Unexpected Ultimatum (Unplanned Princess Book 6) Read online

  “Where?” Zaena demanded.

  Grace gave her the address.

  “That’s close to here. Fortune smiles on us.” Zaena turned and poured more magic into her speed, cruising along as fast she could manage. She might not beat an automobile in a straight race, but she didn’t have to worry about stoplights or turns.

  Desperate minutes passed as she grew closer to the location. A plume of smoke and a bright array of spinning red and blue lights marked her destination.

  When she was a block away, Zaena grasped the Ruby of Tarilan and offered the activation incantation. Her camouflage failed as the armor covered her body.

  She descended until she was all but skimming the road and zoomed past a confused police officer at a barricade. A fleet of firetrucks and firefighters surrounded the building. Teams shot water into the roaring flames that had engulfed it.

  Police did their best to hold back the huge crowd of onlookers. Ash-covered victims sat in the backs of ambulances, many with oxygen masks on their faces. At least one man with severe burns was being loaded on a stretcher.

  Her stomach knotted. For all her magic and power, she didn’t have any real ability to heal other people. The sword on her hip might help with magical focus, but it wouldn’t bring a man back from the dead.

  Zaena tried to figure out how to be of assistance. Her water magic was helpful, but she doubted she could put more water on the building than the firefighters with their high-pressure hoses and direct city supplies. Grace had mentioned more people might be inside, but the intel needed to be verified.

  People in the crowd pointed her way. Police officers and firefighters glanced at her, giving her looks of relief mixed with masks of irritation.

  She was about to land and ask who was in charge when she saw a firefighter charge the building. Two others tackled him to the ground.

  Zaena flew toward them. Why would they do such a thing?

  “It’s too late, man,” shouted one of the firefighters. “He wouldn’t want us to go down with him. He told us to leave him.”

  “He was right behind me, damn it,” replied the pinned firefighter. He was a huge man, almost Karl’s size, but so were the two men holding him. “You’re just going to let him—” His eyes widened when Zaena landed near the group. “Thank God.”

  The two other men let him up. The three, along with other first responders, circled Zaena.

  “It’s the Crimson Wind.” The desperate firefighter pointed to the burning apartment building. “It’s the damned Crimson Wind! She can do it. She can save him.”

  The other firefighter shook his head. “We can’t ask anyone to go into there. It’s a deathtrap.”

  “Don’t you think that’s my decision?” Zaena asked.

  “We’ve got a guy still in there on the second floor,” explained the first firefighter. “Part of the ceiling came down. We got separated, then I fell through to the first floor. He’s got oxygen still, but he’s not going to have much time.”

  “He’s already dead,” insisted the second firefighter. “I don’t care if she is a freaking superhero. We don’t send civilians into burning buildings when we’ve decided they’re too dangerous for us.” He stared at her, his jaw set in grim determination. “Ma’am, I’m going to have to ask you to go behind the barricade until we get this blaze under control.”

  Zaena looked at the building. “The second floor.” She gestured at it. “Please point to the approximate location.”

  “Ma’am,” he barked, “I’m giving you an—”

  The first firefighter flung his arm toward the building. “That’s where he was. Please. You’ve got to save him.”

  The other firefighter stepped in front of Zaena. “You might be the Crimson Wind, and you might be bulletproof and can fly, but that building is no longer structurally sound. The entire thing could come down at any moment.” He narrowed his eyes. “If it comes down on you, you’re dead.”

  “I’ll take that under advisement,” Zaena replied. “I presume any additional damage to the structure risks precipitating a premature collapse?”

  “Aren’t you listening to me?”

  “I am. I’m just not agreeing with you. Right now, we have one choice. You can let me try to save your man’s life, or you can tell the police to fire on me because that’s the only way I’ll stop. I have far more ability in this armor to resist fire than you do. Please allow me to save your comrade.”

  The firefighter stepped aside. “You’re one crazy chick.”

  “Better to be called that than a bitch.” Zaena rose into the air. “I wished I’d watched more firefighting movies.”

  There was far too much human culture to catch up on. She’d focused on crime-related material because of her gangland experiences. Now it might cost her.

  “What was that?” asked the firefighter.

  “Nothing important. It’s time to save your man.”

  Chapter Four

  Zaena raised her hands and poured magic into a thick air shield that was all but invisible while she was in flight. She took a deep breath before forming a secondary air bubble around her head. It wouldn’t last as long as an oxygen tank, but her sojourn inside would be short. The downed firefighter didn’t have long to live.

  The earlier firefighter had been right. For all the power of the Armor of Tarilan, it wasn’t indestructible, and she doubted she would survive a total collapse of the building.

  Zaena flew toward an open window. First responders and civilians alike shouted for her to hurry. She understood their frustration. She was their last chance.

  She refused to give up hope. The man might have perished, but she wouldn’t know until she found him.

  Doubt clawed at her mind, but she ignored it to fly through the open window. She swept her sword in front of her to summon an air gust. Her spell pushed back the heated air and smoke and cleared a path in the long hallway, but the dark, choking cloud flowed back in to fill the space. It would have been easier if the entirety of the building weren’t engulfed in flame.

