Chapter 57
SAPHIRA
The second my wolf instincts howled within me, warning of danger, I turned, bringing my hands up as I unleashed everything I had, following those instincts as they filled me with a need to protect myself.
A golden veil of magic burst outwards from my palms, hardening in time for the sword that had been coming straight at me to bounce off it.
I stared at the male on the other side of it, breathing hard as my heart pounded against my ribs, as fear and fatigue combined to make my hands shake.
The commander who had escorted me to the fae town.
He raised his sword again, bringing it down hard enough to fracture the shield I had somehow summoned, and I fought to reinforce it, funnelling every drop of power in my veins into it as I staggered under the violence of his blow.
He struck it a third time, shattering it completely, and I fumbled for my dagger, panic mounting as I tried to shake off the tiredness that fogged my mind, aware that if I didn’t sharpen my senses and focus that I would be dead in the next few seconds.
He brought his blade up again, high above his head, his cold eyes fixed on mine as he growled, “For our rightful king, Lorien. For our fallen steward, Sylvan.”
That blade came hurtling towards me and I stumbled on a body, losing my balance as my left foot rolled forwards and my right clumsily came down on the shoulder of the corpse beneath me.
I brought my dagger up as best I could, my aim wildly off.
Shadows shot from his chest, swirling around to sever his arms, slicing them into several pieces as his eyes widened in shock, disbelief written across his face as he stared at his arms and the shadows that twisted to face him, each a sharp blade.
I flinched as they lanced his head, crossing over each other, holding him suspended in the air for a moment before they withdrew and his body fell.
Revealing Kaeleron.
My king towered behind him like a malevolent shadow, his eyes painted with night, irises as crimson as the blood that leaked from the body between us, and huge wings of darkness stretching from his back.
He stepped on the fallen male, shoving his boot down hard into his head, crushing his skull under the weight of it as he reached his talon-tipped gauntleted hand out to me.
I took it and breathed a little easier as he hauled me onto my feet and into a short teleport that landed us in a small clearing where the battle had already passed through, far from the mayhem that still raged nearer the mountains. He pushed me back and looked me over.
“I’m fine. I’m not hurt.” I placed my hand over his on my shoulder, drawing his gaze to mine. “I’m just tired. Is Vyr okay?”
“My sister is fine. She has temporarily withdrawn to the camp where Malachi took Riordan, but will return to the battlefield as soon as she is composed again.”
“I’m glad to hear that. I was worried about her.” I squeezed his hand, worried about him too. “Will Riordan really be okay?”
He nodded.
“The vampire is stronger than my sister gives him credit for, and I am grateful to him for intervening to protect her.” The frown that marred his beautiful face went nowhere as he checked me over despite the fact I had told him I wasn’t hurt.
“I know you are not used to wielding magic, and I know you will not leave this battlefield even if I beg you, not when your court is in danger… I understand that… and so I must ensure you are fit to fight.”
“What do you mean?” My eyebrows knitted as he gently laid his right palm over my heart and pressed his left one to his own chest.
He tilted his head and pressed his forehead to mine, our noses touching.
His eyes drifted shut, his body going still.
Words I didn’t understand fell from his lips, his voice soft and even, but somehow powerful.
I felt that power in me, unfurling from beneath his palm, threads of it running through the very fibre of my being.
The lingering aches where I had been struck but not cut thanks to my armour began to fade as that power built, as it flowed to my fingertips and my toes, until it filled every inch of me.
I realised what he was doing.
He was forging a temporary bond between our magic, one that tied his blood to mine, allowing his strength and magic to flow into me to replenish what I had lost.
“No, Kael.” I placed my hand over his, trying to pull it from my chest. “You’ll weaken yourself.”
“Only a little, my love. I will only give a little,” he whispered, “even when I would give every drop of myself if it would guarantee your safety.”
He broke contact with me just when I thought he might do that, sacrificing himself for my sake, severing the magical ties between us.
But what remained?
Instant power up.
If this was only a little of his power, I wasn’t sure how he managed to contain it all. I felt incredible. Invincible.
I looked into his eyes, needing to know this really was only a fraction of his power, needing to know he hadn’t left himself vulnerable for my sake.
