shore. The silver boat, when at last he located it, was out in the middle of the lake, drifting aimlessly. In his haste to reach Rose, he had not pulled it far enough up the shore. He cursed his own stupidity, then called out to Rose.
She looked around blindly, and he realized that he still wore the cape. He snatched it over his head and tucked it under one arm as he ran. The other princesses cried out to see him appear so suddenly.
Their pursuers were pounding down the beach, Illiken in the lead. Rose pulled her shawl closer about her shoulders, looking around for another way to cross.
“White like a swan, floating on the water,” Galen said, staring at her shawl and wondering….
Rose looked at him, not understanding. He grabbed a corner of the shawl. “The wool, Rose, a magician gave it to me….”
Before he could finish the thought, Rose had nodded and taken it off. Galen cast it on the water.
Before their eyes, the wool stiffened and stretched until it became a triangular raft large enough to hold them all. Galen sagged for a moment in relief, then he scooped up Pansy and Petunia and jumped onto the white raft, the others following suit. As soon as Hyacinth, the last, boarded, the enchanted craft began to speed across the lake.
“They’re coming!” Poppy pointed behind them to where the princes were launching the golden boats with inhuman speed.
“Do you know how to load a pistol?” Galen looked to Rose, but it was Lily who answered.
“I do,” she said, taking the pistols out of his hands. “A friend taught me.” She loaded the pistols with expert skill while Galen attended to his rifle.
“Hold them ready,” he told Lily. “Can you shoot?”
She nodded, and Galen remembered that it was Lily who had threatened Rionin and the others when they had come into the garden.
They reached the far shore and ran onto the black sand. Instantly the white shawl shrank and then disappeared beneath the water.
“Get the others home,” Galen told Rose. He stood on the shore, his rifle ready. “Wait until you have a good shot,” he instructed Lily, who stood by his side looking pale but calm. “Don’t waste it. There isn’t enough time to reload.”
“I understand,” she said. She steadied the pistol in both hands.
“Now for the rifle,” he said, as the front boat came within range. He aimed for Illiken, but the new king lunged to the side as Galen squeezed the trigger. The sound of the shot rang through the underworld, and another prince who had shared Illiken’s boat cried out and gripped his arm.
Galen shouldered the rifle and raised his pistol. Beside him, Lily took careful aim. Galen looked for Illiken once more, but he was crouched low in his boat now, and Galen could not get a clear shot. Instead he aimed for the second boat and fired. The prince guiding that boat fell back, his boat rocking wildly, and the guard with him cried out as they tipped into the lake.
“Ha!” Lily cried out as she fired, and the prince she had been aiming for clutched his shoulder and fell back into the arms of one of his brothers. “Swine,” she screamed, her face flushed.
Galen looked at her and saw tears on her cheeks. “He was my partner,” she explained.
“Run,” he replied, taking her hand. Illiken’s boat was scraping the sand in the shallows.
They raced for the forest, where they found Rose waiting. “I told you to go,” he huffed as they passed into the silvery shadows of the trees.
“I know,” Rose said, falling in beside him. “But I couldn’t leave you! And how will we stop Illiken? He’s king now, and half human. He can cross into the mortal world in the darkness.”
“Isn’t it dawn yet?” Lily’s flush was fading to pallor again.
“I don’t think so,” Rose panted.
“Not for two more hours at least,” Galen told them.
They could see the others up ahead, just reaching the pearl and silver gate. Behind them came the crunching of booted feet on the path and the sound of shouts, like the baying of hunting hounds. There was crashing in the trees to their left: