Chapter 49
“ N o!” The scream tears from my throat as I rip away from Mira and sprint toward Katiya.
She blinks down at the blade, even as her legs give out and she falls to her knees. A Seelie of the Court of Fire looms behind her. They pull the sword free with a wet sound that’s a thing of nightmares.
No. No. This can’t happen. No!
An enraged roar from outside the shielded dome blankets all other sound. The ground shakes. I might have fallen if I wasn’t already dropping to my knees at Katiya’s side and reaching for her. She slumps heavily against me. Her swords have fallen from her hands to lie discarded on the ground.
“Katiya.” I cup her face, staring at her blinking eyes. “Katiya, please!”
I can’t lose her. I can’t. Not just for Elias but because I care about her too. And she never would have lost her focus if not for me.
Cries erupt from nearby, rolling out in a wave along with a burst of magic that I can feel through the shield. Mira lets out a wail of distress somewhere behind me. The shield wall flickers. The Seelie who attacked has fled.
“I—” Katiya’s brows scrunch. “You came back.” She coughs, spewing blood. Wet warmth soaks into my clothes at an alarming rate. “Elias.” She smiles, eyes gone cloudy and distant. “He…will be glad.”
“No, stay with me!” Panic spikes anew. I rock her in my arms, begging with all my soul.
Riven drops to his knees next to us. One gauntlet has already been pulled free. He presses his bare palm to her cheek, and his eyes drift closed. Magic shimmers in the air around us, raising the hair on my arms.
Katiya jerks alert, a sharp cry of pain falling from her lips.
He’s…healing her? I blink at him, hardly comprehending what I’m seeing. A Seelie King, healing an Unseelie. His cousin, yes, but one who almost killed him, as I understand it.
Her body jerks, sending another wave of warmth into my lap. Oh God.
Riven’s eyes flash open, and he grabs her shoulder, trying to hold her steady. “She was—” Another wave of cries erupts from outside the shield, which flickers under the onslaught of magic. “—almost gone.” The shield flies outward, expanding its reach.
“Mira!” Lysandir cries. “It’s too much!”
“—to her heart,” Riven is saying. “I don’t know if I can fix it alone.”
I gasp then, remembering the small vial tucked away in my pocket. The one bargaining chip that we brought but didn’t use.
Please don’t be broken.
I nearly cry as I pull it from my pocket and see the little bit of swirling violet still within. “Keep her still if you can,” I say. My hand shakes as I remove the cap, but I somehow still manage to bring it to her lips. “Katiya!”
She looks at me, bearing her fangs in a grimace of pain.
“You have to drink this!”
“That’s—” she rasps. “I—”
But I don’t give her a choice, bringing it to her lips and tipping a few of the precious drops into her mouth.
“Swallow!” I order over the growing chaos around us.
I pull the vial away, a few tiny drops remaining inside.
I may have used more than I should have, but it doesn’t matter, not if it helps.
I shove the cap on and thrust it back into my pocket.
A shiver races across her skin. She shudders, whole body jerking subtly from head to toe and then back up again.
Riven hisses in surprise. “That—”
“A healing potion,” I snap quickly.
“Incredible,” he says.
A little part of me smirks at that. And the Seelie always thought themselves superior. But when you can no longer rely on magical means, practical ones, natural ones, become so much more valued and honed.
Katiya pulls in a deep, shuddering breath. “That potion was for your brother.”
“He received it. And was healed.”
Her lips part in surprise. Her hand courses down her chest, stopping over the blood-soaked wound she received. “And I too,” she marvels. Her gaze shutters and slides to Riven. “You tried to save me, Forest King. Why?”
“The beginning of recompense,” he says solemnly. “I did not know we were so connected.”
Katiya’s nose twitches, and she stares at the king like he’s truly lost it.
“They don’t want a war,” I blurt. “Not anymore. We can stop this. But we have to get to Elias.”
Another blast of magic splashes against the shield. Mira cries out, Lysandir’s roar echoing it. The shield flickers dramatically, fading before reforming.
“Hurry.” Riven leaps to his feet and offers Katiya his hand. “Your brother must have seen you fall. Or”—he looks at me—"may think we’re holding Aimee captive.”
Shit. It really might look that way. This is Elias’s magic that’s been so devastating. I should have known. Maybe I did, deep down.
Katiya retrieves her blades and rolls her shoulders, as if she’s just relieving some tension and didn’t almost die a moment ago.
“You’re really okay?” I ask her.
She grins at me. “Better than.” The grin settles into determination. “I feel my brother’s power. He is close. Follow me.”
Katiya darts ahead, leaving me no choice but to follow.
“I’ll guard your back,” Riven calls, his voice nearly drowned by the clash of metal, grunts of pain, and bellows of fury.
The dome of magic moves with us, but we don’t make it far. We don’t have to.
A sob lodges in my throat when I see Elias.
He stands alone, no one else within twenty feet of him.
His sword glows with an eerie violet light, pulsing with soft beats that roll outward—maybe keeping others away or part of what has knocked them back.
He stalks with determination toward a group of Seelie, who fall back before him.
Some distance behind, Unseelie warriors shadow their king, advancing.
It’s like a grim painting in a museum of fine art—The March of Death, I’d call it.
Unseelie in all their viciousness, animalistic traits on full display, advancing toward the trembling Seelie host.
“Elias!” I cup my hands and scream as loud as my voice will let me. “Elias!”
I don’t think he’s heard me. But then he stops, his head whipping in my direction, pale hair spotted with blood fluttering behind him.
He’s here. He’s really here.
It takes everything I have not to run to him, to stay next to Katiya, who stands inside the edge of the protective shield. The armies halt, looking in the direction of the Unseelie King’s stare. Hundreds of eyes settle on us.
Elias vanishes, only to appear just outside the shield a moment later. I’ve barely registered his appearance before he lets out a roar and swings his sword into the shield.
“No!” I yell, but it’s too late.
Mira cries out, and so does Lysandir.
The shield shatters like glass, magic collapsing into mist.
“Elias!” His name is the only word I can form.
He breaths heavily, the kind that moves his entire form, as he stares at us, still gripping his blade. “You’re here.” Then to Katiya. “You’re alive?”
“Tell our people to stand down, brother,” Katiya says, cutting straight to the point.
Elias straightens, stepping back, my heart crying out as he does. “This is a Seelie trick. A trap.”
“No!” I rush forward, heedless of the danger. “We’re real. This is real!” I spread my arms wide. Around us, the fighting has almost stopped, but it wages beyond—the sound of battle continuing. “We can stop this war. Save countless lives! Stop fighting, and the Seelie will as well.”
There’s a pause so heavy I can feel the pressure of it on my chest.
Laughter, dark and damning, and so unlike the man I know, spills from the Unseelie King. “They would taunt me so.”