31 PRISCA
Soldiers marched toward their enemies, weapons in their hands, shields raised.
“Fire!” someone roared, and our archers let loose, the sky filling with black arrows. Some of those arrows belonged to Asinia, and I let myself take a single moment to beg the gods to keep her safe.
The arrows landed. Some of our wards buckled, and where they fell, our people died. But the same was true for Regner’s army.
Demos had ordered any fae, human, or hybrid wielding enough long-distance power to aim for the terrovians first. Our wards would protect us from magic and would guard against fae-iron tipped arrows for some time, but only Regner’s ward offered protection from physical attacks.
The two armies smashed into each other in a clash of steel and power and blood.
Both Demos and Lorian had told me to wait. To use my power sparingly. Strategically. I could have overruled them, but their logic was sound. So I was forced to watch as our people died violently, so close to their homeland.
Behind us, anyone who wasn’t fighting or caring for the wounded was building a large barricade out of wood from the forest. If we had to fall back, it would offer at least a little protection.
We’d sent our messages to Tymriel and the other elders. At some point during this battle, we would have to move the hybrids from the caves to the tunnels. Because it was only a matter of time before Regner learned they were there. And because if we lost this battle, there would be no one standing between the hybrids and the Eprothans.
“The older hybrids and fae talked of war as if it was something teeming with adventure. A saga brimming with heroism and thrill,” a voice said behind me, interrupting my dark thoughts. I turned. Ameri stepped close, her gaze on the battle.
“They have to,” I said. “Or no one who had lived through it would ever step onto a battlefield again.”
She nodded, and when her gaze met mine, her eyes were wet. “Part of me wishes I’d trained like the soldiers. So I could make a difference.”
“You’ve saved more lives during this war than almost anyone else.”
Ameri’s power wasn’t made for the harsh daylight of battle. It was made for dark alleys and the shadowy silence of night. For quiet exchanges cloaked under the cover of darkness, where a single message could kill an enemy or a stealthy rescue could save a life. She might have been destined to be one of the unsung heroes of this war. Except I knew how she’d worked with Vicer in the city, smuggling out hybrids and feeding us information. If we lived through this, I would ensure everyone knew just how much she had contributed.
Her gaze lingered on one man near the front. And there was so much longing in her eyes, I found myself turning my head.
Ah.
The only way for Vicer to have used his power effectively would have been if we could have somehow snuck him into one of Regner’s generals’ tents. Since that was impossible, he fought sword-to-sword in the center lines, Dashiel at his side. I knew every soldier Dashiel felled was for his brother Thayer, who hadn’t had a chance once his power erupted.
But Vicer fought for every hybrid and human. For the lives he couldn’t save, and the ones he might save today.
“You should tell him how you feel.”
“If we live through this, perhaps I will,” Ameri said softly. She turned and walked away.
Arrow after arrow flew from my new crossbow. Next to me, Cryton nocked his own bolts just a hair slower. But what he lacked in speed, he made up for in distance, his muscular upper body giving him incredible power.
We aimed over our own lines, hitting as many of Regner’s soldiers as we could while our more powerful hybrids continued to focus their own power on the terrovians.
Regner hadn’t bothered shielding the humans on his front lines. They were the distraction. The bodies that would tire our own people just in time for his more experienced, powerful soldiers to take their places.
The humans on the front would be Eprotha’s poorest. These were the villagers I’d grown up among. The people who’d lived without their own power for most of their lives. The fathers and sons who’d been conscripted and who’d had no choice but to fight for their king. Some of them wouldn’t even have been able to read the conscription notice they’d been handed.
I choked out a sob, and my hand shook violently as I reached for my next arrow.
“I know,” Cryton said grimly next to me. “I know, Asinia, but it’s them or the children hidden in those caves. Let their faces blur and pretend they’re just targets.”
I tried. But I couldn’t.
Still, I kept shooting until my arm ached, until my new crossbow felt as heavy as stone. And the most cowardly part of me was relieved when the armies clashed and we could no longer shoot from this position without risking our own people.
More of our archers were stationed in the mountains behind us, doing what little they could to slow down Regner’s soldiers. I turned to Cryton. “You need to go join the others.”
“Come with me.”
“You know I can’t.”
His lips thinned. “Then may the gods watch over you.”
I gave him a shaky smile. “I’ll see you when this is over.”
He turned and scrambled off the rock. I picked one final target, a human who was barreling toward one of our hybrids, a snarl on his face.
My bolt took him in the throat.
And then all I could see was the silver armor of our people as they closed ranks. As they marched and killed. In the distance, I caught sight of the occasional black helmet touched with gold, too close to our own people for me to aim.
But I could hear the harsh clash of swords, the thud of arrows meeting wooden shields and flesh, the hair-raising screams.
I could see the flash of magic, punctuated by the guttural cries of agony that followed.
I could smell the fearsweat that hung on the air, mingling with the acrid bite of smoke from the Eprothans’ fires in the distance.
But underlying those scents was the salty tang of the ocean breeze. The sweet, earthy fragrance of the forest at our backs. Occasionally, I could hear the crash of waves against the shore.
It seemed almost ludicrous that death would reign in this endless expanse of sky and sand and sea. Above our heads, gulls circled. Soon, they would be replaced by crows, feasting on corpses.
