A Soul Like Glass (Kingdom of Betrayal #4)

Chapter 47

Chapter 47

W hen I emerge from the bathroom, I find Erik already dressed.

He’s quiet as he hands me my clothing and helps me pull on my weapon harness again, placing my hammer into it.

He pulls on his own harness and slides his sword into the scabbard at his back before he bends to the discarded coat on the floor, retrieving from its pocket the dark device that was once in his heart.

I didn’t ask him for it, but he holds it out to me.

I will tell him everything on the way, but for now, the hollow look in his eyes tells me he guesses what I have to do.

It takes me a mere second to pull a thread from my shirt and transform it into a pouch to hold the device. He drops the device inside it. Then I tie the pouch to my harness.

“I need to go to Thaden’s village for the rest of Malak’s tools, as well as Thaden’s tools,” I say, my voice rasping in the silence between us. “I can’t leave any dark metal behind. All of it must come with me.”

And now for the harder part. “But the village is much closer to the darkness than you need to go to reach Queen Karasi. Traveling there is extremely dangerous?—”

“I don’t fucking care,” Erik growls, pulling me close again. “I will come with you to the edge, Asha.”

Erik promised he would present himself to Queen Karasi today in the guise of being Rachel’s champion. He hasn’t told me exactly what he plans to do yet, although his ultimate goal is to end the Fae Queen.

He will need to travel toward the darkness either way. Even though I’m determined he won’t get near it, I whisper, “Okay. Let’s go to the edge. Together.”

Within minutes, we’ve descended the steps, which, astonishingly, let out onto one of the perches Mother Solas mentioned, as if the tower knows where I want to go.

Concord and Blackbird are huddled together against the ocean wind, their feathers ruffling in the breeze, their necks curved against each other.

For a moment, I don’t want to disturb them, but they both look up a moment after we appear in the arched doorway.

I want to take Blackbird, but Concord will be well-known to the fae. At a glance, the fae won’t question her presence in the sky. It’s possible we could even fly right through fae territory unhindered as long as nobody gets too close to us.

Even so, I go to Blackbird first. “I need you to stay here and watch over the people in this tower. Look after them. I promise we will look after Concord. We won’t let anything happen to her.”

Blackbird gives me an unhappy growl, and I understand his reluctance, but Concord is already extending her wing to me.

Despite her apparent willingness to carry us, Erik approaches her slowly. “We’re flying toward the darkness. Are you sure you’re prepared to take us there?”

Concord tosses her head in the affirmative, and moments later, we’re in the air.

We travel straight ahead.

The air is clear, and it’s the quickest path, but once we reach the edge of human territory, it will become more dangerous.

The sun is rising over the horizon by the time we reach fae territory. I would have preferred traveling in darkness, but there’s nothing we can do about it now.

The fae castle is a speck in the distance, where it sits on the side of a mountain.

A flash of light draws my focus to the airspace beside it.

I lean closer to Erik. “Did you see that?”

“I saw it.”

Another flash flickers across the air. Then another. The faint sound of thunder reaches me. And then we’re close enough that I can make out more specks, a mass of them flying above the plain.

“Monsters?” I ask, my eyes wide. But I discount that possibility immediately. The sky isn’t blood red across the plain. There are no churning clouds. The air isn’t filled with the copper scent that accompanies the darkness.

And yet there’s a hum of shouts and thunder and clashing steel while flashes of lightning and fire split the air.

In the next moment, we’re close enough to see.

I gasp. “They’re all thunderbirds.”

“They’re fighting each other.” Erik’s shoulders are tense. “The fae are fighting each other.”

I look to the ground, where the rows of tents used to be. They’re gone. The plain is bare.

Oh, no.

My heart is sinking.

“Erik, what if Karasi’s people turned on her? What if they wanted to follow Elowynn?”

I point to the ground. “She didn’t move her troops back. Those tents were full of families. Not warriors. She’s forced them toward the darkness so she can use them as leverage. Any fae warrior with a family at risk would do whatever she says.”

“Against those who no longer have any family to lose,” Erik snarls, his growl an angry rumble through his body.

We’ll reach their battle within minutes.

Concord gives a soft squawk, and I suspect she wants to know what to do. She’s Elowynn’s bird, and it must be taking all of her restraint not to try to find her rider right now.

To Concord, I say, “Take us across the mountain ridge above the forest. We need to pass north of the castle to avoid the main battle.”

But to Erik I murmur, “You have to stop the fight. The fae don’t need to fear the darkness. I will deal with it. Their families will be safe. They don’t have to kill each other.”

His body is tense, his jaw clenched. He hasn’t yet agreed, and I understand why.

It means leaving me.

It means that the final moment he has with me will be right here, right now, and it can’t be enough.

We’re hurtling toward a goodbye that neither one of us wants, and it’s too soon.

Up ahead, on the western side of the castle, a fight becomes visible on the ground.

My heart stops when I make out a flash of copper metal and a male figure whose silver hair is identifiable even from this distance.

“That’s Gallium.”

“I see him,” Erik says. “Gliss and Elowynn are with him. But they’re surrounded.”

I close my eyes for a moment, breathing out my pain.

Then I raise my voice to Concord again. “Concord! Swoop toward that tree.”

Erik glances back at me. “Asha?”

“You’ll see.”

Concord dips toward the nearest tree, which is still at least two hundred paces from Gallium’s position.

I reach out, stretching as far as I can, plucking a single leaf from its branches before she lifts higher again.

I close my fist around the leaf and send a quick command to it.

A bow and quiver of arrows form in my hand, and I nearly lose hold of them before Erik twists to grab them.

“You won’t run out of arrows,” I say. “The quiver will refill itself.”

“I won’t shoot to kill,” he says. “They’re fighting for their families. They don’t deserve death for that.”

I press my lips to his cheek, inhaling his scent, needing time that we don’t have.

“Go, Erik. Fight this war. And all the wars that come after it. I will be with you. Always.”

He turns to press a kiss to my lips.

It’s angry and hurt and full of love.

Then he throws himself off Concord’s back and into the air, landing safely on the ground before he breaks into a sprint, racing toward my brother.

I try to keep them both in my sights, desperate to know that they’ll be okay.

But then Concord shrieks.

My focus snaps forward just as fire explodes around us.