Chapter 12
Ava sucked in a breath, reaching for the bow across her back, prepared to fight Deidamia. But as the steam cleared further, she realized it wasn’t her.
“Who is that?”
“Valeria,” Casimir said.
The icy wind yanked a strand of hair loose from Ava’s braid—the bite of the cold like a sinister warning—as the ice queen approached, her sharp eyes scanning their army.
Aelerion stepped forward. “Let us through, Valeria. We have no current quarrel with you. We are on our way back to our home.”
The queen sized him up with a piercing glare. She was painfully pale, skin almost as white as her snowy hair. Her icy blue eyes—familiar eyes—held no fondness as she inspected the king.
Valeria stepped forward. “You are in my territory, Aelerion. I suggest you turn around immediately.”
“We do not heed the demands of those who willingly align themselves with the enemy,” Thalia spat. “If you do not stand aside, we will have no choice but to use force.”
Ava’s heart raced as she slowly slid an arrow from her quiver, keeping a tight grip on her bow. Something wasn’t right. A glance at her friends, now tense and prepared to unsheathe their weapons or ready their magic at a moment’s notice, suggested they sensed it too.
“You’re on your way to take back your kingdom, are you not? Do you have any idea what you’re facing? Who you’re fighting against?”
“We know exactly who we fight against,” Aelerion thundered. “You aligned yourselves with Deidamia immediately upon her arrival. Betrayed our kind. Your obsession with power is an insult to all of us.”
Lava swirled on the ground in front of his feet, his anger at the traitorous ice queen barely contained.
“Obsession with power? That’s what you think this is about?
” She took several slow steps forward and the soldiers in the front lines all moved their hands to their weapons.
“It’s not just about power. It’s about purity.
For hundreds of years, the fae have been intermingling.
Breeding with each other. Creating hybrids and diluting powerful bloodlines. ”
Casimir tensed beside Ava at the mention of hybrids.
“I’m the only one left who still cares to fix that.
Vardan wanted to.” Her eyes flicked to Ava.
“Your father agreed the different kingdoms shouldn’t mix.
” Her gaze moved to Casimir. “So did yours. But they were weak. Now Vardan’s dead and Orion hides in his castle in the clouds, too spineless to do anything about it.
But I’m not a coward. I know what this world could be, and I won’t hesitate to make it that way. ”
Ava knew her father wasn’t a kind ruler. Thorne had told her he was cruel, strict and verbally abusive to him and their mother. But she hadn’t known his prejudice against hybrids went so deep.
Valeria backed away, her eyes still on the force standing before her. With a wave of her hand, the snowy ground behind her collapsed, revealing a hidden cavern filled to the brim with daemon soldiers and ice fae.
“Protect our kingdom!” she yelled at her forces. “They came to destroy us! They want power for themselves!”
“Fuck this insane woman,” Raine mumbled. “I suppose we’re fighting now.”
“Ready yourself,” Casimir said to Ava, then kissed her forehead and joined Maeryn in barking orders.
“Remember all of your training,” Quinn said, unsheathing one of her many daggers.
Ava dipped her head as she took a steadying breath and drew her bow.
“Soldiers of Igneothenia!” yelled Maeryn. “You’re on the front lines!”
Daemons and ice fae climbed out of their makeshift hideout and marched forward, their own leaders yelling orders. The queen had disappeared, not even willing to fight to uphold the lie she just told her people.
As soon as the signal was given, Ava and the other archers released a volley of arrows at the approaching force, now sprinting toward them with their weapons and magic ready.
“Hold the line!” Casimir yelled as the enemy force clashed with theirs.
Ava released arrow after arrow as Quinn created golems to fight alongside them. The giants smashed enemy soldiers with ease, armor crumpling under their massive fists. Screams mixed with the clang of steel as Ava felled as many enemies as she could, picking off those who escaped the golems.
But it wasn’t long before the daemons and ice fae broke through. Trading her bow for her sword, Ava gripped her blade and prepared for impact.
A daemon in black armor snarled as he sprinted toward her, sword in his hand. Ava rose a flower from the ground and encased him in a flash, wrapping it in vines.
Before he had a chance to cut his way out, lava inched its way up the flower, burning the daemon alive.
“That was fun,” a soldier from Igneothenia said, his yellow eyes bright. “Let’s keep doing it.”
So she paired with him, trapping enemy after enemy as he burned them as fast as she could catch them, her giant flowers a colorful display in a sea of white and black and gray. They continued their technique, making headway in their battle.
“Behind you!” he shouted.
Ava spun, ducking as a spear of ice zoomed for her. Lunging with her faithful sword—her mother’s sword, Silverglow—she impaled the fae, his body collapsing as she withdrew her blade. She took a chance to glance at the soldier who had been helping her, but he was now locked in his own battle.