And in the vibrant, bluegreen sea, the Eprothan ships that Daharak’s fleet couldn’t reach were anchoring in the shallows and sending skiffs of soldiers to paddle toward us, moving those soldiers up to the shore, where they joined Regner’s camp behind their lines.
One of those ships drew close to the place where Rythos’s childhood friend Fenreth had died so long ago when Prisca visited our kingdom. Soon, Regner’s soldiers would attempt to come ashore and enter Lyrinore through that tunnel.
But that tunnel had its own magic, and I had a feeling that it would make those humans very, very sorry.
As I watched, one of Daharak’s ships nimbly slid around one of Regner’s, and the gold-clad ship was engulfed in fire and magic, smoke curling up to darken the cloudless sky.
Just as another of the Eprothan ships drew closer to the shore, lingering for far too long. As if it were taunting us.
And when the ship turned to display its mast, I could see why.
Lorian, Galon, and Marth raged across the battlefield. They were so deadly, I had to force myself to tear my eyes away, to focus on the rest of our army.
“Regner is too safe,” Blynth murmured. “We have to infuriate him and then convince him he has nothing to lose by taunting us. We need a clear shot.”
But we couldn’t take that shot without the amulet Conreth wore around his neck.
Now, Blynth began cursing viciously. Dragging my attention away from the battle, I followed his gaze.
An Eprothan ship was moving closer to shore. But unlike the others farther north of us, it didn’t appear to be docking to add soldiers to Regner’s lines.
No, this ship was tauntingly close for a whole different reason.
Tied to the mast of the ship hung the brutalized body of one of the sea serpents that had guarded our kingdom for so many years.
Just months ago, I’d stood entranced, watching one of these magnificent creatures glide through the water, surfacing only to showcase its huge wings. It had stared back at me with intelligent gold eyes that seemed to see deep into my soul.
My stomach lurched. My heart cracked. My entire body tightened, until all I could hear was the liquid churning in my ears.
Was this the same serpent? Or was it one of its family members? Perhaps a friend?
These majestic water beasts had prevented Regner from invading my kingdom for all these years. And now his people were enjoying their petty revenge.
My rage was endless, as if it might swallow me whole.
But rage required energy. Required hope. And I was gradually becoming drained of such things.
I should have understood what Regner was really doing. By the time we knew his plan, it was too late.
What would happen when Conreth arrived, only to find all of us already dead?
How would Rythos go on without his brothers, if he was even still alive?
And Madinia… Regner and Rothnic would make her death horrifying if they found her after this.
“Your Majesty. Nelayra!”
Blynth again. I slowly turned my head, meeting his eyes.
The general flinched.
But he lifted his hand, pointing.
One of Regner’s soldiers had been planted in the front lines. Only he was safely protected by a ward so thick, it shimmered in the sunlight. Surrounding him was a group of humans who were clearly meant to be little more than fodder.
The soldier wore a stripe of red beneath the gold on his helmet—clearly some designation Regner had created. He raised one gauntleted arm, and when he pointed, our soldiers melted.
Skin and bones liquefied, until where—until a moment ago—living, breathing people had been fighting for their lives, there was now nothing more than puddles of blood and other things, leaking beneath empty silver armor.
Behind me, I heard retching.
But I caught the moment Galon’s head whipped to the right, toward the soldier.
Exactly where Demos was already aiming from the left, his sword carving a path through anyone who dared get in his way.
I’d wanted more than this for my brother. I think he’d wanted more than this for himself. And yet there was no question that a part of him came alive on the battlefield. The most savage, vicious part.
Galon and Demos had never fought together. Oh, they might have sparred once or twice, but nothing that could explain the way Demos instinctively aimed for the humans between the soldier wielding death and Galon— still footspans away.
He took them down in two blows in such quick succession, it seemed almost as if they’d simply tripped and fallen. Just in time for Galon to slam his power into the remaining soldiers protecting their target. The ward glowed, fighting Galon’s magic. But Demos had gotten close enough.
Just as that gauntleted arm came up once more.
I didn’t hesitate. Yanking on my power, I froze time for the barest moment. Just long enough for Demos to slash out with his sword, removing the threat for good.
The soldier’s head rolled free from his body. Galon and Demos both looked my way, wearing identical snarls.
Time resumed.
“You’re fucking welcome,” I muttered.
Behind me, Blynth made a choked noise. It sounded suspiciously like a laugh.
“Your Majesty!” The voice was panicked, and I whirled, sweeping my gaze toward the tents behind me, where a young soldier wiped blood from his face as he approached.
“Who?” I asked, dread pooling in my gut.
“Orivan.”
“Take me to him.”
The hybrid general had been dragged into Tibris’s tent. And yet my brother wasn’t working on him. Our eyes met, and Tibris shook his head.
“What happened?” I demanded.
The soldier had followed me inside the healer’s tent. “He saw Yars go down. The general was friends with Yars’s father. He trained that boy since the day he could hold a sword.” He wiped a hand over his face and only succeeded in smearing more blood across his cheek. “I think maybe the general went a little crazed, Your Majesty. He leaped into the battle as if he were still a young man.”
Tibris gestured him forward. “You need stitches for that cut.”
Their voices faded to a murmur as I stared down at what was left of Orivan. The broadsword had almost cut him in half. He hadn’t had a chance.
Turning, I walked out of the tent. And the slaughter continued.