Chapter 26 #2
The roots wrapped and wrapped the majority of the gate, and the groan of hinges being bent and damaged, played a chorus of surrender as she stomped her foot again, and the door was pushed in.
“You’re amazing,” Liam murmured to her as he stepped up to her side.
He even went as far as to plant a kiss on the crown of her head.
Behind me, siren women started yelling. Screeching.
Shouting. A myriad of voices, powered by years of fear and dread finally being released on the people responsible.
Caelena and Sergei led everyone through the gates, followed by me and the hundreds of women.
The eleven guards? They were now pinned against the exterior wall, completely immobile and unable to free themselves.
I unsheathed my knife, allowing the adrenaline to course through my body.
To activate my fight or flight, to help as many women as I could.
As expected, there were dozens and dozens of siren soldiers waiting for us in the courtyard.
Martha had pinned a soldier about to attack me, against the wall of the courtyard, her sword tucked under his chin, when recognition flared, and he halted his struggle to address her by name.
She hesitated but kept the blade under his neck. The tense moment between them was heavy, and her blade had nicked his skin enough to cause a small trickle of blood to leak down his neck.
But he didn’t acknowledge it. His eyes stayed locked on her. Awestruck.
“Martha…my song?” he asked in a whisper.
Martha broke then, lowering her weapon. They couldn’t embrace, because someone else tried to fight her while her back was turned.
Martha’s mate didn’t need any other knowledge or reason. He just started fighting on our side, as did several others.
Many guards didn’t hesitate to attack us. To defend the estate. To defend their king. There was nothing else for the rebels to do, besides fight like hell.
Weaponizing hundreds of siren women to distract all of Ilia’s militia for me, I started running around the perimeter of the courtyard.
I needed to get inside. To find Drustan.
But I knew I couldn’t just walk in through the main door; it was too guarded. I’d be cut down immediately by Ilia’s men. I snuck around hedges and statues, making it to the side of the estate.
Windows were locked. A side door was bolted shut. The farther I got from the battle, the more split in two I became.
I needed to find Drustan, but I couldn’t abandon Audrey and Caelena, either. Audrey released a loud screech, and fear raced down my spine as I jogged back toward the main fight, brainstorming ways to help while not getting in the way.
A blond siren soldier, with his mask down, appeared as soon as I re-entered the courtyard. His gold gaze was terrifying, and his grimace as he swung his sword reminded me just how useless I was in this setting.
“Shit!” I cried, barely dodging his blade as I ran away.
He chased me and grabbed my hair, before throwing me on the ground.
The air was knocked out of my lungs, and right when he lifted his sword to spear me, Caelena was suddenly there, hitting the back of his head with the handle of her own blade.
His eyes closed, and his body dropped to the ground in a dramatic thump.
A woman and another soldier approached, fighting each other with their own knives. Blocking blows, striking others.
While still on my back, I tightened my grip on my knife.
Call to Drustan! Caelena shouted in my mind before vocalizing, “Now!”
“He won’t hear me!” I shouted back, slashing the back of the knees of the soldier the woman was fighting. He yelped, fell to his knees, and allowed her to take a knife to his shoulder. She twisted, before ripping the knife out and slashing him across the throat.
Blood splattered on me from the move, and I did my best to move on from it as quickly as possible. Perhaps that was all I could do. Avoid engaging in one-on-one battles myself but assist whoever I stumbled upon.
Caelena laughed darkly, shouting, “The prince will hear you just fine!”
I shook my head, “How? He’s not—whoa!” I dodged the blade of a sword as a woman sliced toward a siren soldier obviously doing his best not to cause real harm to her.
The soldier looked very conflicted. This was good.
I finally got to my feet, losing track of where Caelena was, when she shouted at me again.
“Call to him, Van! He needs your voice!” Caelena was suddenly pinned against the wall by a soldier, who reached for a blade on his hip. I started sprinting toward her, but she was quick.
She had already grasped the blade he reached for and sliced his neck with it. He screeched, gargling, grasping his throat. Lifting her legs, she kicked him off of her and left him on the ground to heal.
“I’ve been mentally calling to Drustan the entire time.” Caelena was covered in blood, dirt, and bruises. She looked ragged. Her blonde braid was coming apart. “And for some reason, all I’m hearing back from him is your name.”
The sound of footsteps approached me from behind, and Caelena glared at whoever was charging me. I ducked right as she lifted her arm to swing. The sound of a man groaning and collapsing behind me made me turn to see a soldier grasping for his bloodied throat.
“You have a very specific style,” I muttered to her. She clasped my arm and pulled me up, dragging me behind the stone statue of Queen Astrid to take a breather while the fight continued.
“Our voices are sensitive,” she pointed to her neck as she spoke to me. “If a siren attacks you, slicing their throat is the best way to both stun and retreat. It takes a bit longer to heal than other injuries.”
I nodded frantically, “Go for the jugular. Got it.”
