Chapter 43
Forty-Three
We found ourselves on the front lines as people slammed their shields and weapons on the ground while drums rang out over the open field before us, where our border met Morgad.
Slightly behind us was the Ancient Forest, where I would need to slip away as Vivianna took my place on the front line to buy us time.
But I would never let anyone else lead my people into war.
Of course, Sebastian was not leading his people.
To the right was the ocean and a fleet of ships belonging to Emory and Celeste—their cannons at the ready.
I looked at Demir to my right, and he met my gaze with a wink as I drew my sword.
I screamed into the sky above me and charged.
Demir was right beside me with his own sword, while Viv and Cain flanked me alongside Jasper and Geraldine.
Acheron and Jade were on either side of our group as they led their own battalions.
They all had the same enthralled look in their eyes.
They wanted this. More than anything. Sienna, her mother Guinevere and Everett had been ordered to hang back.
They had one job only: to heal the wounded and stem the death toll.
Everett and Jasper had used his elemental magic to create gapping underground holes that would cave in under the weight of the Morgadian Army once they crossed onto our land in preparation.
We were now meters away from the first onslaught of bodies.
Sienna’s wards in the sky had protected us from arrows as we approached, and luckily for us, the traitorous Wiccans had been preoccupied and had not bothered to protect the Morgadian army from our rain of poisoned arrows, not that it had much effect.
Right as we were about to smash into the army, every Skin Seeper that was worth a damn and could shift into a predator did. A giant wall of black smoke met the Morgad border, and in their moment of hesitation, my people ripped through with claws and all.
I preferred the feel and sound of my blade driving into flesh and bone, so I stayed as I was.
As I cut through the crowd like softened butter, I kept a tight grip on the bond, feeling where Demir was and seeing the battle through his eyes.
At the edge of the forest, a few errant Morgadians slipped through, only to be met by the rapid vines of the Forest Fae, strangling them and tossing them away.
I found myself back-to-back with Demir, our enemy surrounding us, and as if we were perfectly in sync, we performed the dance of death, slicing through everyone in our path. We mirrored each other’s steps with ease, without so much as having to look at one another—two halves of a deadly whole.
To the west, I saw large waves cresting, flooding the beach and surrounding land, pulling Morgadian soldiers out and under, never to surface again. Inch by inch, we were gaining ground, pushing them further back into their borders.
‘Viv, it’s on you now. Give them hell,’ I screamed over the slaughter and the sound of metal hitting metal. A wicked grin met my gaze.
Demir quickly flanked me as we made a break for the edge of the forest. Slicing through the oncoming bodies as we left a trail in our wake.
It was easy and cathartic. I was so close to my moment with Sebastian, and although I knew Demir and I would not walk away, I also knew the man I had dedicated my life to hunting down would not be walking away either, I would make sure of it. Pure joy radiated throughout my body.
It was abnormally quiet outside the forest, considering what we knew of Morgad’s plans, but our forces were holding strong, pushing them back. Cain flew by, dropping a note.
King Sebastian, the 4 enemy high Elder Wiccans and 3 soldiers.
That’s who had made it past our defences and was waiting inside the forest for us.
More would come, but at least we knew what to expect.
Clasping Demir’s hand, we stared at each other for a moment.
This was the beginning of the end. He gave me a gentle squeeze before burying his face in my neck, breathing me in deeply.
‘I love you,’ he whispered.
And I you, I sent through the bond.
In one long stride, we stepped through the edge of the forest and found our way in; the barrier felt thick as it pushed us back ever so slightly.
One more step, and we were through. A deathly silence fell over the air.
One would never know that a war like no other, built upon generations of hate, was coming to a head behind us.
It felt as though we had been transported to a whole other world.
It was eerie, except for a slight thrum.
‘Do you feel that?’ Demir asked, shocked.
‘It’s the pull of the Mrak; it’s calling on my blood and the energy we share,’ I explained, stepping forward to follow it, my blood-covered sword drawn and ready. I could see Demir’s face show recognition as the strength of the call increased as we followed it.
We walked for five minutes until that slight thrum was so loud it drowned out any other sound.
That is how three soldiers were able to catch us unaware.
All I could feel as they came at us was a thrill—it meant that I was not long from executing the man who had tormented my dreams. Two converged on me as the third made a run at Demir.
Without thinking, I stood in front of Demir, plunging my blade into the stomach of the woman that took aim at him.
The remaining two were on me in seconds, and just as I had done for Demir, he stepped forward to protect me.
My sword sliced through the throat of the nearest enemy as I braced for the last one, who barrelled into me before I had time to react.
He took me down onto the ground, pinning me, he raised his dagger, but I was faster.
I flicked my wrist and watched as it shot out three steel stars—one catching him in the jugular, the second in his eye and the third deeply embedded in his forehead.
Just as his limp body was about to crush me, Demir pulled him back by the shoulders, throwing his body to the ground.
He pulled me to my feet; we were sprayed with blood and the grime of battle, but he looked at me like I was solely responsible for creating the sun, moon and stars above.
His hand wrapped around the back of my neck as he gave me a searing kiss that tasted of copper and salt.
I moaned into him as the taste of blood mingled with the taste of him.
He pulled back, giving me a menacing grin. ‘Let’s do this.’
It only took another minute before we found ourselves at the edge of a clearing, where Aurora, Valerie, Serafina and Sage stood around Demir’s father, chanting as his hand lay on a black, pulsing mound on the ground.
There was no dragon vessel. Instead, on the opposite edge of the clearing was a cracked statue of a dragon, reduced to cinders and emptied of the Mrak.
As I took in the scene before me, I realised the pulsing black mound on the ground was moving, with a hand grasping at the ground beneath it.
Out from under it, Queen Azayla rose on stumbling feet.
This was the queen I had seen in the Wiccan memories that had helped trap the Mrak all that time ago, and here she stood, consumed by darkness, a hollow shell, barely recognisable.
But it was her, and then I understood why the Mrak had called to me and why I could answer the forest. It was a part of me.
My bloodline. She truly had become the vessel when the bodies of the dragons Axia and Ember failed.
She had sacrificed herself, and now here she stood, somehow disturbed from her slumber, thanks to the man standing before me.
This would be how I die. I had to do what she did. Hold the darkness within myself so that it could not leach into the land, but first, I had to kill every last evil fuck who unleashed this on our world.
As if reading my mind, all four high Elder Wiccans turned their gaze across the clearing to where Demir and I stood.
Without breaking their chant that was waking Azayla, they strode towards me.
The Mrak, already bolstering their power, had them almost gliding on a cloud of darkness that pooled at their feet.
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Demir’s father draw a bow and aim it at me, but Demir was already charging towards him, shield raised.
I had no time to think; my body reacted on instinct, running towards the women who approached—ones I had long considered allies.
The ones I had promised my love, and this bond to, in exchange for the truth that would put a stop to the Mrak.
As they each raised their hands, power rolling off their bodies, I could feel the impact in the air before I saw it.
Magic splintered into my body, trying to throw me back, but as I dug my blade into the earth and held on while an avalanche of magic flowed past me, as though I was in an enormous wind tunnel, they advanced closer.
By the time the magic petered out, half of my armour was in shreds on the floor, but I was unharmed, as my skin glowed with the flames.
Aurora, with her silver hair, reached me first, trying to place a hand on my wrist. However, her magic was no match for mine and she slumped to the ground in searing pain, screaming a guttural cry as the flames lashed out and wrapped themselves around her wrist. I don’t know how I was doing it; it was an unconscious thing, but I had no time to think about it any deeper.