Chapter 46 Luka
LUKA
“How did we never think to get you fitted for fighting attire? Armor? Something?” Luka muttered, eyeing Tessa.
“You’re not wearing armor,” she retorted.
“I can shift into a dragon, Tessa,” he returned, unimpressed.
“Theon’s not wearing armor.”
“Theon has been training for years, and his darkness covers him like armor. You are wearing a dress. And you’re barefoot.”
“You are wasting time arguing with me about this,” she tossed back. “I can create weapons from my magic, death feeds my power, and Nylah and Roan will be at my sides. You just worry about not falling out of the sky.”
“For the love of the gods,” he muttered, stalking after her as she threw open the door to the suite and made her way to the foyer where everyone was meeting.
“Reports tell us there are at least a hundred ground warriors and dozens of seraphs,” Theon was saying.
“You’ll need the dragons in the sky,” Eliza cut in. “Dragonfire can kill the seraphs. The ones that make it to the ground need to be burned too.” She paused, looking at Tessa. “You need armor or leathers.”
She sighed heavily. “I assure you, I do not.”
“Anything we need to know about the Legacy on the ground?” Razik asked, reaching over and checking the buckles on Eliza’s armor. She batted his hand away, but he brought it right back.
“Their power is light. They’ll use it to blind you. Some have the same energy that Tessa and Rordan have,” Dagian answered. “The Zinta and Sirana bloodlines are sworn to him as well. Expect priestesses to be with them.”
Razik glanced at Luka as he finished checking Eliza’s armor, then did a double take. “Where did you get that?”
Luka smirked, knowing he was eyeing the sword that was resting on his shoulder. “Found it.”
“You did not,” Tessa scoffed. “Axel took it from Bree.”
“Give that to Theon to use,” Razik ordered.
“No,” Luka growled.
“You won’t be able to use it as a dragon,” Razik retorted. “Tessa is unpredictable, and Theon is skilled. That sword needs to be used.”
“He’s right,” Eliza said, also eyeing the sword.
“Can we go? People are dying,” Tessa interrupted.
“Last question,” Theon said, turning to Dagian. “Is your father likely there?”
Dagian exhaled a long breath. “I honestly don’t know. He might try to exhaust your forces here before attacking somewhere else. He might come straight for the rings and try to entrap Tessa again.”
“Improvise as we go. Got it,” Tessa said, and Luka could feel her already sinking into her power. “I’m going.”
“By Sargon,” Luka muttered, grabbing her arm a second before she Traveled out.
Theon had done the same, apparently grabbing Dagian and Sasha.
Razik and Xan Traveled in separately, Eliza in tow.
Now they all stood in the center of Castle Pines, and Theon muttered a low curse.
He’d mobilized warriors nearby, or Tessa had, but most of their forces were stationed in the larger cities like Rockmoor and Dark Haven.
The only reason to start in Castle Pines would be if Rordan was coming straight for Arius House.
There were bodies in the streets. Some warriors, some civilians. Seraphs were in the air, power raining down from their stolen gifts. Achaz forces were splitting up and storming down side streets, Arius forces rushing to meet them.
“Kill more than me, mai dragocen,” Razik said, flashing Eliza a challenging grin before he leapt, shifting into his dragon form in the air and loosing a battle cry as he soared up. Xan was in the air a moment later, the two dragons already engaging and letting their bloodline sing.
The Fire General spun towards them, drawing her sword from her back. “You two come with me. Tell me about the magic we’re facing,” she said, pointing at Dagian and Sasha.
Dagian glanced at Theon, who nodded in agreement. “She knows what she’s doing. Go with her and stay close.”
They went right, which left Theon and Tessa to go left. Luka hesitated, wanting to be in the sky, but also needing to be with his Ward and wife. On top of all that, he’d never fought in his dragon form. He was far more confident in his abilities with a blade.
Then the howling reached them, Nylah and Roan appearing seconds later from the fray. Which was great for Tessa, but it also announced their presence among the mayhem.
“We’re starving,” Tessa purred, a dark smile filling her face as Achaz forces came running in their direction.
Luka looked up, seeing Razik and his father taking on the seraphs as ashes started to drift in the air like snow. Is this how they felt when in battles with their Wards? Torn and needing to be in two places at once?