On her left, a daemon swung his weapon. With a spin, she parried, her arm vibrating as she deflected his blow. He came at her again and she blocked him, their blades locked at her throat.
“You aren’t stronger than I,” he snarled in her face.
“That may be true,” she said through clenched teeth, her arms shaking as she pushed back. “But I’m smarter.”
A thorny root wrapped around his neck, squeezing and decapitating him in seconds, spraying Ava with black daemon blood.
“Nice trick!” Pax appeared beside her, spearing an approaching soldier.
“No time for jokes, Pax!”
A daemon flung a dagger directly at Ava.
Sword in hand, she deflected it with a clang, still astonished by the speed of her fae reflexes.
She rose vines from the earth and wrapped them around the enemy’s legs, squeezing as she broke them.
He screamed and crumpled to the ground, his shouts silenced when Luna appeared and tore into his throat.
“Be careful!”
I may be small, but I’m quick. I’m fighting this time.
Ava wiped the sweat and blood from her brow with her forearm while Pax dueled with an ice wielder. The fae released a frozen mist, the orc unable to move out of the way. But Ava raised a flower in its path, the ice freezing the petals instead of her friend.
She tried to catch her breath before she was attacked again, but there was no time to recover. Two daemons charged, a woman with a sword, and a man with a dagger. Ava dodged the swipe with the sword but wasn’t quick enough to avoid the sting of pain as the dagger sliced her arm.
Luna snarled, sinking her teeth into the back of the dagger-wielding enemy’s knee, distracting him enough for Ava to grow a flower around the other. But before she’d completed the flower, the daemon woman cut through and sprinted forward. Ava met her sword with a shout.
Behind you! Luna warned.
Ava shoved the woman back and darted out of the way, narrowly avoiding another jab by the dagger wielder. Trying desperately to gain ground as she fought two daemons, an ice fae appeared.
Now it was three against one.
The ice wielder directed his magic at Ava.
Throwing herself on the ground, she barely avoided the frozen spear, but luck was on her side when it impaled the daemon woman she’d been battling.
She fell to the ground as Ava stood and shot vines at the ice wielder, tripping him while Pax plunged his sword into his chest. Another daemon came at the orc, now locked in his own battle and unable to help Ava any further.
A powerful force from behind shoved her to the ground, her knees buckling and her sword falling from her grip.
Someone grabbed a hold of her braid and yanked her head back, a cry leaving her lips as her scalp burned with pain.
A dagger appeared at her throat—the remaining daemon she’d been fighting earlier now standing over her, a wicked smile on his face.
Ava raised her hand to fight back with her magic, but before she got the chance, the enemy was wrapped in someone else’s vines, his arms pinned to his sides. Casimir appeared, unbridled rage on his face as he gripped the man’s throat and shoved him to the ground.
“How dare you touch her,” Casimir growled, plunging his blade into his belly.
Ava rose, retrieving her sword as another group advanced.
“Are you alright?” he asked.
“I’m fine!”
They stood side-by-side, swords raised. Ava’s stomach dropped as a dozen daemons sprinted forward. Two against twelve. Shoving away the terror, Ava wrapped a vine around several, pulling them down as she dodged blows from the others, Casimir locked in his own battle.
“Cas!” she yelled as a daemon came up behind him.
Dropping her sword, Ava snatched her bow and released an arrow through the soldier’s eye. Casimir shot a ball of starlight at the others, catching them aflame. But more enemies kept coming, no matter how many Ava and Casimir defeated.
Soldiers taunted them, swinging their weapons and dodging the attacks.
These soldiers were stronger, smarter than those Ava had fought at the camp.
Every time she attempted to use her vines to overtake them, their swords cut through with ease.
Casimir attempted to burn them with his astral powers again, but his starlight was met with ice from a fae enemy, thwarting every attempt.
A daemon flicked a dagger at Ava. Casimir jumped in front of her, shouting as the blade impaled his thigh, blood dripping down his leg. They were cornered—their friends, allies and companions all caught in their own skirmishes.
“We know who you are,” one of the daemons told Ava. “Our queen is looking for you.”
Casimir moved further in front of her, raising his sword.
“Come with us and the general will be spared,” another said.
“She will be going nowhere,” Casimir growled, protective fury hovering around him like a tangible thing.
Ava lifted her trembling hand as she stepped out from behind Casimir, digging deep within herself. As petals emerged from the ground, the earth beneath her feet buckled and she was thrown off balance, both her and Casimir falling backwards into the snow.
The daemons charged.
Casimir tried to rise in time to fight them off, but he was thrown back again as rocks erupted from the ground right in front of them, blocking the advancing unit.
Saxumdale had arrived.