Chapter 88
Andrian’s sword slipped between the mudae’s ribs. The creature snarled, putrid breath hitting Andrian’s face. It slid to the ground with a wet thump.
But when he killed one, two more took its place.
His lungs burned, shoulders aching as he deflected the clicking claws of the next demon. His blade found the delicate flesh of its wings, and with its distracted screams, he cleaved its head from its body.
They were vicious creatures. Heartless and animalistic in the way they fought. But their aggressive savagery was what made them easy to kill.
There were just so fucking many of them.
One of Matheo’s arrows thunked into the eye of the next mudae rushing him, buying Andrian a moment to catch his breath.
His gaze bounced around the clearing. Mariah and Kol were still locked in their duel, her sword and dagger raised against his weapons of shadow.
Matheo fired volley after volley, his aim always hitting the mark.
The progress was slow, but Andrian was moving forward. To where Sebastian and Ciana knelt in the ashes, straining against their binds.
“Get to Seb and Cee.” Those had been the last words Mariah had pushed to him down their bond, moments before she’d launched at the god. Ydros had retreated into the woods the moment chaos struck, Donnet and Shawth following him.
Fucking cowards.
Andrian knew why Mariah had ordered him to release their friends. Not only to get Ciana away from the carnage, but because they needed Sebastian’s sword arm. The mudae continued to multiply, black ichor splattering Andrian’s face as he cleaved yet another in two.
He gritted his teeth, shadows pooling around his wrists, and pressed toward the edge of the clearing.
His world constricted until it was nothing more than leathery wings, the clash of serrated claws, and the blow of foul, snarling breath.
He couldn’t think about Mariah. He had to keep these demons away to allow her to focus on her own fight.
Protect her back so she could do what they had come there to do.
Finish this.
Andrian’s sword carved another path through the stomach of a mudae. Its gray skin opened, black entrails squelching to the ash-littered grass. It snarled one final time, claws clicking and wings shuddering, before it collapsed, lifeless.
Andrian raised his sword. But there were no more mudae.
There was now nothing but a few feet of scourged earth between himself and their two bound friends.
Ciana whimpered softly and Sebastian tried to yell something past his gag.
Those sounds shook the haze of battle from Andrian, his shadows snapping back under his skin.
He shot forward, sliding to his knees in the grass as he unsheathed his dagger from his hip.
In a single clean movement, he severed Sebastian’s bindings, the rope falling to the ground.
“Sword.” Sebastian’s voice was clipped, not wasting any breath. Andrian pulled his extra blade from his hip, pushing the hilt into his brother’s hands.
Sebastian surged to his feet. There was a snarl and a soft grunt as the blade sank into the chest of a mudae, clicking claws still reaching for Andrian’s exposed back.
“Thanks,” Andrian huffed.
Sebastian nodded grimly. But he said nothing, his gaze instead darting over Andrian’s shoulder. He rushed forward, dropping to the grass.
Andrian didn’t need to be asked. He simply handed his dagger to Sebastian. The other man quickly severed Ciana’s bindings, pulling her roughly against his chest. Her broken sobs cracked louder, Sebastian’s grip on her shoulders tight as he buried his face in her wild golden curls.
“I’m sorry,” he murmured. “I am so, so sorry, Ciana.”
Ciana sniffled one more time before pushing against Sebastian’s chest, pulling away from him just enough to meet his stare.
They paused like that for a moment, chests heaving, as if none of the battle and chaos raged around them.
As if they had slipped into their own little world, free of the madness of this one.
Ciana surged forward, flinging her arms around Sebastian’s neck. Their kiss was fierce and desperate and urgent, as if trying to say so many things but unable to find the words to voice them.
Andrian glanced away, granting them what little privacy he could.
His heart squeezed. He knew—better than anyone—what Sebastian was feeling at this moment.
An intoxicating blend of happiness and madness and rage and terror, swallowing and shifting his world to fit the person now orbiting at its center.
His gaze locked on Mariah across the clearing, swords clashing with Kol’s on equal, traded blows. She had a small slice across her cheek, another on her forearm, but he felt no pain from their bond. Just that cold, calculated fury, that rage that was woven into the very core of her essence.