  Dying in the building would mean the end of her grand mission. Even her father, for all his concerns about honor, might have suggested a single human firefighter’s life wasn’t worth the risk. She couldn’t stand there and let a man die when she had the power to save him.

  Zaena hovered over the floor. Power didn’t mean she could ignore physics. She didn’t want to risk collapsing the already heavily damaged structure.

  Despite her spells, the heat was oppressive. It made her wonder what she would have felt without her armor and protective spells. She took slow, even breaths, doing her best to make her oxygen last. Under normal circumstances, she could use a spell to filter air, but she was dubious she could pull that off in the smoke-filled environment of the building, and she had already layered a complex web of spells.

  “Talk to me, Zaena,” Grace transmitted. “Are you okay in there?”

  “Unsurprisingly, it’s extremely hot,” Zaena replied.

  “Go figure. Sorry I couldn’t find you a fire in Antarctica.”

  “I’m okay thus far, but I’ve yet to spot our wayward first responder.” Zaena jerked her head to the side at a sudden crash. A burning table had collapsed, taking a vase of flowers with it. “Hmm. This is more precarious than I anticipated.”

  “I’ll keep quiet so you can concentrate,” Grace replied.

  Zaena appreciated her consideration.

  Blackened walls marked the path of flames. The angry fire was consuming the back end of the hallway.

  She kept her sword in front of her and continued to funnel magic into it to create a light breeze. The spell was enough to push back the smoke without risking more damage to the building, but it was yet more magic expended on top of her defensive and breathing spells.

  Fighting with the armor and sword could strain her, but using them cut down on the amount of pure magic she had to maintain. This rescue mission was being challenging in unexpected ways. She was used to focusing on short, h
igh-intensity bursts of lethal magic.

  “Can you hear me?” She amplified her voice with a quick spell. The crackle of the fire ate most of the sound. “I’m here to rescue you. Call out to me, so I can save you.”

  A loud crunch sounded behind a wall. The building shook. It wouldn’t be long before the entire structure collapsed. Zaena had no choice but to go door by door, with time as her enemy.

  The two apartments closest to the window were already open. She flew inside the first, sweeping the living room before hitting the bedrooms and bathroom. While the apartment interior wasn’t burning, ash covered much of the living room. The heat from the outside offered her no relief.

  She hit the second apartment. Although the front was clear, the wall of the bedroom had fallen away. Fire burned all around it. People outside the building pointed at her. Cameramen aimed at her, desperate to get the viral action shot of the Crimson Wind.

  Ignoring the audience, Zaena headed back into the hallway. The next door was locked. She glanced at the bottom of the door. There were small puffs of yellow smoke. Opening the door would ensure a disaster.

  A firefighter wouldn’t have gone into a room only to seal it. Given the intensity of the flame, jumping out the window wasn’t a worse plan than staying inside.

  She spun toward the next door, which was cracked open, and floated inside. The living room floor had collapsed, leaving the couch and table in the conflagration that passed for an apartment below. She checked for any sign of the firefighter. Nothing.

  Zaena had to credit the human first responders. They’d pulled everyone out at huge risk to themselves. She needed to find and save the last man. He deserved to be awarded for his bravery.

  She checked the rest of the apartments before a turn brought her to a hallway blocked by a scorched chunk of the roof. The smoke was thicker there. Flames surrounded her. The entire area had been turned into an apocalyptic hellscape.

  Zaena swung her sword. An air blast scattered debris, allowing her further passage. Another chunk of the roof collapsed, forcing her to twist to avoid it.

  Her protection could only do so much. Sweat poured into her eyes. The heat was becoming unbearable. If she didn’t find the firefighter soon, he wouldn’t have a chance, but she refused to accept the possibility of failure.

  Her controlled air gusts kept the smoke from blinding her, but her visibility remained terrible. She could barely see a few yards in front of her.

  Zaena spotted a hint of yellow on the floor. She advanced and pushed more magic into clearing the smoke. A firefighter lay under the blackened remnants of something she assumed used to be part of the ceiling. Most of his body was free, but the rubble pinned his legs.

  She attached her sword to her hip before moving over to the downed man. It was hard to see much with his mask on.

  “Sir, can you move?” she asked. “Can you hear me?”

  He didn’t respond. With his coat on, she couldn’t even be sure if he was breathing.

  Zaena frowned. There wasn’t time to carefully consider different options. With a loud crash, the ceiling caved in behind her and cut her off from the way she had come.

  “That was unfortunate,” she muttered.

  She extended her arms and concentrated, trying to see if she could pull any water from pipes or the air, but there was nothing there. Disappointing, but not a surprise.

  Zaena rushed over to the firefighter and shoved the debris off him with a powerful gust. The mix of tile, wood, and metal flew through the hall before crashing to the floor. The impact caused a portion of the floor to cave in.

  She scooped up the firefighter and draped him over her shoulder, grateful for the strength enhancements that came with the Armor of Tarilan. She doubted she could carry the large man without its help.

  “I’m going to get you out of here,” Zaena explained, blinking sweat out of her eyes. “Just hold on.”

