Chapter 34
My twin sister stands behind the fallen man. She wears a pair of men’s breeches, her camisole tucked. A leather cord holds the trousers up. There are a few dirt and grass stains, but no blood. Her long red hair whips across her face as she stares down at the convulsing corpse.
What is she doing here?
“Ferria?” I step around my attacker and slowly reach out to take her hand. “Hey… Look at me.”
She drags her glassy eyes up. She’s in shock.
I squeeze her fingers. “You saved me.”
Her chest heaves. Then she releases a shaky breath and squeezes my fingers back. “Y-you’re okay?”
I nod. “You?”
“I’m fine.” She swallows thickly, then rolls back her shoulders. “Where have you been?”
I frown.
Does she not know?
I keep my voice even when I say, “I was locked in the barracks’ prison.”
She stiffens. “What?”
I shake my head and squeeze her hand again. “I’ll explain later. Right now, let’s get out of here.”
I turn to assess the clearing.
Half of the human soldiers who had been fighting when I arrived are gone. But so, too, are several Fae. Only, they didn’t leave behind bodies.
And I suspect I know why.
“This way.” Ferria tugs my hand, leading me toward the opulent tent.
She steps carefully around the fallen humans.
We don’t make it five feet before fingers slide into my hair and agony radiates over my scalp. I scream as I’m yanked back.
“Lara!” Ferria shouts.
Another soldier tackles Ferria, wrapping meaty arms around her and dragging her away.
“No!” she cries.
“Ferria!” I claw at my captor’s grip, drawing blood.
“AH!” he screams. “Bitch!”
He knees my back. My muscles spasm, and I collapse. Before I can hit the ground, the man hauls me against his chest. Magic flies to my sore muscles, flowing between the striated tissue to alleviate the worst of my pain.
Wait…my magic!
I draw my power forward, coaxing it from my veins, urging it to the surface of my skin.
Movement catches my attention. Soldiers flee into the forest’s dark depths, shouting commands that are lost in the chaos.
Relief that some men will survive this atrocious mistake flickers in my mind before all thoughts except freeing myself fade.
Power continues to rise.
Ferria shouts in pain.
Heat surges within me until it is so intense, so all-encompassing, that I cannot hold it in anymore.
One second, I blink away pained tears caused by the strike to my back. The next, I explode.
White light, scorching and volatile, shoots out of me in every direction. I squeeze my eyes shut. I don’t realize I’m screaming until my throat begins to ache.
But I don’t stop. I breathe through my nostrils and unleash another wave of power, another searing attack to burn my enemies to a crisp.
Masculine cries and screams fill the air. The arms holding me fall away.
I land on the ground, my palms sinking into something liquid and warm that would make my stomach churn if the organ wasn’t currently overwhelmed by the power pulsing through me.
The light continues. Screams echo against the trees.
I don’t know how long the moment lasts, how long magic flows out of my body like a human torch with endless kerosene.
But when the light does fade and I crack my eyelids open, bodies with charred holes puncturing their chests litter the ground, their skin and muscle dried husks of what they used to be.
I retch dryly, gagging, but then Ferria is there, clutching me, eyes wide with awe.
“Gods, Elara. That was…incredible.”
My gaze drops to her chest. “I didn’t hit you?”
“No,” she confirms. Her grip tightens. “I’m okay.”
My shoulders slump as fear I hadn’t given voice to flows out of me like water. “Good.”
“Let’s get off this field.” Ferria helps me stand.
With her arm around me, I hobble toward Darius’s tent.
Hooves thundering across the ground charge the air.
Ferria and I whirl around to see a group of stallions break through the trees.
The cavalry is here.
And at the front is none other than Lev. He charges across the clearing. Bones crunch and metal clangs as he stomps over his fallen brethren.
Is this a second wave of attack?
Idiots.
Surely they know they don’t stand a chance.
Because while the human soldiers were obliterated by my magic, the Fae soldiers were not. Like Ferria, my power left them unharmed.
“What is Lev doing?” Ferria asks. Her face pales.
I swallow. “He’s against the Fae… He knew I was locked in the dungeon.”
“WHAT?”
My reply is thwarted when, as one, the Fae turn toward the oncoming cavalry and lift their weapons.
Thick black clouds churn overhead, swallowing the clearing in an unnatural dusk. Lightning cracks across the sky, striking a tree with a deafening snap.
I flinch, every nerve on edge.
“Elara!”
The deep, urgent shout snatches my attention. I spin around. There, centered in the blood-soaked field, is Rian.
Where did he come from?
Shadows coil over the Fae’s arms, torso, and legs, pressed against him like living armor, a loyal serpent of darkness. His features vanish beneath the shifting black that forms a helmet, yet his silver eyes pierce through it all, locking onto me.
He stares at me as if he cannot believe I am here, as if he wasn’t aware of my presence this entire time.
My heart hammers, but it’s not just from fear.
Amid the terror, something unfamiliar stirs, a frantic heat that refuses to be ignored. I can’t look away. And he seems equally ensnared by me.
Rian’s silver gaze slides downward, taking in my dirt-streaked, torn gown. Malice flashes in his glowing irises.
I still, caught in the electricity of the moment, oblivious to everything else.
Until a flash of steel shatters it all.
Lev charges across the clearing, sword arm raised, gleaming in the fleeting light that pierces the storm clouds. And he’s riding toward Rian.
My breath stutters as an invisible force grips my lungs in an unforgiving vise.
“NO!” The word tears from me as the sword arcs downward, aimed at Rian’s exposed neck.
And my entire world narrows to the sharp, terrifying edge of that single descending blade.