Chapter 38
Chapter
Thirty-Eight
T eren froze with his eyes narrowing.
“She is a prospect,” Zander growled, voice low and dangerous.
Teren lifted his hands in mock surrender. “Relax, Prince Rayne,” he drawled. “I was just paying her a compliment.”
“I don’t need compliments,” I said, stepping forward until I was beside Zander. “And I don’t need you starting a fight over me,” I added, my gaze flicking between them.
“You have no idea what you need,” Zander muttered, lowering his sword but keeping his stance tense.
Teren chuckled again, but it was quieter this time, like he knew better than to push.
“Let’s go,” Luthias ran a hand over his bald head before he cut in, his tone serious. “We’ve got a trail to follow.”
I called Kaelith closer and brushed my hand down her scales, her warmth grounding me. Zander’s gaze lingered on me a moment longer before turning back to Hein.
I couldn’t tell if I was annoyed or... something else.
Kaelith snorted in my mind. If you want him, take him. Males like that need to be claimed before they get themselves killed.
I bit back a laugh. Which male are you referring to?
Both, she replied smugly.
We mounted our dragons, leather ropes looped and tied with precision.
Luthias led the combined squad down the coast toward Caston, his green Clubtail gliding low over the surf.
The cool air nipped at my face, but the view below held my attention.
The coastline stretched in a winding ribbon of sand and jagged rock.
I recalled the reports—Caston had barely recovered from the last assault, and if another shipment of supplies had been stolen, their people would suffer. The Blood Fae didn’t strike randomly. They knew exactly how to hurt a kingdom, cutting off food and resources when they were most vulnerable.
“There,” Luthias pointed to a trail winding near the beach. We adjusted our flight path, dragons angling lower. Even from the air, I could see the wagon tracks pressed deep into the earth.
We landed in a wide clearing littered with signs of recent movement—wagon wheels gouged into the dirt, boot prints scattered in all directions.
“They never made it to Caston,” Teren muttered, walking the path and tracing the marks with his fingers.
“It looks like they just disappeared,” Jax added, scanning the area.
Tae knelt beside one of the ruts. “This doesn’t make sense. I’d say they met a boat, but the tracks don’t run all the way to the beach.”
Zander’s gaze flicked toward the ocean, narrowing as if he could see something none of us could. “Dragons,” he said grimly. “Dragons picked up the wagons.”
Teren’s eyes widened. “You think the Blood Fae intercepted them? Their island is too far away. That’s a long haul for a dragon to carry a wagon.”
Zander’s face darkened. “The Blood Fae have little regard for their mounts’ comfort. They’ll push them to the brink of exhaustion if it serves their purpose.”
I swallowed hard, my stomach twisting. “If the fae are moving supplies that far, they’re not just raiding. They’re planning for something.”
“A full-scale attack,” Zander said quietly.
Kaelith’s growl rumbled low and deep, vibrating through the ground beneath my boots.
I hadn’t moved far from her side when we landed, and now I was grateful for it.
The Blood Fae seemed to materialize from nowhere, stepping out of the shrouded mist until we were surrounded by at least a dozen of them.
“I told you it would work,” one of them sneered to his companion, a tall fae with long white hair similar to mine.
“Yes,” the other fae with red eyes replied, “but we still have to deal with the Sentinel.”
Kaelith’s spines rippled, her wings half-spread in warning. I could feel her tension, her fury curling in my chest like a living thing. Stay close, she warned me.
I didn’t need to be told twice. I remounted.
Tae shifted subtly, his back pressing closer to Kieran, whose green Clubtail had already begun inflating his tail. The spines along its length lengthened, sharp points gleaming in the fading light.
Kaila, still astride her brown Swordtail, nudged her mount forward, positioning herself between us and the Blood Fae. “I didn’t know this was a party,” she drawled, her voice casual but sharp. “I would have worn something more appropriate.”
“Be gone, dragon rider,” the apparent leader snapped. His cold gaze flicked to me, lingering on my white hair. “We have not come for you. Give us the white-haired one and you will live.”
The air thickened, my magic stirring to life beneath my skin. The Blood Fae’s focus locked on me like I was prey, their expressions twisted with cruel intent.
“You want her?” Zander’s voice rang out like a blade unsheathed. His hand rested on his sword, fingers flexing. “Come take her.”
“That’s not going to happen,” Jax added, stepping to my side.
“We don’t run,” Riven growled.
