Chapter 31
The great battle
From silence to bedlam, a whirlwind of chaos unfurled in an instant.
Adalia didn’t know where to look first. Bodies and wings scattered like leaves in a fierce wind, strewn across the battlefield. It was a flurry of feathered shadows and wings of bursting colour. Adalia and Matthias leapt into action and ran for the sea of Thorns that were pouring through the Veil—land and sky.
Dark red and white wings darted across her line of sight as Nikolas and Shiloh fought valiantly, their weapons a blur as they defended against the relentless onslaught of thorns bleeding into The Grey.
Amongst the turmoil, Adalia found herself separated from Matthias and her heart felt like it was being ripped from her body. The prince was engaged in fierce combat with a male and female Thorn, one on ground and one in the air. The clash of Adalia’s blade echoed through the turbulence. Blocking a strike from her opponent, Adalia dropped to the ground and rolled out of the way. While the Thorn was bewildered, Adalia struck.
Her dagger made entry in the side of their body and Adalia heard bones crunch as the blade contacted ribs. Crimson liquid gushed from the wound, and the Thorn crumpled to the ground, lifeless. Adalia’s chest heaved from lack of air. She hadn’t realised she wasn’t breathing.
In all her years of training and protecting The Grey, she’d never killed. Sure, she’d injured Thorns, and they’d injured her . . . but she had never taken a life.
Looking around, all she wanted to do was drop to her knees and cry, but her body wouldn’t let her. The adrenaline in her veins pulsed ferociously, and she pushed on through Thorn after Thorn, dropping body after body like it was second nature, trying to put eyes on the ones she loved in between kills.
Two kings, dark and light, faced off in a clash of authority and strength and the ground shook beneath the weight of their conflict. It was good versus evil and even though Adalia felt deep down who the victor would be, her heart stayed in her throat as she watched them battle.
The scene before her was bedlam.
A disorienting torrent of motion and sound assaulted her senses. Glancing above, she saw Shiloh with a group of Thorns heading her way, so she took to the skies with grit, seeking to thin the thorn ranks from above. Wings, both coloured and dark, fell from the atmosphere.
Adalia held back tears as she saw Lightner’s lifeless forms scattered on the ground below. It was a sea of bodies—and not the gentle, lulling kind that she loved to sit by and daydream. Cries from above brought her thoughts back to the task at hand, and Adalia attempted to carve order from the chaos.
Shiloh banked to the left, heading towards a few stragglers, and Adalia hovered, looking at the battle below her. Nikolas seemed to struggle as he faced down five Thorns at a time, so she descended, intending to help, but as soon as the soles of her boots touched the surface of The Grey, her wings were ensnared by a thrown object, rendering her flightless.
Grasping behind her, Adalia panicked as she struggled to break free. The attack on her wings had caught her off guard, and she lost her focus.
Chills ran through her body as a blade was held to her throat—a cold reminder of her vulnerability. A hot, breathy tongue licked the side of her neck as the blade bit into her delicate skin. The Thorn that held her kicked the back of her knees, dropping her to the ground. Adalia winced as pain shot through her legs. She tried to hold herself together, but when a figure emerged from the shadows in front of her, Adalia’s blood turned cold, and her mind froze.
Snake sauntered towards her in slow motion. Adalias’ eyes darted around the battlefield searching for Matthias, but could not find him. Snake stopped in front of her, his yellow eyes full of hatred and lust. He grabbed her by the face with one hand and licked his lips.
“Oh, the things I am going to do with you,” he hissed before roughly pushing her.
He nodded to the person behind her, and they began dragging her away from the onslaught.
Adalia made one last-ditch attempt at freedom.
But her screams for Matthias were swallowed by the sounds of battle.