“Call for Drustan—mentally, if you can.” Caelena looked fierce, like a true warrior. “Do it.”
Drustan! I tried to mentally shout. How the hell did you raise the noise level of a thought? The concept seemed so foreign to me.
“Louder!” Caelena pushed us down as a soldier was flung over our heads.
His body hit the walls of the estate with a crunching thunk, before he fell into the perfectly trimmed rose bushes.
He didn’t move, so Caelena turned back to me to say something else, before her gaze caught something over my shoulder and widened.
I turned to see what grabbed her attention, and cursed when I saw Ilia himself, perfectly groomed beard and hair, marching toward Audrey, Liam, and Sergei in the center of the courtyard. The three of them were fighting Leon’s sister, Amber.
“Fuck.” I turned back to Caelena. “You have to help them.”
“I will.” She stood and pointed an accusing finger at me. “But we need Drustan. His mating instincts to protect you are invaluable to us right now. Call him.”
“Okay!” I nodded as she sprinted off, snagging daggers and knives off the bloodied bodies of sirens. I couldn’t tell who had died and who was just healing. I couldn’t feel my own heartbeat, just an ache in my chest where I was unable to process the adrenaline of this moment.
Drustan, I called in my head. We need you. Come help us.
I tried to focus on him but wasn’t sure I even knew how to do that.
I just pictured him in that video, thrashing against his restraints. Looking the most feral I had ever seen him. Staying hidden behind the statue, I peered to the side to see how my friends were doing.
All four of them were fighting Ilia.
The other soldiers and women were busy fighting themselves, but I grinned at the sight of the four-to-one battle happening with the man who needed to die the most, whereas Amber was now up against several siren women.
Fury coated her expression as she slashed and slashed and quickly became cornered.
“You got this,” I muttered to everyone.
Audrey was shouting, her hair a mess, her clothing torn, as she orchestrated her hands enough to conduct the power of nature to her will. Roots and thorns and branches danced around everyone, targeting the Siren King.
But Ilia was fast and strong.
As soon as a branch as thick as my leg lifted to strike him, he would turn and grasp the branch with his bare hand, crushing the wood with his single grip.
Drustan, Drustan, Drustan, I started chanting in my head.
“I should have killed you years ago,” Ilia spat at Caelena, who shouted at him with a swing of her knife. It landed true, right in his shoulder, but Ilia shook her off with no more than a wince.
Holy shit.
Ilia was too powerful.
“You!” Ilia pointed an accusing finger at Sergei, who halted his charge with a pained expression.
Sergei was frozen, wide-eyed, and trembling.
No!
“Take care of the fae!” Ilia ordered. I stared in horror as Sergei immediately turned and raised his sword toward Liam.
“No!” Audrey screamed, frantically pulling more roots and vines to the frontlines. Liam yelled as he blocked a lethal blow from Sergei. The two of them were pushed out of Ilia’s space in their own fight.
“Kill the fae!” Ilia instructed Sergei. Sergei shook his head, wincing, screaming, but his body remained dutiful to the king. Striking Liam again and again, almost frantically.
Liam, wide-eyed with horror, kept up his defense.
Ilia just used his sinndra on Sergei. Ilia just used his sinndra on Sergei.
“Drustan, we need you,” I spoke, wondering if my voice would be better than mentally shouting for him. “I—I need you.” Watching, terrified for my friends, I immediately started clawing at the dirt at my feet. Desperate.
“You’re right. You should have killed me,” Caelena growled back at Ilia, focusing his attention on her. “Now, you’ll be the one to die first.” She raised her sword at the same time Audrey’s roots circled Ilia’s neck.
But he fought them.
Stepping toward Caelena regardless of the bounds Audrey created, he grabbed Caelena’s blade with his bare hand. Ignoring the blood oozing from his grip, he used his other hand to grab her hood and tug it down, angling his lips toward her ears as he muttered to her.
“Kill the halfling.”
Caelena stilled.
“No,” I whispered, clawing at the dirt more and more, loosening it up. I started to spit in the pile I made, but my mouth was so dry, it wasn’t enough. I eventually lifted a pile of dirt in my palms and shoved it in my mouth, desperate to moisten it enough.
Audrey’s eyes were frantic, desperate to keep an eye on Liam as he fought off Sergei the best he could, while also watching as Caelena stiffened and fought against Ilia’s sinndra with all her might.
It’s up to you, Van! Caelena’s voice echoed in my head. Don’t you get it? You’re the only one who can release Drustan!
I shook my head. I’m trying!
Try harder! Caelena shouted, making my ears ring.
Spitting out the dirt, I started to shove the moistened clay into my ears. As much as I could fit, praying that it would be enough to protect me from Ilia’s lethal voice.
Suddenly, everyone started to slow. Grunts and shouts were stalling in the air. Everyone around me was falling motionless in unnatural positions, as if someone hit pause on a movie.
Then the world started to change.