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He didn’t look like he believed me as he quickly wiped the blood from my nose.
“We need to get inside,” Saion said, breathing heavily. A dakkai had clawed the front of his chest. I saw that Rhahar was with him.
We turned, but there was no path to the palace—to safety. No matter which direction we turned, there were snapping jaws and flat, flared nostrils, heads without features, and bloodied claws.
Dakkais surrounded us.
“Damn it,” seethed Rhahar, dragging the back of his hand over his bleeding cheek. “Godsdamn it.”
“Sounds about right,” Saion remarked, lifting his sword as he glanced over his shoulder at me. “You think you can do that thing again? It’ll draw more, but it may clear enough of a path.”
“I…” I searched for the embers but felt no flare. No wiggle. Nothing. My gaze met Saion’s as my throat started to close off. I couldn’t feel them. I couldn’t—
A draken suddenly crashed into the Rise, cracking it and taking out a large chunk. Shimmery light cascaded over Davon’s body as he fell to the courtyard, shifting into his mortal form.
And then the air turned frigid. Our breaths puffed out in small clouds as tiny bumps rose all over my skin. Rhahar slowly turned to our right.
To where a Primal hovered, shadowy wings spread wide and body encased in wisps of crackling eather.
Mist poured from Ash, out of Ash. Primal mist. It spilled to the ground, full of churning streaks of essence.
The dakkais’ heads swiveled and lifted, lips peeling back as they sniffed the air. Scented. Traced.
Tracked.
“Shit,” Rhain breathed behind me. “Shit.”
Ash’s silvery eyes locked on me for a moment, and I swore I heard his voice like a whisper among my thoughts.
The dakkais took off, one after the other, heading straight for Ash, just as he wanted. For a moment, those silvery eyes locked onto mine, and I swore I felt him—a cool brush of tendrils against my cheek like I had felt the night he’d been in my bedchamber. A shiver of awareness skated over the nape of my neck.
Run, liessa. Run.
I jerked into Rhain as I stared back at Ash. His voice. I’d heard his voice in my thoughts—
A dakkai cut in front of Ash. He caught the creature by the throat, throwing it back as he strode forward. Another raced at him as a silvery glow pulsed over his body.
Real, potent fear pounded through me, even as the mist snuffed out a line of dakkais. Dozens clamored over the fallen. Ash would be swamped. Primal or not, he would go down. What I’d seen left of Ector flashed in my mind.
“No!” I tore free of Rhain and grabbed a sword. “Help him!” I shouted, but Rhahar and Saion were already on it.
I ran, slower than before, slower than I’d ever been, but I pushed on. I’d crawl if needed. I lifted the now-heavy sword—
A fu
“She’s too low!” Rhahar shouted.
A dakkai leapt as she veered, digging its claws into her side. She rolled, shaking the creature off, but another landed on her. And another—
Something blotted out the stars, darkening the ground. My gaze jerked to the Rise. Shadows gathered along the top and spilled over the wall—shadows thick and full of solid forms. Bodies.
“The Cimmerian,” I panted.
They were still here.
Kyn was still here.
The wave of Cimmerian came fast and hard, feeding off the eather until a cloudy night descended upon us.
And then I couldn’t see anything. Not Orphine or Nektas. Not Ash.
I froze, taking shallow, too-short breaths. Breathe in. Someone shouted. The clang of sword against sword echoed strangely in the thick darkness. Hold. The sound of flesh giving way to stone and metal and claws followed. Yells. Screams—
A tidal wave of bodies slammed into me, pushing and forcing me back. I didn’t know if they were our people, the Cimmerian, or the dakkais. I could barely keep a hold of the sword, and then it was knocked from my grasp. Hands pushed into me. Elbows hit my sides, my back. I couldn’t hold my ground. The rise and fall of bodies swept me up, the stench of fear, falling weapons, and darkness—darkness streaked with bursts of eather and gold—swallowed me. Breathe in. I caught glimpses of shimmery gold in the darkness. Gold clothing. Gold hair. I choked.
The wall stopped the flow of bodies without warning.
I hit the cold stone hard. Air punched out of my lungs as pain exploded down my back. My legs went out from under me, and I ended up on the ground—on gravel. I twisted to my side, curling in on myself as the bodies met the wall, too, some falling, some making it out. I tensed as knees co
Our people?
Our people.
I lifted my head, staring into the mass of eather-lit shadows smothering the courtyard. Swords and bodies still clashed as I searched for Ash. Breathe in.
I needed to find him.
Then we needed to find a place that would be safe and secure for long enough that he could take the embers. It had to happen now before more died. Before this became the war he’d hoped to prevent.
The war it already felt it was.
Hold. I rose, pushing off the wall. The embers were still silent in my chest as I shuffled forward, tripping over bodies littering the ground. A dakkai growled nearby. I kept going, catching glimpses of those fighting. Flashes of gold that made my heart race. A roar rumbled in the sky I couldn’t see, and I hoped it was one of our draken as I found a sword.
Ash would find me. I knew he would. He would sense me, just as he had all the other times. As long as the dakkais hadn’t completely swamped him. As long as he was still conscious. We’d find each other.
Silvery flames cut through the darkness, catching those fallen and those not, scattering the thickest of shadows—
Gold.
A flash of golden hair and golden paint only feet from me.
I stumbled back, my stomach lurching as my grip tightened on the sword’s hilt. Shadows reclaimed the space as I veered to my right, closer to what I thought was the palace. Breathe in. I kept going, one hand stretched out. We’d find one another. We would—
I halted.
The tiny hairs all along the nape of my neck rose. Hold. A wave of awareness tiptoed down my spine. My stomach hollowed as I firmed my grip on the sword. Tension settled in my shoulders as I heard Ash shouting my name, drawing closer and closer until the sound of hooves drowned him out. Our armies had arrived, but something…someone else was close. A hunter. I felt it in my bones. And I was the prey. Instinct seized me.
Spi
A hand clamped down on my wrist as a stream of fire overhead broke apart the shadows. The air cleared enough for me to see blondish-brown hair. High cheekbones. A scar across the left cheek.
Attes.
The rush of relief nearly took my legs out from under me. He’d come to our aid, even at the risk of not just angering Kolis but also to take up arms against his brother. Thank the gods he’d stopped what would’ve been a fairly painful blow, even with the shadowstone armor protecting his chest.
“Thank you,” I scratched out.
Tension settled in the corners of his mouth. “You shouldn’t thank me yet.”
I stared up at him as the breath I drew in went…nowhere. Every part of my being rebelled against the instinct suddenly screaming at me.
“Why?” I cried.
His stare was expressionless. “Because this is the only way.”
“No,” I seethed, red-hot anger exploding. “No, it’s not.”
Attes pressed his fingers into my wrist, between the tendons. The flare of sharp pain was intense and shocking, forcing my hand to spasm. The sword fell as horror and fury pounded through me.