Chapter Fifty-Two
Talon
A piercing cry split the air that was so high-pitched and shattering, Talon thought the world had finally come crashing down. He spun and dread settled in the pit of his stomach. Hundreds, no, thousands of wings were heading straight for them.
Reinforcements. The Dark Fae had reinforcements flying in from the northern mountains. He’d already seen dark creatures crawl up from the bowels of the earth. He supposed the next bout coming from the sky made sense.
Raevina backed away a step. Not to flee, but to absorb the finality closing in around them.
They had nothing left to offer. No magic to counter strike.
The wall shattered, and the Fae immediately behind it were ripped apart and devoured.
Raevina met his gaze. Fear shone in those beautiful eyes. The exact kind of fear he’d seen just last night. Talon approached and interlaced his fingers with hers. He didn’t turn away. Her face would be the last thing he saw before leaving this wretched world.
Magic flew in all directions as those with reserves fought to the very end. The wind from the new Dark Fae’s wings had Talon tottering. He waited for claws to tear into his shoulder, but those creatures landed instead, separating Talon and Raevina from the charging beasts.
They drew their weapons and sliced through the horde of Dark Fae as if they were walking through water.
Those same piercing cries echoed across the field.
The new arrivals fanned out in an organized line.
Their beautiful wings spread wide, six along their back, and Talon had to take a moment to fully register the events unfolding before his eyes.
“Harpies,” he whispered. Thousands of them. The very creatures that had been listed alongside the Dark Fae in their textbooks. The creatures rumored to be nothing more than myth.
Their army moved as one, pushing the Dark Fae back.
They were … succeeding. He stared in awe.
They wielded spears and swords and were clad in a type of light armor he’d never seen before.
He half expected the Dark Fae’s claws to tear straight through it, but they bounced off, the armor just as strong as steel.
Their wings were fanned wide, helping the harpies keep their balance. There were so many colors. Browns, blacks, whites, those who were speckled.
One landed right beside him, a lightning strike taking form. Talon yanked Raevina back. A female harpy. She stood an entire head taller, her white wings open, armor new and glistening. Raevina snarled, but the Harpy lifted one hand. To his surprise, Raevina paused.
“We answer the queen's call,” the harpy said in a thick accent, as if she'd only been practicing the language recently.
“We will strike down her enemies. Prepare for when she awakens.” Talon didn't have time to respond before the female launched herself back into the air.
He shielded his face, then watched her become one with the army hovering in the sky.
But—Arianna was gone. She wouldn’t—a light shimmered to his right and Talon’s heart leapt in response. Rion still held her, but he was looking at her differently now. With a trace of hope.
Talon dared a step closer. Golden light emitted from Arianna’s forehead, then branched out to either side of her face, the lines a mirror image of the other.
The tendrils of light worked their way down her arms, spiraling around her limbs like an active ribbon of light.
The Fairy Folk rushed to her side, placing their tiny hands on both Rion and Arianna.
Then their voices rose.
An ethereal melody that stood out in stark contrast to the grim sound of battle.
The Fairy Folk began to glow again. Their tiny bodies reminded him of the runes carved into the library walls.
Talon watched them carefully. He’d only ever seen the creatures ecstatic with joy, or solemn as they awaited Arianna’s return, but right now they looked majestic.
Their little heads were tilted toward the heavens, as if calling on forces unseen.
As if they were every bit as sacred as the ancient texts had made them out to be.
Arianna’s body grew brighter. What if—what if this was the sendoff for The Divine? What if they were taking her to the afterlife? Was that why Rion wasn’t moving? He was usually so protective, but he’d frozen in place. Had—gods above, had the bond really broken?
The bluish light grew brighter, and Talon squinted, refusing to turn away from his friend. Maybe this was the gods’ way of finally showing her mercy. Maybe they would take her from this world gently rather than have her body devoured by monsters.
He didn’t look away. The harpies beat back their enemies. They were winning for now, but even with their aid, the Dark Fae were still too numerous. Their new allies would tire eventually. Vairik would return, too, and likely end them all with a wave of his hand.
Arianna’s body lifted and Talon’s heart sank. Rion rose too, first to one knee, then to his feet, his hands unwilling to part from her body. Arianna’s clothing and hair moved as if drifting on a phantom wind.
Her body rose higher. Higher, and Rion’s magic took him with it.
Talon wondered if the male would climb all the way to the heavens just for a few more seconds at her side.
Maybe the gods would smile down and take him, too.
Let the pair live together in the afterlife after all the suffering they’d ignored.
Rion’s body jerked violently, and the male fell to his knees, clutching his chest. Talon took two steps forward, watching helplessly as Arianna continued ascending into the sky, her mate no longer at her side.
Rion looked up, panting. He desperately reached for her, his magic rising quickly only for it to jerk to a halt as he collapsed to his knees again.
Talon was already running. He pulled water from the earth, an action that felt entirely foreign without his own power in the mix.
He launched himself into the air, jumping between disks of his own creation.
Gods, had the bond just snapped? Was it delayed?
He’d thought it would break as soon as her heart had stopped beating, but how much did any of them actually know about such things?
Another piercing shriek had Talon looking northward. A second legion of harpies closed in, but Talon couldn’t focus on their newfound allies. He landed on the crumbling pillar Rion had created and knelt beside the male.
