Chapter 91
The mudae would not stop coming.
Sebastian was exhausted. He was starving.
He couldn’t remember the last time he’d eaten a full meal or slept through the night or done anything beyond the bare minimum it took to keep himself alive.
His limbs were still heavy from whatever drug Ydros had used to knock him unconscious, his mind still shrouded in a lethargic haze.
But he had trained his entire life for moments like this.
They’d known that battle wouldn’t always find them at their best. They needed to be so sure in their abilities, so confident in their skills, that even when weak or sick or injured they could be the force they needed to be to protect and serve their queen.
So that was what Sebastian did.
His arms burned as he brought his sword down, the honed metal slicing through the monster’s abdomen. It hissed and shrieked, black blood leaking from its wound, collapsing in the grass.
Two more shoved forward, eager to take its place.
Sebastian grunted, blocking a slashing blow from the first, hissing as he dodged the strike from the second. Beside him, Andrian was a whirling maelstrom of shadows and steel and death. A trail of scaled, winged bodies was in his wake, and black blood splattered his hard, expressionless face.
He had no idea how Andrian was here. When he’d managed to escape Khento, how long he’d been reunited with Mariah. It could’ve been only minutes or hours, or maybe even days or weeks.
Those questions could be answered when this fight was done. Right now, Sebastian was just thankful to have him battling at his side.
When it came to this—this close combat, this cacophony of raging battle—Andrian had always been the best among them.
Andrian’s sword flashed, severing the clawed limb of a mudae who was less than a foot from plunging the serrated edge into Sebastian’s thigh.
He met the other man’s hard stare, gasping for a breath. Andrian only nodded before throwing himself back into the fray.
Sebastian had no choice but to follow.
He sliced through monster after monster. Their screams wrapped around him, cocooning him in the chaos.
There were moments of brief reprieve every few minutes as the next group of mudae dropped from the sky. In those fleeting seconds, Sebastian couldn’t stop his gaze from drifting back to the tree line.
Where he’d last seen Ciana sprinting toward Anniliese Hareth, wild golden hair bouncing around her shoulders and tears streaming down her cheeks.
Would that be his last image of her? Terrified and running for a stranger?
He shook his head, gritting his teeth. Three more mudae thudded to the earth in front of him.
No. That would not be the last time he saw her.
It wouldn’t be the last time he’d taste the honeysuckle on her lips.
She would get through the forest, would hide somewhere safe with the Royal priestess.
When this was all over, he would see her again, just like he’d promised.
What would come after that…well, they would figure it out. And they would be happy for the chance to do so.
Sebastian blocked an attack from the monster snarling in his face. The beast hopped back, hissing, before lunging forward. Sebastian’s sharp blade sliced across the front of its knees, sending it lurching to the ground with a scream.
He wasted no time slitting its throat before moving onto the next one.
But it wasn’t just one. Three mudae stood before him, snarling maws dripping, lips curled back in the mockery of a smile. Andrian was occupied, currently facing a group of five on his own.
Sebastian wasn’t given the chance to feel fear before the first one launched.
It came claws first, blood curdling scream splitting the air. Sebastian caught its sickle-shaped claw on his blade, sparks flying. He swung the sword, a sick satisfaction filling his chest as it sank to the hilt into the monster’s gut.
Until pain speared through him, hot and burning.
Sebastian bit back his cry, ripping his sword from the mudae. He whirled, hissing at the pain radiating up his leg.
One of the three demons had slipped behind him. Its serrated claws dripped with Sebastian’s red blood, foul lips smiling. It looked like it was about to speak in that grating, croaking way they did.
Sebastian didn’t give it a chance. Loosening a hiss of pain past his clenched teeth, he lunged forward, slicing through the mudae’s neck.
That was one positive to these things. Though they were foul and numerous and wielded claws as weapons, they were remarkably easy to kill.
Probably why Kol threw them forth whenever he needed a distraction. They were expendable and replaceable. Perfect for padding the ranks of any army.
The third and final mudae lurched forward, eyes narrowed to slits. Sebastian, this time, chose to make the first move. His blade was a blur of silver steel as it met the creature’s thin wings, crippling it before he slid the sword through its heart.
It collapsed, leaving Sebastian breathless but with a moment to collect himself.
He glanced down at his calf. His pants were saturated with sticky blood, pain pulsing with every limping step he took, but it wasn’t deep.
It was an inconvenience and did not help his other physical weaknesses at the moment, but he would not die.
Not from that, anyway.
Andrian finished off the last of the group he faced. More mudae cried overhead, signaling they were about to drop. Their reprieve was almost over.
Across the clearing, a battle still raged. In the last few moments of stillness, Sebastian’s gaze locked on Mariah as she and Kol spun in their vicious, deadly dance.
He didn’t know how she still did it. How she was still fighting, still moving, still standing.
He was exhausted, weariness weighing down on him like a leaden brick, but her moves had only slowed a fraction.
