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I’d lost the war to reclaim myself.
And the Voidborn had won.
2
DEX
“On your left!”
I spun at Lars’s shout, slashing at the Voidborn with the sword given to me by the witches of the Jeweled Coven. “Up top!” I shouted back.
The blond man yelled at his twin to move. As Clay ducked, Lars stabbed at the shadowy creature diving toward them both.
“Watch out!” Byron flung nuggets of ore at the Voidborn and called out a spell, making the small rocks burst like they’d been struck by lightning. The creatures fell back, but not far enough.
We were still surrounded.
But even as they lunged and dove, I suspected the Voidborn were just toying with us. Only vampires could survive contact with them—if going mad and turning into a rabid predator could be considered surviving. Everything else touched by the Voidborn only turned to ash and died.
Yet these creatures hadn’t killed us. They’d trapped us within a circle of the fissures they’d torn through the earth, leaving only Ozias outside the cage. Black smoke poured up from the gaps, offering glimpses of the world beyond this maelstrom of monsters, but providing no way to reach it and survive. I’d spotted flashes of the forest, enough to see that more cracks riddled the terrain like some massive beast had shredded the ground with its claws. Every few moments, more Voidborn would surge up from the fissures to join their fellows in swooping and darting at us like snakes that had learned to fly.
And yet still we weren’t dead.
“Anyone got a plan?” Lars called.
“How about not dying?” his brother Clay retorted dryly. Even now, the man couldn’t resist making jokes.
I ignored him, slashing at one of the creatures and trying to catch another glimpse of the world beyond our churning cage. The princess was the Voidborn’s true target. She was the one they’d gone after right from the start. But beyond the swirls of the Voidborn, I couldn’t see her, and the brief sight of Ozias’s face gave me a sinking feeling as to why.
If they’d touched her…
If she’d felt their power taking control…
“Go!” I shouted at Ozias. “Protect the princess!”
His massive axe gripped in both hands, the bearded giant ripped the blade through one of the Voidborn and then gave me a tight nod. Whirling, he slung the weapon onto his back with practiced ease and raced away into the woods.
Dozens of the creatures took off after him as if intent on chasing him down.
Fuck.
“That’s not good,” Niko said as if echoing my sentiment. Worry clung to the younger man’s face as he stabbed at another Voidborn.
Clay scoffed. “Big guy can run for it. We’re the ones who are screwed.”
“Not helpful, brother,” Lars protested tiredly.
“Fine,” Clay retorted. “Anybody see a way out of this shit?”
I spun, searching for exactly that. In the seconds after the earth had started shaking and cracks had torn through the grass and dirt, there’d been precious little chance to evaluate our position. But now…
“There!” Niko pointed at a small stretch of solid ground between two fissures.
I nodded, backing toward the gap. “Pull in. Swords to the outside. We?—”
Like a blanket of smoke, Voidborn smothered the opening. The rest raced in toward us, the yellowed winter grass beneath them turning to ash as they sped over it.
“Fuckers,” Roan muttered tightly, his pale face even more bloodless than normal. He retreated from the creatures, but strangely, he kept his distance from us too, almost like he was as concerned about coming near his friends as he was about the Voidborn. “Next plan?”
