chapter fourty-six
elysia
A crack echoes behind me, quickly followed by a wet thud. I jolt, spinning just as a lacwyvern’s corpse collapses at my heels, its neck twisted clean through. Cole skids into view, chest heaving as lightning ripples over his forearms.
“Sparks… move!” he barks, grabbing my wrist and yanking hard.
“But Varo—”
“We’ll come back for Varo,” he snaps, not unkindly, just desperate. “Right now, you need to focus on staying alive.”
I swallow hard and nod, heart beating erratically in my chest… or maybe it’s Kaden’s heart. I can’t tell anymore.
My feet finally respond as he tugs at my wrist, stumbling after him through the blood-slick snow.
Screeches rip through the air as lacwyvern swarm around us, blood rain seemingly falling harder with each haunting call.
I fling out a hand and slam a wave of tidal influence into the nearest four, halting their mid-air dive towards us.
It takes less than a second for Cole to rain lightning down on them.
Sirena follows in his footsteps, finishing off fallen lacwyvern with precise, brutal strikes.
Kaden is a storm unleashed, made up of shadow and death.
Snapping necks in one breath and yanking beasts from the sky with the next.
His darkness coils instinctively around my feet, a protective shield of living night each time a monster dives too close.
Thane freezes wings mid-beat, frost racing like lightning across scales, and Edric…
gods. Edric turns their very biology against them, evaporating the water in their veins until the lacwyvern convulse and drop from the sky.
His expression is so pained and raw that it almost makes my knees buckle from beneath me.
More shapes pour from the clouds. Dozens more, and my breathing ceases at the sight.
“Cole. This is more than two flocks. Right?” I rasp between gasps of air.
His hand strikes out, hitting a lacwyvern’s skull dead centre, “Yeah. I’d say there are about five here.”
My heart plummets, and panic crawls through me as we reach the others.
“You okay?” Sirena asks, her gaze raking over me like a worried mother counting injuries she can’t afford.
“Yes,” I gasp, forcing air into my lungs. “I’m fine. You?”
She hesitates.
Only for a heartbeat… but I catch it.
She smiles, but the gesture seems weak. “I’m good. Definitely going to need that last cinnamon bun after this, though.”
Lightning dances weakly across her knuckles, sputtering instead of snapping. Sweat streaks through the grime on her temple, and her shoulders sag as another wave of lacwyvern shrieks overhead.
A breathless laugh escapes me. “I’ll warm it up for you so it’s extra sweet.”
“Ugh, I love you. That’s exactly why you’re my maid of honour,” she teases, squeezing my hand before tearing away to release a bolt of lightning that splits a lacwyvern clean through the chest.
The creature crumples midair.
Sirena sways.
I catch her elbow, steadying her before she can fall.
My eyebrows pinch, but before I can say anything, she catches the expression.
“I’m fine,” she insists immediately, already pulling free.
We move together, backs nearly brushing as we carve a path through the blood-soaked snow. Kaden prowls just behind us, shadows writhing low and lethal, coiling protectively around my boots like living sentinels.
Sirena lifts her hand again and lightning lashes outward, scorching two lacwyvern from the sky. But the bolt stutters halfway through, flickering before it lands.
“Sirena,” I warn.
She shakes her head sharply. “Don’t.”
Another creature dives. I shove tidal influence into its skull, snapping its neck midair, but two more replace it instantly.
Sirena raises both hands, and lightning explodes.
The blast is brilliant and blinding, and for a moment, the battlefield vanishes beneath searing violet light. When my vision clears, half a dozen lacwyvern lie smoking in the snow.
Sirena staggers.
I catch her by the elbow again, fingers burning against her hot skin. “You’re overheating.”
“I’m fine,” she snaps, jaw tight. “I’m just getting a little tired.”
“Tired doesn’t feel like this, Sirena. You need to rest.”
Her pulse is racing beneath my palm, and her skin is far too hot.
Another screech splits the air, and Sirena reacts before I can stop her.
Lightning surges again, but this time it backfires. The bolt shatters midair, and liquid lightening scatters across her arms before striking her chest.
She gasps, clutching her heart.
“You’re burning out,” I whisper fiercely.
She shakes her head. “No.”
“Sirena—”
“I said no!” she cuts in, breath ragged. Her eyes search mine, and then her voice softens with her next words. “I know my limits. I’m okay, I promise.”
But her hands are shaking, and the lightning across her skin flickers erratically, refusing to stabilise.
“I’ve seen burnout,” I press. “Your magic’s destabilising. You’re cooking yourself from the inside out. You need to rest.”
She swallows hard, blinking rapidly as another wave of lacwyvern descends.
“I don’t have time to rest.”
She hurls herself forward, and I follow closely behind, cursing under my breath.