Chapter 20 Jace
JACE
Outnumbered and fully fucked.
That’s what we are.
Lines of soldiers pour from the gates until they surround us on all sides. To make matters worse, the Stryga have now joined them.
Zadyn dashes back in his OrCat form, shredding men to bits left and right. But there are four of us and far too many of them.
Years of battles, years of victories. I’ve never lost a fight. But I don’t know that we’ll walk away from this one.
Any minute I expect Kylian to storm out of the castle and decimate us all. It would be nothing for him. He’s powerful in the same way all High Fae kings are. And that’s without the Bloodfast.
I don’t even know where Serena is—if Zadyn got her to Mar safely. The second I think her name, the sky becomes overcast. A heavy wind picks up as a dark mass comes into view.
“Perfect timing,” I mutter to myself.
The majestic dragon swoops down, her wings blocking out the sun and bathing us in shadow. Some of the Vod soldiers stagger back, retreating toward the towering gates.
Fucking cowards.
Furi makes a sharp dive toward the tangle of fighting on the ground, and I catch a flash of movement between the dip in her shoulders. A banner of long dark hair, shivering proudly in the wind.
My heart lodges in my throat.
Serena.
Alive and whole. Sitting atop her giant dragon like the queen that she is—face set in fierce determination, a sparkle in those lilac eyes visible even from here.
She lives for this. It’s what she was made for. She was a warrior long before I taught her how to fight. A warrior by blood.
The lines of soldiers split as a round of blue fire erupts, scorching the ground along with some of the gold-armored guards. Screams of agony rip through the mob.
This is our shot at escape.
“Go!” I shout, racing toward Dover. He’s on the ground, leaning over a frighteningly pale Kai.
“He’s losing a lot of blood,” Dover says, bracing the deep gash in his best friend’s thigh. Blood pulses out around his fingers.
“Fuck. Grab him, and let’s go. Now!”
Staggering from his own exhaustion, Dover hoists Kai over his shoulder and we bolt toward the trees.
But Zadyn is not giving up.
He’s on a rampage, refusing to slow even as the next round of dragon fire erupts in a mesmerizing and gruesome display that leaves men scorched of armor and skin. The smell is foul.
Zadyn, now! I shout into his mind.
It’s futile. He’s so far gone, he can’t hear me.
Serena swoops through the sky again, sending more soldiers skittering back. She gives Furi another second to play with her food, then steers her toward the nearest line of trees. Clawed talons sink into the ground in a concise, graceful landing.
“Get on!” Serena yells.
I sheathe my sword and help Dover load Kai onto Furi’s wing. Then I climb the chain until I can use her spikes to hoist myself up behind Serena.
“Call him before he loses himself completely,” I pant, sliding my arms around her waist and settling into the saddle. I don’t even have time to enjoy the flood of heat that bursts through me from being this close to her—from touching her again.
“Zadyn, come. Now.”
The pure command that laces her voice is both shocking and seductive. And even among a crowd of burning soldiers, I find myself strangely turned on.
Until I see the massive ruby on her finger.
My desire is quickly replaced by white-hot rage.
Zadyn’s lupine form freezes as if hearing her voice over the roar of the crowds. He snaps into a sprint, shifting between strides and swinging himself onto the rusted chain as Furi begins flapping her wings.
We’re twenty feet up when the first round of arrows is launched.
They rain down like a dark meteor shower, whizzing past us from the direction of the palace. When I look back, golden guards line the entire upper perimeter of the castle, bows and arrows in hand. They stand along the highest walls of the keep, on every turret and bridge.
“Stay low!”
Before my words are even out, another round spears toward us. This time Furi’s wing takes a beating as a cluster of arrows lodge inside her dark, leathery flesh. Some even sail clean through it. Her gut-wrenching roar rips through the air. Serena screams as if she’d been hit.
“Are you shot?” I grip her tighter from behind.
She turns back to me, horror sprawled across her face as we plummet a few feet.
“She’s hurt.”
“Blood ore arrows,” Zadyn calls up to us. “We need to land!”
I use the scraps of my magic to throw up a shield, sending the next round of arrows bouncing back the way they came.
“We’re almost to the camp.”
Furi takes out a good amount of trees as we careen into the beach. Water sprays from every direction, rushing up to soak us. We slide down, Zadyn and Dover dragging a limp Kai up the beach toward Mar and Ilayna.
“This is bad! She’s in pain,” Serena cries, studying Furi’s arrow-stricken wing. “Help me get these arrows out. Now.”
