Chapter 34 Violet #2
Then I saw where a group of Ocean soldiers had circled a handful of our Night Guard. There was a terrifying sense of clarity in me. I knew exactly what to do as I ran toward our enemies. When I reached them, I raised my hands and fire answered.
The heat rushed up my arms instantly, eager and waiting.
Flame burst outward in controlled arcs, cutting through the soldiers.
I didn’t unleash it wildly. I shaped it.
Directed it. Fire slammed into shields and sent them flying from soldiers’ grips, knocked armored bodies backward into their own lines, burned weapons hot enough that they clattered uselessly to the ground.
The earth blackened beneath my boots as I moved, pivoting and striking again and again.
I released just enough power each time—enough to devastate without letting the flames spiral beyond my control.
Sebastian’s shadows swallowed what I left behind, darkness and fire working in tandem in a way that felt almost instinctive.
For a moment—
We were winning.
The Night Guard surged forward around our assault, disciplined and relentless, cutting through enemy formations that should have overwhelmed us by sheer numbers alone.
Adar moved through the battlefield. His strikes were precise and merciless, each one placed exactly where it would end the fight immediately. No wasted effort. No hesitation.
Bronwen reappeared beside me long enough to tear the head off a soldier that approached my blind side before he could strike. Blood splattered across her cheek, her eyes bright with the kind of exhilaration that only came from chaos.
“See?” she said cheerfully. “Teamwork.”
“I could have set you on fire!” I yelled as the flames in my hands guttered out.
She simply shrugged her shoulders as she said, “Good thing you didn’t.”
Then she vanished again, already tearing through another cluster of soldiers before I could answer.
But the moment didn’t last.
The Sovereigns moved.
Tyvir lifted one hand and water erupted from the ground, surging upward in violent bursts that dragged fighters off their feet and hurled them across the clearing.
Forest came next.
Roots burst from the earth in writhing coils, thick as arms and impossibly strong. They lashed around ankles and wrists, dragging bodies down into the dirt. Some soldiers managed to cut themselves free. Others disappeared beneath the twisting mass of living wood.
Flower magic was different.
It didn’t strike like the others.
It suffocated.
The air filled with a heavy sweetness, thick with pollen that clung to the back of the throat and lungs. Breaths came slower. Movements became sluggish.
Our momentum faltered.
“Push through!” Adar shouted somewhere to my left.
Sebastian’s darkness surged violently in response, tearing through stone and ripping roots from the ground in black waves that swallowed the battlefield once more.
Flames erupted high enough to scorch the treetops as I burned paths through the chaos, heat roaring outward in brilliant arcs that turned night into blazing gold.
We were still holding.
The battlefield had dissolved into chaos—fire, shadow, steel, and magic tearing through the forest in violent bursts—but the line had not broken.
The Night Guard still fought in tight formations wherever they could maintain them, cutting down soldiers faster than the enemy could press forward.
Sebastian’s darkness rolled across the clearing in relentless waves, tearing apart roots and shattering the ice barriers the Ice Sovereign had raised.
My flames carved gaps whenever the pressure grew too heavy, forcing the advancing ranks back just long enough for our soldiers to reset their positions.
For a moment, it almost looked like we might survive the first push.
Then pain exploded through my skull.
My vision flashed and I dropped to my knees before I even understood what had happened, my hands slamming into the dirt as the world tilted violently around me. A scream tore from my throat, dragged out by the sheer force of the agony ripping through my thoughts.
Flames detonated around me in a violent ring, blasting through the soldiers of all realms. Bodies were thrown backward by the force of the heat, shields torn from hands as armor cracked against tree trunks and shattered stone.
The forest floor blackened instantly beneath me as the fire spread outward in an uncontrolled surge.
But I couldn’t stop it.
I couldn’t think through it.
The pressure in my skull pulsed again, sharper this time, and the metallic taste of blood filled my mouth.
Sebastian reached me in an instant. His hands closed around my shoulders, firm enough to anchor me in place. “Violet.”
The pressure vanished from my mind so suddenly it left me gasping.
Then it slammed into him.
Sebastian stiffened violently as the force struck him instead, his shadows convulsing outward in erratic bursts that ripped through the battlefield around us. He clutched his head, jaw locked so tightly the muscles jumped beneath his skin, like he was forcing himself not to scream.
Around us, the enemy surged.
They sensed the weakness instantly. Soldiers broke formation and rushed forward. The Night Guard tried to close ranks again, but the attack came fast and coordinated, their movements tightening as they tried to overwhelm us while Sebastian faltered.
“Bash. Fight it.”
A soldier rushed toward him with his sword raised high, aiming straight for his back.
I threw my hand up. Fire erupted from my palm and swallowed the man before he got within ten paces. The blast consumed him instantly, his scream barely forming before the flames devoured him.
The pressure on the bond loosened.
Sebastian forced himself upright, pushing off the ground with shaking hands as his shadows snapped violently back into place around him.
“How?” I whispered.
He shook his head. “Stay where I can reach you,” he said hoarsely.
Sebastian tore away to the right, darkness detonating outward around him as he slammed into the advancing soldiers. The shadows moved with brutal precision now, snapping bodies sideways and swallowing enemies whole as he carved a path through their ranks.
I went left, boots pounding across torn earth and shattered roots as I moved through the chaos. The Flower Realm’s magic pressed against my senses immediately, cloying and sweet in a way that tried to soften my focus and dull the sharp edge of my power. It slowed breathing, made movement heavier.
I answered by ripping the air away.
Everything around me collapsed.
Soldiers clutched their throats as the air vanished, their bodies dropping hard to their knees. Some tried to crawl. Others simply fell where they stood, gasping uselessly as their lungs fought for oxygen that wasn’t there.
I didn’t stay to watch.
Flames snapped outward as I moved through the gap I had created, fire striking in controlled bursts that cleared the space faster than any blade could. Armor glowed red where the heat struck it, forcing soldiers to drop their weapons as the metal burned their hands.
A Forest fae stood several paces ahead of me. He wore no armor and carried no weapon. Instead, he stood dressed in rich green robes threaded with gold, living leaves woven carefully into his hair like a crown.
Royal.
He lifted their hand, magic already gathering in his palm.
I didn’t hesitate.
Fire struck him mid-motion, and his body turned to ash before it even hit the ground. The scent of burning leaves and magic filled the air where he had stood.
Then my eyes locked onto her.
Her hair was gone where I had melted gold into her skull the last time we faced each other, the scarred metal still fused across her scalp in jagged lines and covered one of her eyes.
Celine must have been hiding behind the Mountain Realm forces until now.
My heart had saved Calum in the Sun Realm.
But it would not save her.