My heart twisted. My squad— my new family —stood firm, forming a wall around me without hesitation.
Kaelith’s thoughts pressed into mine, hot and fierce. If they touch you, they die.
“Don’t do anything rash,” I murmured under my breath.
The Blood Fae smiled like I’d just given them permission to attack.
Rider, Kaelith warned. Incoming.
The Blood Fae leader flicked his fingers, and something sharp sliced through the air—straight for me.
I moved on instinct, ducking as Kaelith’s head shot forward. Her jaws snapped closed on the dagger mid-air, crushing it between her teeth.
The Blood Fae bared his teeth in a snarl.
“You’ll regret that,” he hissed.
“No,” Zander said, stepping forward and drawing his sword. “You will.”
Teren unsheathed his sword. “Just when things were about to get boring.”
The air crackled with unnatural energy as the Blood Fae combined their magic. Threads of shimmering crimson and black wove together above us, tightening like a net. The air grew thick, pressing down on my chest as Kaelith snarled low in her throat.
I can’t break it, she said through gritted thoughts. They’ve grounded us. Get down and be careful.
I jumped from her back without hesitation, landing hard in the dirt. The others followed, dismounting swiftly. Jax swore under his breath, one hand on his axe, the other holding Ferrula as she stumbled.
Our dragons growled and shifted uneasily, wings twitching as they strained against the unseen force pinning them to the earth.
Across the clearing, the Blood Fae’s black-scaled dragons emerged from the shrouds—smaller than ours but lean and vicious.
One of them, a sleek Striker with gleaming obsidian scales, fixed its hungry gaze on Kaelith.
Stay close, Kaelith warned again, her body moving like a shadow beside me. I must fight beside you.
The Blood Fae rider controlling the Striker grinned like a wolf and tapped his blade against his palm.
“We’ve never had a Sentinel in our grasp before,” he sneered. “Don’t disappoint me.”
The Striker’s claws gouged the ground as it prowled forward, its rider moving in perfect sync with it.
The man’s steps were precise, mirroring the dragon’s movements as if they were one mind.
The Striker’s sharp tail twitched, and I knew what that meant—one strike from that barbed whip could pierce dragon scales or cut through armor like parchment.
“We can’t let it separate us,” Zander called. “Tighten the circle!”
We shifted, our squad forming a ring with our dragons around us, blades drawn and ready. The Blood Fae advanced in unison, their dragons pacing like wolves waiting for a weakness to exploit.
“I haven’t practiced this,” I murmured to Kaelith, feeling the weight of my rapier in my hand.
Trust me. You fight with me, not against me, Kaelith said, her voice unwavering. We will move together.
The Striker’s tail flicked, and the rider lunged.
“Move!” Zander barked.
Kaelith surged forward in tandem with me, her body twisting to intercept the blow.
The Striker’s barbed tail lashed out, but Kaelith’s scales hardened, and the blade-like tip skittered off her shoulder.
The rider slashed low, aiming for my legs, but I pivoted with Kaelith, using her bulk as both cover and shield.
My rapier darted out, catching the rider’s side and drawing blood.
He hissed, his face twisting in rage. “You’ll bleed for that.”
“I’m waiting,” I shot back.
The Striker lunged again, but Kaelith met it head-on. Her powerful tail whipped out, slamming into the smaller dragon’s ribs. The beast staggered back, snarling, and its rider stumbled with it.
“Circle it!” Zander ordered.
Tae and Kaila flanked the Striker from either side, their dragons mirroring their movements. The Blood Fae rider tried to retreat, but Kaelith wasn’t giving him that chance.
Now, Kaelith whispered in my mind.
I lunged beneath her wing, rapier flashing as I slashed low. The Blood Fae dodged, but his dragon couldn’t. My blade caught the Striker’s front leg, slashing deep.
It shrieked, and in the same breath, Kaelith’s powerful claws raked across the rider’s chest. He dropped to his knees, gasping.
I didn’t hesitate.
I pressed the tip of my blade against his throat.
“Tell me why you’re after me,” I demanded.
The Blood Fae’s voice twisted in my mind like smoke curling through cracks. His eyes gleamed, dark and unnatural.
“You have been chosen,” he said, lips curling into something between a grin and a sneer. “You are the instrument of the Blood King. The vessel.”
My rapier pressed harder against his throat. “What does that mean?”
“I don’t know,” he hissed, gaze flickering to the other fae as they circled like wolves. “But the king has searched for you for hundreds of years.”