  Roaring flames surrounded her. She gritted her teeth before extending her air shield to cover the firefighter. It was straining her, and it wasn’t strong enough for them to recklessly charge through a burning room.

  With her reduced visibility, she couldn’t tell where the closest window was. That meant the best strategy was to go into an apartment and exit through their window.

  The two closest apartment doors emitted suspicious brown smoke. Rescuing a man only to get him killed in a backdraft or flashover was pointless. She couldn’t be a hundred percent sure of the risk, but what little she understood from the small number of firefighter films she’d watched made her ninety percent sure.

  Zaena continued down the hall. Her lungs and chest were heavy. She needed fresh air.

  An open apartment door offered hope, but the inside was a raging inferno. She needed to travel through an almost solid curtain of flame to get to the kitchen window.

  A sensation made her freeze. She almost missed it in the natural heat of the fires surrounding her, a touch of a different kind of familiar warmth. It was magic, and it was close.

  Zaena narrowed her eyes. Why would there be magic? Had this whole thing been a trap? She wouldn’t forgive any elf who toyed with human lives to get at her.

  She sensed more magic. The fire in the apartment parted. It was as if an unseen hand pushed the flames to either side to clear her path. Her trap thesis vanished.

  Zaena shot forward, covering the firefighter as they crashed through the kitchen window. She flew away from the building, released her shield, and sucked in fresh air before ripping off the victim’s mask. He wasn’t in great shape, but he was breathing. Where there was oxygen, there was life.

  She hovered with the firefighter while looking around the area. Her earlier worry about an attack had blinded her to one obvious explanation for the magic. The obvious control over fire pointed to one strong candidate.

  “I’m clear of the building. I’ll be home soon.”

  Zaena caught sight of a cloaked figure in an alley across the street—Vokasin. He vanished.

  “Thank you,” she whispered.

  “What was that?” Grace asked.

  “Vokasin was here,” Zaena explained.

  She flew around the side of the building and headed toward an ambulance. The crowd burst into cheers when they spotted the firefighter. She landed next to an available stretcher and set the man down.

  A reporter ran past the police barricade, his cameraman close behind.

  “Crimson Wind!” the reporter shouted. “I have some questions for you.”

  Police officers grabbed the reporter and the cameraman. The firefighters formed a human wall to protect Zaena and their wounded comrade from the media assault.

  One of the firefighters from earlier stepped toward her. “It might not be as flashy as taking down gangsters, but you saved that man’s life.” He extended a gloved hand. “I gotta be honest. I never trusted you. I always figured you were a freak vigilante, but thank you from the bottom of my heart.”

  Zaena shook his hand. “You and your comrades risk far more every day.” She stepped away and rose into the air. “Now, I must take my leave. I’m glad to have been of some small assistance.”

  He inclined his head toward the mass of reporters shouting questions. “Don’t want to chat it up? We can let ‘em through.”

  “I’ve done what I came here to do.” Zaena waved and soared into the sky.

  Chapter Five

  A couple of stubborn drones tried to follow her, but Zaena zoomed away. After losing the drones, her retreat ended with her ducking into an alley. All she needed was a moment to hide, remove her armor, and disappear to escape whatever newshound or blogger thought they could trail her back home.

  After that, she flew to the White Ruby Building. Over the past couple of months, she’d had contractors add fenced-off alcoves that made it easy for her to slip back onto the property and reappear without being recorded from outside, but Karl made sure they all had camera coverage so they couldn’t be used against her. All she needed to do was tell him
where she’d arrived, and he’d erase the footage.

  Once inside, she headed toward her apartment. Although she’d dropped her armor and camouflage, she maintained her disguised ears.

  One artifact of having so many contractors working on the building was the risk of the occasional person wandering somewhere they shouldn’t. It’d only happened a couple of times, but that had been enough to convince everyone in Team Princess of the risk, especially with the coming opening of the restaurant.

  Zaena wasn’t surprised to arrive at her apartment and find Vokasin and Grace waiting for her. Vokasin didn’t blend in well because of his cloak, but he’d had enough awareness and respect for her situation to also disguise his ears.

  It wasn’t like she could complain to him. The Crimson Wind was all over the news, but there’d been almost no media reports about Vokasin since the defeat of his insane kinsmen.

  “Need me to stick around?” Grace asked. “Or are we done with patrol for today?”

  “I’ve attracted enough attention,” Zaena suggested. “There’s no need to—what was it? Yes, press my luck.”

  Grace nodded at Vokasin. “I’ll leave you two to elf it up.” She walked a couple of steps before turning back to Zaena. “Are you sure it’s okay for me to take the trip? It won’t be long.”

  Vokasin frowned. “Are you worried about her being attacked during a period of reduced defense?”

  Grace laughed. “I can shoot decently now, but no, I’m just visiting my sick grandmother for a few days before we get drowned in other things like the restaurant opening. I’m still not much use in a fight.” She looked at Zaena. “Team Princess needs more administration redundancy, but it’s not something you can help with. Though it would be funny to see you looking through contracts in your dinosaur form.”

  “I see.” Vokasin scratched his eyelid. “You’re correct. There’s little I can offer to aid you in such matters.”