It took everything in him not to lunge across the clearing to her side. To help her end this for good.
But that wasn’t what she’d commanded of him. And after the words she’d sliced him with earlier that day, he couldn’t bring it upon himself to disobey.
He knew she needed this kill. Knew she needed it to be her own and not shared with anyone else. Not even him.
A bone-chilling screech sliced through the air. It yanked Andrian’s attention from the dueling Mariah and Kol, up toward the sky.
Where a second squadron of mudae banked over the trees, claws clicking.
“Fuck.” Andrian jumped to his feet. Sebastian and Ciana broke apart but still gripped each other tightly. Sebastian scanned the tree line with a grim set to his brow.
“I have to get her out of here.”
“We need your help. To fight.”
“I can’t leave her defenseless, Andrian.”
Gods, did Andrian understand. If it weren’t for his ever-present bond with Mariah, the constant assurance that she still fought, that she was better than Kol, he would be doing the exact same.
There had to be another way. Some other way to get Ciana to safety, but also keep Sebastian there fighting by their sides—
Something moved across the clearing. A figure stepped into the sunlight, a young woman with thin shoulders and long, unbound brown hair. Her white robes were tattered and dirty and stained with a splatter of ruby blood, but her face was clear and open and more awake than he’d ever seen before.
Anniliese Hareth.
The girl’s gaze flitted around the clearing—to the dead bodies of mudae, to Matheo firing arrow after arrow into the oncoming squadron, to the queen and the god locked in their deadly duel. Finally, her attention swung to Andrian. Her brow hardened and she gave a sharp nod, glancing at Ciana.
She lifted a hand, beckoning.
Sebastian stood, spine stiff. Ciana rose with him, tucked tightly to his side, trembling slightly.
Andrian gripped Ciana’s shoulder, her wide amber eyes meeting his.
“Go to her,” Andrian said. “She can get you out of here.”
“Wait,” Sebastian growled. “How are you sure we can trust her?”
Andrian hesitated. The last time he’d seen Anniliese, she’d been at Khento, a captive of Ksee’s and Kol’s. He’d extended his hand then, offering to take her from that nightmare. She’d refused.
But not because she felt any allegiance to them. She’d wanted to stay because she wanted to be there when they met their end.
Something told him that Anniliese had left the life of a Royal behind the moment she’d uncovered the fire in her veins.
Andrian met Sebastian’s hard glare. “Do you trust me, brother?”
Emotion—too complicated to name—flickered in Sebastian’s face. “I do. Of course, I do.”
Andrian nodded at Anniliese. The screeches of the approaching mudae grew louder. “Then you can trust her. That much, I swear to you.”
Sebastian hesitated just a moment longer. He looked down at Ciana.
“Go,” he said, repeating Andrian’s words. “Run. Deep into the woods. And don’t stop until you hear nothing but the birds.”
“But…what about—”
“I’ll be fine, Goldie.” Sebastian’s expression softened. “I’m an Armature. Fighting demons for my queen is what I was born to do.”
Ciana sniffed, nodding again. Sebastian kissed her softly, one more time. He hoisted Andrian’s sword in his right hand, nodding toward Anniliese. “Get somewhere safe, Ciana. I will find you when this is all over.”
Ciana choked back one final sob but gathered her ragged skirts in her hand.
She raced across the edge of the clearing, golden curls bouncing behind her.
The Royal-turned-priestess grabbed Ciana’s hand, mouth moving with urgent words.
The two women vanished into the trees, racing through the underbrush.
To safety.
Andrian could feel the moment the revelation struck Sebastian. His shoulder’s pushed back, his grip tightening on the sword. His gaze found Matheo—his blood brother—in the center of the clearing, still firing arrows.
The first of the mudae landed. Matheo dropped his bow, drawing his blade.
Kol cursed, low and vicious, as Mariah landed another blow. A zing of victory raced down their bond, tugging a smile to Andrian’s lips.
“Let’s finish this.”
Sebastian nodded grimly. “I’m right behind you, brother.”
They launched into the fray as the squadron landed in the clearing.