Blood welled from a few small slices on her skin, but she was otherwise unharmed, her face set with grim determination.
Sebastian was about to turn back to ready himself for the next wave of their onslaught, when his attention landed on her wrists.
Spiraling, opalescent tattoos glowed and pulsed against her tanned skin. He couldn’t make out the design, but something about it raised the hair on the back of his neck. When had she gotten those? And who had put them there?
He wasn’t sure he wanted to know the answer, but he knew the fear curdling in his chest would eventually demand one.
If they survived this.
“Sebastian.” Andrian’s low growl tore Sebastian’s stare from Mariah.
He met his friend’s gaze, noting the way they also bounced between him and their queen.
Andrian swallowed thickly, as if he knew exactly what Sebastian was thinking.
Beneath his icy exterior lurked so much fear, it nearly punched Sebastian in the chest.
“We need to focus,” Andrian continued, voice low. His eyes lifted to the sky. “We have to get to Matheo and finish these fuckers. Then we can help Mariah.”
Matheo. The name clanged through Sebastian like the tolling of a bell.
The guilt swallowed him next.
In all the madness, somehow he’d forgotten about his baby brother. They were all a family, but he only shared blood with one of them.
The same one who now stood in the center of the clearing, his bow discarded at his feet. Black blood smattered his face as he swung his blade, slicing through the neck of a mudae. He was skilled with a sword, as they all were, but the bow was his weapon.
Sebastian also understood with a jolt why Andrian needed to get to him. If they were going to stand any chance of holding off the demon onslaught, they needed Matheo’s bow to cover their backs while they wielded blades.
Sebastian nodded. The pain in his leg had dulled to a throb, a nuisance but one he could manage. “I’m ready.”
The next wave of mudae descended, as if they’d been waiting for his words.
Sebastian and Andrian launched before the demons even touched the earth, their swords carving a path of dark blood and leaving behind a trail of twitching limbs.
The world around Sebastian blurred, silent save for the rushing of blood in his ears and the beat of his heart in his chest. Instincts took control, his mind stepping back so his body could do what it knew.
He forgot the pain in his leg, that last desperate look in Ciana’s face, the eerie pulsing tattoos on Mariah’s wrists.
He forgot everything, save for the swing of his sword and the final cries of the mudae as they died.
Until suddenly, it wasn’t a mudae in front of him.
A very familiar, very human back greeted Sebastian. His grip slipped on his sword, wet with foul, black blood. Andrian halted beside him, panting heavily as he felled the last of the mudae.
There would be more, but they’d earned another respite.
“Matheo,” Sebastian croaked, his voice hoarse from exertion and dehydration. His chest burned, limbs trembling, but he couldn’t think about any of that.
They had a battle to win.
His younger brother whirled, sword lifted between them. The point was leveled at Sebastian’s chest.
Matheo’s eyes flew wide, his blade thumping to the ground.
“Sebastian.” His voice almost had the lilt of a laugh as relief sagged through Matheo, then elation. He took a staggering step, then apparently decided there wasn’t time for walking, because the next thing Sebastian knew, his brother was slamming into him with a heavy, crushing hug.
“I missed you, brother,” Matheo said, voice muffled as he burrowed his face into Sebastian’s shoulder. Sebastian wavered, trying to hold his balance steady, dropping his own sword to the ground. His arms wrapped around Matheo, holding his brother to him tightly.
“I missed you, too,” he whispered, because that was all he could manage. Emotion clogged his already raw and ragged throat. He hadn’t realized seeing his brother again, battling in the midst of all this, would swell so much inside him.
The guilt was back, too. When had he last even spared a thought for Matheo? Had it been weeks? Months?
He vowed he would be better. From this moment on, he would be better. A better brother, a better friend, and partner, a better Armature.
Just…better.
Matheo released him. A wide grin stretched across his face, one that looked so much like Sebastian’s own but with a youthfulness Sebastian hoped he’d never lose.
He stooped down, collecting his bow and sword from the blood-stained grass.
The latter he sheathed over his shoulder, the former he nocked with an arrow from his quiver.
Because the screams of the mudae were back. A new wave was approaching. Their reunion was coming to a close.
Sebastian picked up his sword, tilting his head to the sky.
“What do you say?” Matheo asked cheekily. Sebastian glanced at him, a smirk somehow tugging at his lips. “How about a little game, for old time’s sake?”
Sebastian scoffed, but he couldn’t stop his smirk from turning into a full grin. “Is now really the best time for that?”
Matheo shrugged, rolling his shoulders and testing his bowstring. “Sure it is. No time like a life-or-death situation to have a little fun.” His hazel eyes gleamed. “Here’s the bet—”
He never finished his sentence.
Matheo’s pupils blew wide, the color draining from his face. His hands slackened around his bow, it and the arrow falling back to the blood-slicked earth. His gaze drifted down to his sternum.
Where the sharp, serrated tip of a mudae’s claw protruded brutally from his chest, the ashen face of the beast grinning menacingly over his shoulder.