The shadow wings remained sturdy, curling around me like a protective shield, an embrace that warmed me, and his gaze was just as steady as he looked at me, no trace of tiredness in it.
His little smirk heated my blood. “Does my queen like that?”
“Uh, yeah. A girl could get used to feeling this powerful.” I rolled my shoulders, revelling in it.
That smirk widened into a grin. “You shall come into your power, and when you do, you will match mine. I am sure of it. There will be no queen in this realm as formidable as mine.”
He looked over his shoulder as he lowered his wings.
I looked there too.
The Winter Court had finally arrived, their pale blue armour easy to spot among the white and the black. I couldn’t see Rhyn, but I knew he was out there, the male behind those jagged spears of ice that protruded from the battlefield in several places.
Kaeleron took my hand and darkness embraced me, receding to reveal Jenavyr and Malachi where they fought side by side against a small contingent of Summer Court soldiers.
Apparently, his sister had only needed to see Riordan would be fine in order to regain her composure and return to the battlefield.
Kaeleron didn’t look at all pleased about that and I had the feeling he had hoped she would remain away from it, safe at the camp.
He released me and unleashed his shadows, joining them and taking down two males at once, and I summoned my solar blade.
Only it sputtered out before it even finished forming.
I stared at my hand.
“Kael.” I lifted my head.
And growled as he disappeared and I found myself standing where I had been before, facing the woods.
This time when I turned around to face the battlefield, I wasn’t alone.
“Sister.” Lorien inclined his head.
I readied my dagger. “I thought I told you not to call me that.”
My gaze remained fixed on him even as I sensed the two other males. I refused to take my eyes off him. The power that rolled off them in tangible waves told me all I needed to know. They were warlocks.
I was going to need that power up that Kaeleron had given me.
“Do not worry. It will be the last time you hear it, because here is where you die.” Lorien grinned at me, making the blood that had dried on his skin flake and fall to his chest.
He must have taken some serious blows at some point, because his plate armour was gone, replaced with lighter leather armour in white and gold. No wonder I hadn’t been able to spot him. He had wised up and changed into clothing that would allow him to blend with his men.
“It’ll be the last time I hear it because here is where you die.” I lunged at him, throwing my left hand out towards the warlock on that side as I thrust my dagger at Lorien.
A wall of golden light burst from my hand, deflecting the spell the warlock launched at me, and I ducked and shifted course as Lorien swung his blade at me. It cut through the air above my head and I twisted my dagger, slashing across his hip. Making contact.
The blade sliced through the white leather but struck metal beneath it.
I rolled as he brought his sword down, out of the path of it. It hit the ground with a dull thud but then he twisted it, bringing it up at my back as I shoved to my feet.
Shadows sliced between us, hurling Lorien away from me.
“Three on one is a little unfair, is it not?” Kaeleron drawled as he stalked towards us. “But perhaps it is the only way a weak little prince can win a fight against my glorious queen.”
Lorien turned on him with a vicious, low growl, bearing jagged teeth as gold banded across his eyes and stained his claw-tipped fingers.
“Letting our beasts out, are we?” Kaeleron grinned, revealing his own sharp fangs as his lips darkened towards black and inky night branched from his crimson eyes. His skin paled, as white as moonlight, and his features sharpened, his pointed ears lengthening as his darker side came to the fore.
My glorious king.
I held my own beast back, the memories of what I had done while it had controlled me filling me with the fear I might hurt someone I cared about if I let it out again.
Lorien and Kaeleron moved at the same time, launching at each other, and I hurled an orb of solar magic at Lorien before he could reach Kael.
It slammed into his shoulder, his focus fixed on Kaeleron so intently that he didn’t see it coming.
Lorien grunted as it spun him around and scorched the leather protecting his chest, leaving it black.
It cracked as he recovered, twisting back towards Kaeleron, meeting him head on as Kaeleron swung his sword at him. Lorien lifted his own blade and sparks drove back the darkness as they clashed.
The rain grew heavier, turning the hillside slick as I launched at one of the warlocks as he raised his hands. Solar light punched back the darkness again as a spear formed in my hand as I realised I wouldn’t reach him in time and I thrust it forwards with one hand.
Driving it deep into the robed male’s shoulder.