Chapter Fifty
Talon
Talon wouldn’t let them fall. He couldn’t. He’d shatter before he let anyone touch Arianna or Rion.
And judging from her fury, Raevina felt the same.
The female’s fire had shifted, burning hotter now. It was the first time he’d seen her mask break on the field. Raevina longed to restore her family’s lost honor. With Arianna gone—
Talon gritted his teeth against the heartbreaking truth. He couldn’t look at them, he couldn’t bear it, but he could stand. He could fight until his body no longer drew breath.
Raevina’s knee twisted at an awkward angle and she hit the ground. Talon pivoted, launching a spear of ice straight through the throat of the Dark Fae looming over her. He grabbed her arm, yanking Raevina to her feet. She pressed her back to his, chest heaving.
They were all barely standing. Even Ellie’s storm had faded, despite her continued onslaught. He didn’t know whether his friend was oblivious to her sister’s death or simply refused to accept any more loss.
It wasn’t as though they had much longer, anyway.
Talon formed another wall with the help of Aiden and their warriors, but it was weaker than the last. The sheet of glass cracked easily against the Dark Fae’s brute strength.
Talon didn’t possess the energy to repair it.
Raevina’s flames flickered in her hands, even as she snarled at the creatures breaking through.
Talon cursed. Just before Arianna’s arrival, Aiden had told him he had a youngling on the way.
The male had waited until mid-battle, when he thought he was dying.
Talon had used runes to heal the fatal injury.
He’d promised the male they wouldn’t fall without a fight.
Talon wondered if that was who Aiden was fighting for now as he pushed his exhausted body beyond its limits.
It was certainly who Talon would fight for if he were ever given such a blessing.
Talon smiled sadly to himself. Perhaps in another life, his younglings would grow up beside Aiden’s, challenging one another in every way.
Perhaps Arianna would have a few as well.
All females who were far more stubborn than even Ellie.
It would have made her happy. Perhaps even healed Rion’s heart a little more.
His jaw clenched. He’d wanted so much from this life.
The wall cracked, a line that stretched from the bottom, climbing, climbing, climbing.
His magic fizzled in his veins.
Raevina’s flames spluttered out.
Talon gripped the hilt of his sword and braced himself, waiting for that wall to shatter, and their entire world to come shattering down with it.