Rion kept trying to rise, his gaze locked on Arianna. The light emitting from her now was hard to look at, as if she’d become a pale blue sun.
“Arianna,” Rion tried. He attempted to push up onto his hands and knees again, only to fall, crying out, clutching his chest tighter.
Talon clenched his jaw and finally wrapped one arm around the male’s shoulders. “It’s all right,” he assured, even though the world around them was anything but. Rion shook, his entire body wracked with pain. “It’s all right.”
Talon glanced down from the platform. The world moved in slow motion. Aiden, his second and lifelong friend, had fallen. Two warriors were doing their best to put pressure on a wound in his chest. They knew it was fatal.
Raevina fought with her blades, her movements sloppy from exhaustion. It didn’t stop the fierce determination written all over her face, nor that of the comrades who’d sworn to die at her side. Friends her father had never wanted the female to have.
He looked out over the horizon, the entire landscape blanketed with dark creatures they could never hope to beat.
Rion grunted again, his body a tight ball on the ground.
Talon peered up at Arianna. Goodbye. This was goodbye.
In a moment, he’d jump down to join the rest of them and hand Rion off to someone else.
Perhaps Zylah or Sive could wake him. If not, Talon supposed they’d all be put out of their misery soon.
He’d once believed this male deserved to burn in hell.
He’d prayed for it. Now he prayed Rion would finally find some form of peace.
Talon stood, then light flared from above, forcing Talon and those below to shield their eyes. He tried to look up, to see past the light, but all he could make out was the dark silhouette of Arianna’s limp body floating amidst a bright circle.
Her arms hung at her sides, both wide and—Talon blinked. Then blinked again. No, those weren’t her arms anymore. They were … wings?
Rion roared and Talon leapt back, narrowly keeping his balance on the edge. Rion had gotten to his hands and knees but his eyes—Talon stepped to the side, heart pounding. They were still green, yet the pupils were larger, slitted like a cat’s rather than a Fae’s.
Talon summoned his magic and wrapped it around his body when Rion’s began changing … shifting.
He’d seen it a dozen times. The first shift was usually a little slower, but not like this.
The vertebrae in Rion’s neck lengthened one at a time and the male’s skin turned red, bumpy until scales emerged and his Fae skin shed to ribbons. His head grew, hair vanishing beneath spikes that sprouted from the top and sides. They lengthened as his body grew taller, wider, longer.
Talon let himself fall to the ground and backed away, his gaze still locked on the male’s body as it continued growing, growing, growing.
The pillar he'd just been standing on crumpled beneath the weight and Rion's four new powerful legs slammed into the earth, shattering it beneath gleaming black claws.
Talon staggered back. Others outright fled. But Rion wasn't looking at them, his serpentine-like neck reached up, up, up toward that blue light, as if even in this form, he craved to be closer.
Then large, membranous wings unfolded from his body, blanketing them all in shadow.
Raevina whispered something under her breath, but Talon was too awestruck to absorb the words.
His mouth was gaping, heart pounding as he stared at Rion.
At the true King of Alastríona.
Rion’s mouth opened, revealing rows of jagged white teeth.
Then a roar shattered the very foundations of the land.
Those not in combat dropped to one knee. The harpies who had been previously hovering above dove for the ground, kneeling just as the Fae knelt, their weapons held before them in offering.
Still, Rion didn't look at them.
Some of the Dark Fae fled, scrambling over their brethren as if some animalistic instinct warned them this fight was no longer worth it.
Talon slowly knelt, too. The whole world at Rion’s feet.
Rion, who wasn't an animal at all, but something else entirely. Nearly a deity himself.
Talon had grown up seeing the statues in Levea. He'd read books, fables, bedtime stories for younglings. The name had been bounced around in their history for ages. Hidden in plain sight. A name more myth-like than even the Dark Fae.
Dragon.
A dragon.
The King of Alastríona was—
Another ear-splitting cry had Talon clamping his hand over his ears and ducking his head.
Rion's neck rose higher and a silhouette of feathered wings extended from the corners of the light in one great burst of movement.
Then the light flew. A hundred, no, a thousand strands shot in all directions at once, arching across the entire battlefield. The entire land.
Some dropped directly below, colliding with the chests of Fae sprawled across the ground. Talon watched Fae whose hearts had barely been beating moments ago take a deep breath and sit up. They flexed their hands in confusion, searching for their wounds only to find them sealed with a bluish light.
A ray hit Aiden and Talon watched the male's eyes fly open wide before he sat up, breathing hard.
And before Talon could stop it. Before he could move, a ray hit him, filled him, blanketing his entire body and soul, stealing not only the pain but the doubt and fear with it.
Talon's exhausted body pulsed with an invigorating rush.
He flexed his fingers, the joints no longer stiff.
He prodded his ribs, only to find them unbruised, then he turned to Raevina.
The female held out her palm and fire roared to life just as it'd done when they'd first walked out onto the field.
Talon's own magic surged beneath his skin.
He was rejuvenated. Restored.
Talon looked up again to find the most beautiful creature he'd ever laid eyes on hovering above them all, flapping a set of mighty golden wings that shimmered with every color his eyes had ever seen.
The Fairy Folk floated around her, little stars illuminated by the sun's rays.
The dragon stared at the bird with reverence and longing, then that serpent turned one glowing green eye toward him and Talon understood at last why Vairik had tried so hard to destroy him.