I scoffed. “I’m only twenty. That’s impossible.”
His lips twitched. “Your birth was preordained. You are not what you think.”
“Then what am I?”
Before he could answer, a pulse of crimson energy shot through the air. I ducked in time, rolling hard across the dirt as the blast scorched the space, I’d just been standing in. The heat of it stung my face, and when I turned back, the Blood Fae I’d pinned was gone, retreating into the shadows.
“Shit,” I swore, springing to my feet just as Tae and Kaila finished off one of the black Swordtails. The rider fell with a bone-rattling scream, clutching his chest as his body began to decay.
The Blood Fae swarmed us like smoke, flickering in and out of the shadows. Blades flashed and magic surged in the air as they struck from all sides.
I spun to parry an incoming blow, narrowly missing a dagger that shot toward my ribs. Kaelith’s growl vibrated the ground beneath me as she swiped her claws toward a nearby Blood Fae, tearing him down in a spray of blood and shadow. His dragon swayed back and forth before lying down on the ground.
Tae twisted his axe through the air, carving into another attacker’s side. Kaila fought with precision, her short daggers flashing in a blur of steel as she brought down a second Blood Fae. But for every one we cut down, more emerged from the tree line.
And then their leader approached.
Tall and gaunt, with his white hair pulled back tight, he moved with unnatural ease—as though the very air bent to his will. He didn’t lift a weapon. He didn’t need to. His red eyes burned into me when I met his gaze.
“Return with me,” he said calmly, voice like gravel. “Come willingly, and you will learn your true name… and your purpose.”
I gripped my rapier tighter. “I already know my purpose.”
He chuckled darkly. “Do you?” His gaze flicked over me, lingering too long, as if he could see something beneath my skin. “You may believe you are human... but you are much more than that.”
“I bleed like one,” I shot back.
“For now,” he said. “But when your power is unlocked… when the Blood King calls you home… you will be far more.” His eyes narrowed. “You will be his salvation. The halfling king will not find the weapon before us.”
“What weapon?”
Kaelith snarled low in her throat, stepping closer until her scales pressed against my back.
“Eilvin, no!” Jax’s scream tore through the chaos like a blade.
I spun just in time to see him stumble back, his face twisted in shock. The Blood Fae’s sword glistened crimson as it slid from his abdomen, and Eilvin’s hand clamped over the gaping wound. Blood seeped between his fingers, dark and wet.
Makor, his brown Swift, bellowed from across the battlefield. The sound split the air like a war horn, vibrating deep in my chest. His dragon lunged for Eilvin’s attacker, jaws snapping closed around his torso with a sickening crunch.
But Eilvin’s legs buckled. His eyes widened as he swayed, clutching his stomach.
“No, no, no...” Jax’s voice broke as he sprinted toward him. Eilvin tried to take another step, but his knees gave out and he crumpled to the earth.
“Help him!” Jax shouted, dropping beside our squadmate. His hands shook as he tried to press against the wound, but the blood kept coming—soaking through his fingers and staining the dirt beneath him.
Makor bellowed beside Eilvin, curling his body around his fallen rider. His tail lashed furiously, his breath coming in rapid snarls as his eyes flickered between Jax and Eilvin’s paling face.
“Stay with me, buddy?” Jax begged, his voice breaking as he pressed harder against his wound. Eilvin’s lips moved, but no sound came out.
I ran toward them, fumbling in my belt pouch for the small vial of healing salve. “We can help him, just hold on, Eilvin.”
His breath hitched, and his glassy eyes locked on mine. “You’re... going to win this, right?” His voice trembled. “Tell... Makor... I’m sorry.”
“Don’t say that.” Jax’s voice was fierce. “You’re gonna be fine. Just hold on.”
He clasped my arm. “Be wary of the royals. They aren’t what you think they are.”
“I will be but…”
Eilvin’s blood-slicked fingers fell limply to his side. His chest shuddered once... and then stilled.
“No!” Jax shouted, shaking him.
Makor let out a heart-wrenching wail, a sound so raw and painful it seemed to vibrate the earth beneath us. His scales flickered with dull brown light as he curled tighter around Eilvin’s body, resting his massive head against his fallen rider’s side.
“We need to move,” Zander barked from behind us. “Now! More are coming.”
But Jax didn’t move. He sat there, cradling Eilvin’s lifeless body, whispering words none of us could hear.