28. Thalia
THALIA
T he foul taste of darkling blood lingered in my mouth, and I spit more of it on the ground. Gray fur was swallowed by black mist as I shifted back to my immortal form and gestured toward a warrior who’d been skewered by a darkling before I’d torn its head from its body. “Get her to the healers!”
I turned my gaze to the front lines. Our defenses had been solid, flame wielders burning darklings to dust before they could reach us, but the first hour passed, then the second.
..then the third. The defensive wall was failing, the flame wielders’ fire magic sputtering out before darklings surged to the break in the line and devoured them.
I could hear the screams of agony as they were torn apart, and it was in those moments that I cursed our sensitive hearing.
He’s not among them... It isn’t him.
I paused for a breath, my own magic waning, my heart depleting of the hope I’d clung to over the countless hours we had fought. I might be able to shift once or twice more, but after that, I would be spent. We couldn’t keep this up much longer.
My hand rose to the chest of my leather armor, feeling the hum of magic in my binding tattoo, the faint presence of Micah still lingering within the ink. He was all right, he was alive...but I didn’t have the same comforting proof of Lucia’s safety, nor Damien’s… Barrett’s.
The beast growled deep within me as a shriek pierced the hot air, and I swung my sword at a charging darkling, slicing through it before turning to cut down another.
Don’t die on me, beasty.
Rhyas’ words flitted across my thoughts, the request I held close to my heart, the one promise I refused to break. I would not fall here; I would not have survived everything I had to die by these creatures’ claws. I would not let his and Kish’s sacrifices be for nothing.
I would get through this, find my bonded, my friends, and I would live to enjoy the other side of this hell.
Familiar yips of the Lupai reached my ears and I turned to find Damien through the chaos, warriors cutting down darklings at his side, his Lupai tackling more of the creatures in quick succession.
“Damien!” I cried out in relief.
His eyes found mine, and he offered me a smile. “Glad to see you’re still alive.”
“The feeling is mutual.”
“I want that defensive wall fortified!” Damien shouted to his warriors as they worked through the darklings. “Today is not the day we fall!”
I shoved down the desire to ask him if he had seen Barrett, of how Lucia was faring before they had separated. If he hadn’t said anything, they had to be all right. Right?
The Lupai whimpered at his side, shaking their heads and blinking, and Damien looked down at them, his brows furrowing. One of them stumbled forward, their whimper shifting into a growl.
“Damien?” I said, taking a step back. Other warriors took notice, exchanging nervous looks.
“No,” Damien muttered as, one by one, the Lupai started to growl, their heads dropping low as they stalked toward me, toward other warriors.
Damien cursed and threw his hand out, shadows converging beneath him before the Lupais’ forms rippled. They didn’t vanish, though, didn’t disintegrate as they usually did when he dismissed them.
“What’s going on?” I shouted as they turned on him, their red eyes glowing with malice.
“They’re being influenced by her,” he said through gritted teeth, sweat dotting his brow as he focused his attention on them. Two of them vanished, but that still left ten deadly creatures who could tear us apart .
I readied my sword as one of them turned their red gaze on me, but it was pointless. They could solidify and disintegrate their bodies at will, leaving our physical weapons powerless, and I couldn’t wield the kind of magic they were vulnerable to.
One of the shadow wolves leapt for Damien. He cursed as he raised his arm to block it, the creature’s fangs sinking into his flesh.
“Resist her!” he commanded, and the other Lupai whimpered, cowering back a few paces, as if his voice might’ve weakened her influence. The Lupai before him didn’t back down, though, tearing into his arm as if he was its enemy.
No! This couldn’t be happening. We couldn’t afford to lose them, couldn’t fight them too. I ran toward him, desperate to help him in any way, even if it meant facing one of the terrifying creatures.
Light enveloped Damien, and I slid to a stop as the Lupai released his arm, falling back before disintegrating. The other Lupai bristled as a light magic wielder emerged from the fighting, his silver hair tinged with blood.
Damien took the chance to throw his hand through the air, attempting to dismiss them once more, and they all vanished. His shoulders sagged and he dropped to his knees, panting, his arm falling limp at his side.
The torrent sounds of the battlefield rushed from my ears, a new wave of fear overcoming me at the thought of losing the Lupai to the darkling queen, of what little advantage against the darklings we had lost. Damien’s eyes burned into the ground where he knelt, momentarily lost, and I rushed for him, as did the Leukós user.
Damien waved us off, his arm bloodied but functioning.
“You should get that checked out, Lord Damien,” the warrior said as he inspected his arm.
“There’s no time,” Damien said, sweat coating his brow as he pulled his arm away and forced himself to his feet.
His weary eyes rose to the front lines, and for a moment, I saw a dangerous look of terrified acceptance within them—the kind of look one held when facing death was their only means of escape.
As one of the few powerful warriors standing between the dark death tearing down our front lines and his mate.
..I feared he very well could be contemplating something stupid.
“If we fall back, we lose the front lines.
”We couldn’t afford that, couldn’t afford to lose any more ground than we already had. No more darklings could get through; we had to give the warriors a break, allow them to clear out what had already breached the wall of flame wielders.
Damien looked skyward, and I followed his gaze to the black cloud of winged creatures overtaking the sky. My heart plummeted.
“She’s nearby. It’s the only way she could have taken control of the Lupai,” Damien muttered. “And now ,she’s summoned the Coronis.”
The Coronis—a mass of winged shadow beasts that promised one of the most painful deaths. They were fearsome creatures, their beaks sharp, their talons just as deadly, and my stomach twisted at the thought of them descending on us.
“I’ll defend against them!” the Leukós user shouted before disappearing into the battle once more. Were there other Leukós users still standing?
“Thalia, with me!” Damien ordered, charging the short distance toward the front lines.
I shook the tremors from my hands, gripping the hilt of my sword tighter, and followed him.