“I’ll stay with you two until more forces arrive,” Luka said, tightening his grip on the sword he still held.
Theon glanced at him. “Are you sure?”
“There aren’t enough here,” he said. “We sent extra support to Dark Haven after the massacre.”
“Yeah, all right,” Theon said, drawing his twin short swords from pools of shadows. “But if you need to go help in the sky, you just go.”
“Now?” Tessa asked, her feet already floating off the ground.
“Now, baby girl,” Luka conceded as a few warriors managed to break past Nylah and Roan.
They were met with a wave of crackling light, three of them on their backs within seconds. Arching in agony, that light spread beneath their skin, veins bright and translucent until they stopped moving altogether.
Tessa inhaled sharply through her nose, as if savoring whatever she’d just done. Then she turned to face them, violet eyes bright and the Marks on her skin glowing that soft gold color. Her smile was pure wildness before she set off.
“If anything, I need to stay with the two of you to help rein her in when it’s time,” Luka muttered.
“But for now, we’re just going to let her be who she is,” Theon replied.
They followed her, like they always did. She didn’t race to join the fray, but she seemed to have a certain direction she was going. Luka had no idea what was driving her, but her wolves prowled ahead and she let arrows fly as she moved.
Theon and Luka used their blades, and the first time he swung with that sword, dragonfire encompassed the thing. He didn’t have time to marvel at it as he sank the sword into a warrior, his power turning them into nothing. It was just like Eliza’s sword, only hers magnified her fire magic.
Theon was the death he always was, his darkness fighting as much as he was with weapons. They’d trained like this hundreds, if not thousands, of times, but these last months were the first times it’d been life or death rather than sparring.
It didn’t take long for them to realize the Legacy warriors weren’t going to be the issue. It was going to be the seraphs in the skies, but that didn’t mean there wasn’t just as much work to do down here.
“You need to get up there,” Theon barked, his darkness holding two Achaz warriors in place while Luka cut through both of them with his sword.
“And leave you two vulnerable down here?”
“Does that look fucking vulnerable to you?” Theon snapped.
Luka’s gaze snagged on Tessa where she was letting her arrows fly while her power took.
And she wasn’t just fighting the warriors on the ground.
No, her chaos was reaching into the sky and grabbing seraphs who made the mistake of coming for her.
It dragged them to the ground, and even from here, Luka could see the eerie glee on her face as she stood over them and fed her magic.
She may have let her magic end the seraphs, but with the warriors, she used her arrows or blades, blood spraying and leaving nothing but ashes and destruction in her wake.
A roar of fury rang out, and they all looked up to see a group of seraphs converging on Xan.
“Go!” Theon snarled while Achaz forces tried to take advantage of the momentary distraction. Theon grabbed one by the throat, his darkness seeping into the male’s soul. The other—
Tessa appeared, Traveling to Theon’s side. One of her daggers sank into the male’s side, and as he doubled over, she drove the dagger in her other hand into his neck. Blood splattered on her face, her hair.
A godsdamn goddess of chaos and destruction.
She turned as though she’d heard that thought, her smile wicked and terrifying and fucking beautiful.
“Luka, get in the fucking sky,” Theon snarled. “We are clearly fine.”
Gritting his teeth, he tossed his sword to Theon. He caught it, and the dragonfire around the blade instantly morphed into darkness. Evidently it magnified whatever power the wielder held.
His gaze connected with Theon’s, both of them clearly thinking the same thing.
Do not let Tessa touch that sword, Luka said.
Noted, Theon ground out, shoving the blade into another sentinel.
We could do many things with that sword, Tessa argued, and Luka hated that her voice was other even in his mind.
“I’ve got it handled,” Theon bit out again, shoving the male back with his foot.
Another roar finally had Luka shifting fully, and he was in the sky a moment later. His own roar of rage echoed with his father’s, and then Razik was there with him, the two of them soaring hard and fast for Xan.
Until a burst of power slammed into them, shoving them back. How in the fuck?
Razik’s black diamond-shaped head whipped around, both of them searching for the seraph.
The problem was, they had no way to determine what every single seraph’s power was.
Those who’d stolen elemental powers were easy enough.
Water. Wind. Whatever. But those who’d stolen other gifts—altering reality, power detection, and likely gifts they didn’t know were out there—there was no way to tell what they were.