We weaved through the bodies until we got to the top and out a wooden door.
Eltanin’s roar shook the stars, and pride fluttered in my chest when I saw him, a dark stroke against the night soaring above us.
“Up there!” someone called.
“Get them!” yelled another.
There were guards on the castle wall on either side of us, but if we crossed the intersection before they did, we’d be okay.
I turned towards Kairos. “Follow Nyte. Don’t falter.”
Then we took off running. Adrenaline pushed my legs as fast as they would go. The guards were closing in on the intersection just as fast but darted past it first.
They turned to follow our straight path, hot on our heels, and I leapt up onto the wall seamlessly, not faltering my pace.
I hissed when an arrow whizzed by and scored my arm. A superficial wound, but it could just as quickly be followed by another arrow piercing through me. We were almost to the end.
Kairos cried out, and, to my horror, he stumbled, falling with the strike of an arrow through his shoulder. I swore, having no time to deliberate as I sent a flare of light toward the guards who were running toward him.
“Leave him,”Nyte said through our bond. I met eyes with him from atop the wall.
“You already know we’re not going to do that,”I responded.
Nyte’s jaw tightened, then he changed course and ran back for Kairos. I searched within myself to gather the strength I needed.
Lightsdeath is me. I am Lightsdeath.
My wings unglamoured as I leapt down, sending the force of my magick into the stone, like a star plummeting from above.
It is not a power to control me but to aid me.
The wall cracked immediately, a violent deep line splitting down the center, and the structure began to fail, crumbling toward the guards, who started running away from me now. Some were too late, swallowed in a mass of rock and dust.
It started to crumble my way too, and I spared a glance over my shoulder to be sure Nyte had managed to help Kairos. They were running again, and the sight of them leaping off the edge together was all I needed before I was falling.
Then flying. My senses turned acute with the gentle presence of Lightsdeath coursing through me to help me navigate the falling rocks.
I soared up past Eltanin, relieved to see Nyte and Kairos on his back. Then when I was high enough I turned, staring down at the palace of chaos, but even with the damage and swarming people, screaming and frightened, it was a stunning piece of architecture that didn’t deserve to be in the hands of someone as cold and cruel as Vermont.
Slaying him liberated a final piece of me I hadn’t realized was still shackled by the ghost of Goldfell. I’d never felt freer, more powerful.
I saw the world in starlight without letting it overwhelm me. I saw people as auras and nature as glittering dust. I didn’t know why I stalled in my retreat. Breathing in the calm eternal night air, Lightsdeath slept within me easier now. I’d only used a kernel of its power to break the wall; I was learning to use it without harming those I loved.
I wouldn’t let Lightsdeath be a curse. Hand in hand with it, I would win this war.
39Astraea
We flew to Zephyr’s province, hoping we could track down Drystan’s movements from there. After our escape from Volanis, my concern for him, and the others still risking themselves to find key pieces, plagued me.
Arriving in the Luna province, I marched right to Zephyr’s stronghold while Nyte had to find clearance, landing farther away with Eltanin.
Zephyr’s guards stopped me before I could ascend the stairs into his castle.
“I don’t think I have to announce who I am. Zephyr wouldn’t be pleased to have my arrival questioned,” I said to them.
They considered me for a moment, debating if they should yield.
“She’s right; let the Maiden pass,” said a voice I didn’t recognize.