Furi’s head rears as Serena coos to her and smooths her scales.
“If I pull them out like this, shards might be left behind.”
Her vicious gaze slams into me. “It’s better than leaving them in and letting them cripple her wing permanently.”
Feeling around for the last of my magic, I lift my hand and wrap invisible tethers around each arrow before pulling them out in one fell swoop. The bloodied sticks drop into the water and drift away on the tide just as I hit the bottom of my reserve.
Furi’s cries start to ease up.
“We can’t stay here long.” I head toward the beach, water sloshing around my boots. “Kylian will track us right here.”
“She can’t fly yet, Jace,” Serena snaps, following after me. “Her wing looks like a slice of Swiss cheese.”
So much for a pleasant reunion.
“Oh, little witch, how I’ve missed your big mouth.”
She shoves me hard, taking me off guard so that I fall into the shallow tide on my ass.
“Do not fuck with me right now.” She glares down at me, rage simmering in those wild lavender eyes, and I feel my cock twitch behind my leathers.
Damn her.
I ignore her seething, stalking forward until I’m hauling her against my bloody, cut-up chest and inhaling the scent that has haunted my dreams ever since she was taken.
Her arms slowly wrap around my waist as I breathe in her hair and then freeze.
“You smell like Kylian.”
She goes absolutely still and extricates herself from my hold, saying nothing as she jogs up the beach.
“Mar!” Her voice is filled with relief as she takes in the sight of her friend hunched over Kai’s body.
Mar glances up, offering her a wry smile. “Nice dress.”
Serena musters up an empty laugh. “How is he?”
“Not good. I put him to sleep so I can work on him. Whatever cut him was laced with some kind of poison. I’m doing all I can.”
Serena sinks into the sand and takes Kai’s hand. He looks like absolute shit. Pale and gaunt, eyes sunken even in sleep. The wound on his leg is a disaster, oozing thick white pus.
I don’t know what horrors he endured on Serena’s behalf, and I’m guessing it was bad, but that doesn’t quell the envy in me at seeing her hands on him.
I’m engaged. To the princess of Aegar, no less. I know I have no right to feel this way, but I am possessive over her in a way that is fully foreign and inexplicable to me.
Every male is a threat. Every male she looks at, talks to, touches, or breathes on—I am constantly fighting the urge to rip their throats out.
Even those who have clearly been to hell and back for her.
She makes me dangerous. The only thing on my mind, day and night, is her. And now even the king knows it. Father figure or not, there will probably be hell to pay when I get back.
But I don’t care. I will gladly pay it.
Dover slumps down at Mar’s side, sprawling out on the sand. “How bad are your injuries?”
“Already patching myself up,” he huffs, resting his eyes.
“I know you.” Serena’s stare cuts toward Ilayna, wrapping the slice on Zadyn’s arm. “Who are you?”
The courtesan freezes, letting her hand fall. “I’m Ilayna,” she murmurs, shrinking from Serena’s intense gaze.
Zadyn glances between them. “She helped get us inside the castle.”
Serena crawls through the sand to sit beside her familiar, his mouth still covered in the blood of the men he ripped apart. She reaches out to clean it away with her hand.
“Are you okay?” she asks quietly.
His eyes are cold and distant. “I’m fine.”
Another swell of envy flares up in me. He’s a good male. The kind that understands the worth of every life he takes, even if he takes them for good reason.
It makes me hate him all the more.
“We need to find a way to get these off.” Serena holds up her shackled wrists. “I need to heal my dragon.”
The silky fabric of her dress is now torn, revealing a ridiculous amount of leg. I can also tell she’s not wearing anything underneath from the way the material flows over her curves and dips low on her chest, leaving her breasts nearly exposed.
I don’t like that. Not at all.
“Blood ore is spelled shut,” I grind out.
“I need to heal my dragon,” she insists, and I swear I see a flash of Prophyria’s blue fire explode through her blown-out pupils.
It’s a little unsettling.
“We’ll figure it out,” Zadyn says. Her eyes snap to him like two sharpened daggers. She blinks, and they slowly soften, her pupils reverting back to normal.
“Jace is right. We shouldn’t linger,” Mar adds. “There’s no hiding a dragon. Kai is stable for now. Let me take a quick look at Furi and see if there’s anything I can do.”
As Mar follows Serena down the beach to her dragon, I take a breath for the first time since entering the castle.
We’re safe. For now.