32. Thalia
THALIA
T he wind couldn’t carry me fast enough, and with each beat of my wings, my heart plummeted further.
Guilt twisted my gut, churning into a pool of disgust. I’d been desperate to feel my paws against the ground in my wolf form, to seek out any hint of Micah’s scent, but my gyrfalcon form was quicker.
Why had I gone in search of Barrett? I should have looked for Micah before anything.
“Stupid,” I muttered under my breath. “So fucking stupid.”
The beast nuzzled against the edges of my consciousness, as if to ease my guilt. He is all right. The steel-eyed warrior was in danger.
But how could it have known that?
My heart shuttered as my mind revisited the sight of him, relived the terror I felt when I found him buried under the bodies of those who hadn’t survived the blast of energy the darkling queen had summoned—the dagger lodged in his gut, his blood pooled on the ground beneath him.
The light had nearly faded from his steel eyes when I pulled him free, and something deep within me knew he had given up.
He had been prepared to fade...to die. To leave us.
To leave me.
Rhyas’ bloodied face flashed in my mind, the feel of his blood on my hands and his struggles as he tried to breathe in his final moments still too fresh, even after so many decades.
Kish’s smile followed, her sacrifice to buy our freedom a cost I never wanted to pay again. I couldn’t bear to lose anyone else.
Tears pricked my eyes, and I tightened my grip until my talons bit into my skin, pulling me back to what was important—my bonded.
I searched the city, looking across the expanse of countless buildings as they fell prey to devouring flames.
Screams cut through the air as humans and civilians fought for their lives, and it was all I could do to listen for any sign of Micah and his warriors.
Faintly, amidst the firelight below, a mass of beings moved through the city like a wave of darkness—emaciated, broken bodies crawling over each other in a desperate attempt to flee.
Were they retreating because the darkling queen had fallen? They had us outmatched, were close to bringing us down entirely. It made no sense for them to retreat when they could have continued the fight and destroyed us once and for all.
It was difficult to pick out anything over the screams and shrieks of victims and darklings below.
I dove, tucking my wings in tightly until I was close enough to see every bit of destruction left in the darklings’ wake.
Bodies littered the streets, many broken and shredded beyond recognition in the aftermath of the darklings’ feedings.
The flames painted the sky a crimson red for miles before me, smoke reaching for the sky, embers fluttering around my feathers.
Gods, how would we recover from this? How would we rebuild?
It was Moonhaven all over, the destruction beyond belief.
I barely remembered it, but pieces of it were still engraved in my mind, tiny flickers of horror—the smoke and embers burning my lungs, the crumbling buildings, the darklings tearing their victims to shreds.
The death. I couldn’t even remember the faces of my parents or how I’d lost them, yet I still remembered the feeling of terror.
I shook the fear away and searched, feeling the bond tattoo on my breast pulse in response to his stress. He was hurt... Micah.
The beast tried to soothe me. It isn’t serious.
“How would you know? How would you know anything?” I bit out, descending further until I was weaving in and out of buildings, dodging the rush of heat expelled from the burning structures. “You led me away from him, sent me searching for someone else when I should have been at his side.”
It didn’t respond, and it irritated me to know I’d trusted in its instinct, let it guide me to Barrett instead of my bonded who needed me.
The creature was right, though. Barrett had also needed me.
Lucia and Damien wouldn’t have found him in time if I hadn’t been there.
I shook the thought away as my mind pooled with the image of his steel eyes void of life.
The fires were spreading out of control, crawling across the ground to the neighboring houses with ravenous, insatiable energy, leaving the survivors screaming as they watched in horror or found themselves trapped inside.
I couldn’t stop to help them no matter how badly I wanted to, couldn’t slow my search.
Not until I found him, until I knew he was all right.
“Micah!” I called out, rounding a corner, and relief flooded me as I found him pulling survivors from the wreckage.
I dropped out of the air, allowing the feathers to recede, the talons to retract as my boots slammed into the ash-covered ground.
Hot air burned my lungs as I ran for him, my heart racing.
Hope lit his face, his arms reaching out to catch me as I crashed into him.
“Thank the gods,” he breathed as he held me, his hand grasping the back of my head to pull me closer as he pressed his nose into my hair and drew deep breaths.
I pulled away, my hands shooting to his face as I searched him for any injuries. “Are you hurt?”
“Nothing serious,” he assured me with a smile, and I grimaced at the cut lining his jaw. “What happened? I thought we were done for, and then the darklings suddenly fled.”
“Lucia brought the queen down,” I said, feeling hopeful for the first time since we’d charged into the swarm of creatures so many hours ago. “We won.”
“We won?” he asked, eyes widening in disbelief.
I nodded, my chest swelling at the relief in his expression as he pressed his lips to my forehead. “We won.”
“Micah!” a voice called from the distance.
Micah and I parted as one of his men ran for us, and I shook off the momentary celebration. We had won, but our work wasn’t finished.
“We’ve managed to douse some of the fires, but the stone bridge is out of control, and its continuing to spread!” the warrior shouted. “We’re evacuating everyone we can.”
