Chapter 15
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
My heart soars as Draven lets out a furious roar before dragon fire streams from his mouth. It barrels towards the Icehearts, who yank up thick shields of ice to protect themselves. But the moment their focus is elsewhere, Grey darts away from them and towards our side. Hana does not.
She remains standing close to Bane while dragon fire slams into the protective ice walls that Bane and Jessina summon.
While continuing to dive steeply towards the ground, Draven breathes that thick torrent of fire right into their ice shields.
The heat of it is so intense that the rest of us have to yank our arms up to protect our faces.
But it buys Draven enough time to reach the ground.
Black smoke explodes across the grass as Draven hits the ground with a boom and immediately shifts.
The smoke drifts out over the red-glittering sea to block out the setting sun for a moment before storm winds suddenly howl around us.
They wash away the smoke, revealing the most perfect sight to ever exist. My mate.
Draven Ryat appears out of the billowing smoke like a true shadow of death.
Lightning crackles around him as he flares his massive black wings and flies at full speed towards us.
Isera, who was standing closest to where he landed before he shifted, jerks back in shock as he almost slams right into her when he reaches her.
Yanking his hand up, he grabs her iron collar and rips it off.
Then his eyes meet mine while he continues his flight towards the rest of us. Relief and rage fight like wolves in his beautiful golden eyes when his gaze lands on me.
It makes my heart flutter, but I yell, “Grey!”
While I would do anything to get my collar off right now so that I can use my magic, the most important person to free is Grey. As soon as his collar is off, he can open a portal for us all to escape.
Draven jerks his chin down in a nod and swerves in the air, heading straight for Grey.
Spears of ice shoot towards his wings.
I scream.
A crack echoes across the red-stained landscape as the spears smack into a thick ice wall right before they can hit Draven. Gasping in a breath of relief, I snap my gaze to Isera, who managed to protect him. Draven continues towards Grey, but more ice attacks are already barreling for him.
Forced to abandon his efforts to reach Grey, Draven twists around in the air and sweeps a rush of storm winds at the ice spikes heading for him. It manages to shove them off course enough to miss him, but Jessina is already attacking him again.
“Draven,” she grinds out while shooting spears of ice at him.
Next to her, Bane is yanking up ice wall after ice wall to protect himself from Isera’s furious attacks. Her blue and silver eyes burn with revenge as she hammers him with everything she has.
“Haven’t you learned by now?” Jessina says to Draven, her voice full of smug mocking. “You will never be skilled enough, never be powerful enough, to beat us.”
Their massive silver wings flare out wide as both Jessina and Bane increase the intensity of their attacks.
Suddenly, Isera is being pushed back. Her fury might be stronger, but she has still been wearing an iron collar for the past few days.
Her strength is not at full power. Gritting her teeth, she desperately tries to get her momentum back as she blocks Bane’s attacks with shields of ice before throwing shards and spears back at him.
A short distance from her, Draven is alternating between barely blowing Jessina’s ice away with his storm winds and shooting white bolts of lightning at her.
Isera sucks in a sharp breath as one of Bane’s ice shards slices through her arm at the same time as another one takes her in the shoulder. Next to me, Orion lets out a low snarl.
And all I can do is stand there uselessly on the grass and watch.
My mind is screaming at me to help. To do something.
But with the iron collar still on, there is nothing I can do.
I’m not some badass warrior who can plow through enemy ranks with a sword.
I rely heavily on my magic to be dangerous.
And I’ve made peace with that. I can’t be good at everything.
I know that. But Mabona’s tits, it’s still fucking sucks to just stand here like a useless spectator.
“We need to distract them,” I hiss to Orion, who is also severely limited without his magic. “All we need is to buy Draven enough time to reach Grey.”
The Unseelie King jerks his chin down in a nod. “Agreed.”
Sweeping his gaze back and forth, he looks for an opening. I do the same but quickly realize that we don’t have a lot to work with. A kind of steady understanding settles within me as my mind comes to a conclusion.
“How quick are you to dodge?” I ask.
Orion, who seems to have come to the same conclusion, just lets out a humorless breath and says, “I guess we’re about to find out.”
We sprint forward.
