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They all wore the Copper Kingdom’s armor, their faces streaked with soot from the ash raining from the forest canopy.
The king’s consorts who had tortured Arkimedes in his father’s chamber.
Nava held herself up against the tree, her bad arm dangling limply by her side and her head throbbing from the punch.
Using the last of her energy, Nava attempted to transfer away, but unlike normal transformations, she became a thick dust cloud that was too heavy to move away. Her exhaustion pulled her out of her transitory state, and her body became human again.
“Why?” Nava hated that her voice sounded so weak. But truly, she couldn’t comprehend why they were attacking her now that they were fighting a common adversary.
There was no way she could bring down these warriors with only her bees. Five Dark Ones against her without the full use of her power—the odds were impossible.
Their sneers grew more pronounced in response to Nava’s question.
They were going to kill her, and she couldn’t transfer. Nor could she call on her magic or on her bonds to her mate and Aristaeus.
Another fist collided with the side of her head, and she crumpled to the ground.
The side of her face hit a fallen branch, and her teeth dug into her bottom lip. The tang of blood coated her tongue. She reached for Ark, for Aristaeus, but the five of them descended upon her, their gifts draining her energy like vampires drew blood.
“If you think you’ll sit on our throne, witch, you are wrong.” One of them hovered close to her ear, her spit splattering Nava’s cheek as her spindly fingers tightened around Nava’s neck. She squeezed hard, digging them into her skin. “You have them fooled, but not us.”
“Nava?” Arkimedes’s voice was a whisper through a fog of sleep. He was teetering on the edge of his own worry. His voice brought solace, strength.
“Hurry, Nora,” another hissed, though Nava couldn’t see her from where she lay. “We can’t be gone for long or the guards will suspect us.”
“Step aside and let me handle it,” another Dark One said, her voice oddly pleasant for the words she spoke.
Nava met her eyes. A fair-haired fae—she had been in the king’s study a day ago. Nava’s anger brewed beneath the layers of pain and despair, just as the energy of the forest glowed like a heartbeat, strings of magic shivering over pebbles, fallen branches, and dried leaves.
It urged her to move, to use her power and show these harpies who she was. Its song was a gentle reminder that, even though the venom from the knife had dulled her connections to Arkimedes and Ari, she wasn’t alone. She wasn’t powerless.
A Zorren’s screech pierced through the roar of fire. The clanking of metal swords colliding with matter brought her back to reality.
Even in the heat of battle, a chill crawled into her bones as a Dark One’s power slid through her. The concubines drew more of Nava’s essence with each passing second, and black spots danced across her vision.
A metallic taste spread across her tongue, and she dug her fingers into a dry layer of ash that covered the top of the forest ground. She pulled at the strings of energy nature offered up to her, just like she had done at the castle, and her power awoke with a gentle hum. The bond between Ark, Aristaeus, and Nava was a faint whisper beneath the layer of suffering.
Suddenly, Arkimedes’s panic burst through their bond, so intense that it took over everything else. He was in danger, and she needed to help him. The guttural roar that left her lips startled the concubines. Nava twisted away from her assailant’s claws, her power a shield of gold as she rolled over the debris, ignoring the rocks that dug into her body.
Her mother would’ve been proud of her strength, even if her form was sloppy at best. Nava withdrew the ancient dagger and stabbed Nora between her shoulders and neck. She brought down the blade again and again, ignoring the gurgling scream and the warm blood splattering her fingers.
“Nora!” a Dark One shouted, and Nora’s body slumped to the ground as Nava pulled more energy from the earth and limped to her feet.
With adrenaline rushing through her, the pain had faded into the background, although she couldn’t seem to move her right arm. The remaining four concubines jumped forward with enraged screams, out for blood. But they hadn’t expected the swarm of bees that descended on them like a cyclone.
While the bees wouldn’t be enough to defeat them, they bought her time. Nava climbed over a fallen tree, dropping the poisoned blade and pulling her longer dagger with her left arm.
The fair-haired fool with a sweet voice rushed over to Nava in the next instant. Every inch of her armor was crawling with insects. Red bumps were swelling her eyes shut and covered most of her creamy skin. Had she kept her helmet on, it would have protected her from the bees.
An ill-advised move, but it benefited Nava. She swiped at her legs, and the fae tumbled to the ground. Nava moved to finish her off, but the bees’ warning made her dodge right instead. She barely missed a black swirling spell that singed her hair.
Her skin burned where the spell had touched her. She turned to meet her attacker’s weapon with her dagger, and her arm shook as she tried to hold off the concubine’s much larger sword with her weaker arm.
“You’ll die here,” the female snarled. Nava didn’t recognize her voice. Not that it mattered who this was or why they hated her. All she cared about was to be done with this so she could find Arkimedes. Hopefully, her absence had at least given him enough time to focus on Leir.
“Not tonight.”
She could protect herself.