Micah glanced past him briefly. “Good. Do your best with the humans. Gather any Nous users you have to subdue them.”
Thalia.
I sucked in a sharp breath at the sound of Lucia’s voice in my thoughts, and I reached back out to her, unsure if she was still tapped into my thoughts. You should be resting.
I need you and Micah to withdraw with what warriors are still standing as well as any members of The Underworld still willing to help .
Why would she be calling us away from the city? There were too many humans scattered, and gods knew what remained of the immortal civilians.
I glanced sidelong at some of the approaching immortals, knowing them not as warriors but as the criminals who had agreed to a temporary ceasefire to help us through Barrett’s connections. They couldn’t be trusted, but we didn’t have a choice. The city would have fallen if not for their aid.
“We managed to evacuate many of the civilians south—” Micah halted when he caught my gaze. “Everything all right?” he asked, and I blinked, unease settling in my gut at the sheer exhaustion in Lucia’s voice.
I turned to him. “We need to get to Lucia and Damien.”
Lucia and Damien were overseeing the search for survivors among the bodies strewn out across the killing field by the time we made it to them. A part of me crumbled at the sight of how few warriors searched the carnage for survivors.
How many had we lost?
“I’m relieved to know you’re all right, Micah,” Lucia said without looking, as if she didn’t need to know we approached.
Micah looked over the battlefield. “How bad is it?”
“We won’t know just how many we’ve lost until we’ve finished searching,” Damien said, his eyes lowered on a bloodied dagger in his hands, and he shifted on his feet as he turned to us. “House Latros is gone.”
“Gods,” I muttered. The healers? Every single one?
Barrett wrapped Micah in a hug. I directed my attention away from them, guilt twisting my chest at how desperately I had searched for Barrett before I’d gone looking for my bonded.
If you hadn’t, he would’ve been lost to us.
I ignored the beast’s words, anger curdling in my gut at the creature and its foolish ‘instincts.’
“Is this all that remains?” Lucia asked as she scanned the warriors at Micah’s back.
He nodded. “It was a massacre. Hundreds of darklings flooded the city.”
A member of The Underworld stepped forward, a scar etched diagonally across his face, splitting through his short brown hair.
The way he carried himself, he appeared to be in charge.
I watched him cautiously as he approached.
“I expect you to keep up your end of the bargain. Lost a lot of my men defending those fucking humans. ”
The beast bristled within me at the way he spoke to Lucia and Damien.
Damien lifted his cold gaze to the male. “I didn’t forget our agreement, Atlas.”
He growled but turned, his gaze briefly meeting Barrett’s, and they nodded to one another as he returned to his own fighters.
“How are we going to cover this up?” I asked no one in particular as I looked over what remained of the city. “The humans...”
“I will alter their memories,” Lucia said, stepping away from Damien.
Damien grabbed her arm, drawing her back to him. “You’ve used enough magic.”
“Do we have enough Nous users to manipulate the minds of tens of thousands of humans?” she asked calmly, avoiding his gaze. He didn’t respond, because even I knew we damn well didn’t. “I’m the only one who can alter the minds of so many people.”
Barrett and Damien exchanged nervous looks.
She drew a deep breath. “I will force the survivors to leave their dead and evacuate the city...”
“That still leaves the bodies,” Micah said.
Lucia looked over the city, the air a heavy silence. “The dam.”
Barrett took a step toward her. “You want to flood the city?”
“It would cover up the lost lives and put out the fires.” Her gaze didn’t falter, her silver eyes near soulless. “I will alter the memories of the surviving humans so they believe the flood caused the destruction and loss of life.”
Micah shook his head. “That would take forever to do, and we don’t even know how many Nous users surviv?—”
“I can do it in one pass,” Lucia said, her voice unwavering, near cold.
Something twisted in my chest.
“You’ve used enough magic as it is,” Damien said once more, stepping in front of her as he cupped her cheeks. “Surely, we can find another way to clean this up.”
“Selene cannot aid us,” she said, and thunder roared in the distance, the scent in the air shifting as the wind picked up.
“The Nous users can only manipulate the minds of a few people at most.” She looked toward the sky, where thick clouds had gathered, blocking out the setting moon.
Lucia then offered Damien a smile, and it was too forced.
“I will only guide them to leave the city and manipulate their memories until the plan has been completed. The other teams can handle sabotaging the dam.”
Damien didn’t respond, and he glanced at us nervously before looking back at her. “Lucia?—"
“After this, I won’t use any more magic,” she promised, her hand rising to his chest. She then turned to me. “Can I entrust the dam to you? ”
I stilled at the request but dipped my head. “I will see it done.”
“Gather any surviving water wielders,” Lucia said in a cold commanding tone as she turned back to the city, her hands rising before her as she closed her eyes. “Earth users may be beneficial as well, but you must ensure the dam failure appears accidental. Allow it to fail naturally if possible.”
I stopped at Damien’s side as Micah hurried through the field, calling for any water users to aid in falling the dam. “What happened to her?”
He didn’t respond at first, but eventually, he shook his head. “She won’t tell me.”