My heart slams against my ribs as Orion and I barrel straight towards Jessina. Her gaze darts to us for a second, and genuine surprise pulses across her face. But to my shock, she doesn’t stop her attacks on Draven.
It takes me another second to realize why.
And by then, it’s already too late.
Bane has seen what we’re doing, and he is protecting his mate instead.
Sharp ice spikes shoot straight towards me and Orion from the left. I didn’t see the attack because I was so focused on Jessina. So sure that our charge would cause her to turn her attention to us. And Orion didn’t see them because he has no peripheral vision on that side of his face anymore.
Time seems to slow to a crawl as I watch those ice spikes shoot through the air.
Jessina is hammering Draven with attacks that he barely has time to shove away with his storm winds.
Isera is staring at Bane with a sudden burst of victory on her face, because his attention is now fixed on me and Orion, leaving him entirely open to attack.
Grabbing Orion by the arm, I yank him with me as I dive to escape the ice spikes that he still hasn’t even seen.
But I already know that it’s going to be too late. They’re too close and too wide for us to evade them. And when they hit, we will not survive it.
I keep my gaze on Bane, hoping to at least see Isera kill him in that final moment before I’m speared through by a hail of ice spikes.
A pale wall shoots through the air right in front of us.
Ice cracks as those sharp spikes smack into the thick ice wall instead of our bodies.
Orion and I hit the grass, our bodies rolling across the ground with the force of our momentum. I jerk my head up and stare wide-eyed at Isera.
Emperor Bane’s attention is now back on her, and shields shoot up in front of him as he blocks her attacks.
My heart pounds.
She had a clear shot at Bane. A chance to finally kill him. But she gave that up. She gave up that perfect chance at revenge in order to save us.
“I’m done playing with our food,” Empress Jessina snarls while she keeps attacking Draven with unending fury. “Hana, order Severin to raise a shield around us. We’re—”
Trees and vines shoot up from the ground.
Panic flashes across Jessina’s face as they almost manage to ensnare them. Leaping backwards, she pulls Hana with them as she and Bane barely manage to evade the twisting branches. Grey sprints towards Draven.
The moment Jessina’s attacks stop, Draven whips around and yanks off Grey’s iron collar.
“Now!” Jessina screams at Hana.
For a moment, Hana just looks out at all of us with wide eyes.
Then she turns her gaze to Severin. I can’t hear her soft voice from over the sound of howling storm winds and creaking branches, but her eyes begin to glow and Severin Godblessed forms a shield that surrounds them like a massive bubble.
“Open a portal to the Unseelie Court,” Orion yells at Grey while leaping back to his feet.
Scrambling upright, I sprint after him as we run back towards the others.
Trees and vines crash into the shield around the Icehearts while Draven at last unclasps the iron collar that only a dragon shifter can remove and yanks it from my neck. A sob of relief rips from my lungs as my connection to my magic is restored.
While Draven does the same to Orion, I whirl towards the Icehearts.
There are so many branches in the air that I can barely see them through the furious onslaught, but I still create a massive violet flame of pain and slam it straight towards Jessina.
My soul practically vibrates with anticipation. After so many days without it, I will finally feel that comforting pleasure again. In just one second, I will finally feel it. Just one second.
My magic smacks into the shield around them with such force that I could almost feel it physically.
Staggering back a step, I blink against the sudden abrupt end.
And for a moment, my mind can’t seem to catch up.
I was so certain that I was about to feel that wonderful pleasure. But then it just… didn’t come.
“Oh, you little traitor,” Empress Jessina says as the branches, which can’t get through the shield either, sink back into the ground again. “You will regret working against us.”
When the tangle of vines and trees disappears, two figures become visible on the grass between us and the Icehearts.
Lavendera.
And the Dryad Queen.
“You were never going to give me the Soul of Trees,” Lavendera declares, her voice stronger and more confident than I have ever heard.
Jessina flashes her a cruel smile. “No, we weren’t.
” Her pale gray eyes slide to the Dryad Queen.
“But you, you have made a mistake today. Picking a side…” She shakes her head.
“We were content leaving you alone, as long as you stayed out of sight. But now, you have made yourselves our enemies. Which means that you will die just the same as them.”
“The portal is open,” Grey says from a little to my right.
Casting a glance in that direction, I find Orion sprinting through it.