A man lunges for me, for my right shoulder. It was injured earlier. I let a Greed get too close, and it took a split second for him to pop my shoulder out of place. Androl roughly shoved it back into position, but the muscle is still tender.
I must be fighting differently now, displaying to the battlefield that I’m injured. I’m trying not to, but every movement is a blast of fire. There’s also a pinpointed ache behind both my knees, but it’s not too bad.
A Greed falls at my feet, and I instinctively wipe the bloodied blade of my dagger against my pants. It comes back even dirtier than before. I’m covered in blood, my clothing and every inch of exposed skin painted a deep red. It’s sticky, and the smell is atrocious. I want to shower. I want to scrub my skin until it’s raw.
“Cassia!”
I spin, locking eyes with Aziel. His clothing is still fresh, so I assume he’s just arrived. By the time he reaches me, his shirt is splattered with red. Greeds are flocking to him, abandoning their posts and orders for the opportunity to kill Wrath’s king.
My father never takes his eyes off me, and despite how angry and annoyed I’ve found myself at him these past several weeks, seeing him is a breath of fresh air. I’m overwhelmed and scared and in so deep over my head, and he’s the only person here I trust entirely. I’m not going to die today.
My chest heaves. “Dad.”
Androl and the other high-ranking officials shift, enveloping Aziel into the protective circle they’ve loosely formed around me.His power hits me like a sledgehammer as he nears. He’s holding nothing back.
“There are more on the northern side of the pass.” I gesture to the mountain on the other side of the pass, where several soldiers were stationed in preparation for Prince Nolic and his hundred men to come through. “Greeds are teleporting in waves every fifteen minutes. We don’t know where they’re coming from.”
Aziel nods, his black eyes scanning me from head to toe. He holds a panicked expression, one that appears whenever he’s convinced himself he’s about to lose another child. It always makes my heart lurch, and I step forward and pull him into a quick side hug so he can smell me. I’m not dead yet.
He sticks his face into the hair at the top of my head, smelling me, before pulling away. We don’t have the privilege of reuniting right now, not when we’re surrounded by demons who would give anything to kill us.
Aziel’s hand slides down my arm. I flinch, not wanting him to further injure my already fucked-up shoulder, but I freeze when two of his fingers hook underneath my diamond bracelet. With one smooth motion, it’s ripped off my wrist.
The imprisonment jewelry falls to the ground, bouncing against the forehead of a dead Greed. I stare at it in disbelief. He removed it. I was beginning to fear that would never happen, that I’d be trapped within Wrath and Lust for the remainder of my life.
If he thinks he’ll put it back on once the fighting is over, he’ll be sorely mistaken. I will never allow another person to put jewelry on me again. Not without a fight.
“I’m sorry,” he says. “I trust your decisions, Cassia.”
Aziel turns, ripping out the throat of a nearby Greed. The soldier wasn’t even coming for us. He was heading for Androl, and Aziel moves so quickly, even I struggle to register what justhappened. I take back everything I ever said about wanting to see him fight.
I take a moment to seek out Rexton. It’s damn near impossible to focus with our bond blown open as wide as it is. I feel all of his pain and discomfort as if it’s my own, and it’s distracting. Rexton knows better than to close our connection, though. It’s the only thing keeping me from leaving the battlefield, and if he tries to shut me out, I’ll find him. I’ll hunt him down and force him to open the bond back up.
He placed his teeth on me. He may not have marked me back, but he welcomed my bond. That doesn’t come without consequences.
It’s another hour before only Wraths are left standing on the battleground.
First Unit was vastly outnumbered, but the additional soldiers Raum sent in secured our win. I look around, trying to estimate how many Greeds we fought. There must be at least five thousand bodies littering the ground.
We’ll have a definite count by the end of the day.
My muscles are sore, and I chew at my bottom lip until tasting blood. A handful of Wrath bodies are scattered about, but we didn’t lose nearly as many men as Prince Nolic. The Greeds fought to the death, and by the end, you could tell those remaining were exhausted. That’s the downfall of fighting within enemy territory.
We had the advantage, which allowed us to adopt a different strategy. Injured and depleted Wraths are immediately removed from battle and replaced with healthy ones, ensuring our collective strength and power never diminishes.
It’s not a strategy we take with every battle, but I implemented it today. I think it was the right choice, but we won’t know until the death count has been completed.
Aziel finds me. We broke apart shortly after his arrival, which was a relief. I didn’t want him lingering too close. It makes me look weak, like I need my dad to protect me. He never went too far, though.
He would teleport from Greed to Greed, pinpointing and attacking whoever he felt was the biggest target. I didn’t do that, mainly because I know my limits. I don’t have the fighting experience of my father—not yet. Seeking out the strongest demons would have exhausted me, and I wouldn’t have made it to the end.
“You did well,” Aziel says as he approaches. “What now?”
I blink, taking a moment to register his question. “What do you mean?”
“What are your orders?”
I don’t understand. Aziel outranks me. He took ownership of the battlefield the moment he arrived.
