“This may be our final night. We’re not separating.”
Our final night.Though I knew our time was draining away, spoken aloud it still slammed me with such ache and denial.
I nodded. We would fight until the very last second together.
Hoisting myself onto the railing, I fell as Eltanin swooped in to catch me. Astraea flew by our side with her wings.
The wave was more frightening up close. Its crest frothed with wild, white foam, stretching around the entire west side, stealing the moonlight in its shadow over the city it loomed over to drown. Panicked crowds scrambled in vain, their silhouettes tiny and fragile against the monstrous swell. The salty tang of seawater filled the air, mixing with the acrid scent of fear and chaos.
When the magick of the trident was released, it would cause immense death and devastation.
Eltanin swooped around the colossal wave, and I searched for the vengeful nymph that had to be close by to be controlling it.
The trident’s blue glow gave her away, though she wasn’t trying to hide. Fedora stood by the city gates.Withinthe walls. Dread started to creep through me as Fedora met my eyes too… and shesmiled.
Astraea dropped down like a shooting star, the key flaring as bright as her skin. My chest pounded as the glow of the trident faded out at the same time Astraea burst into light. The key in her grasp pulsed with a radiant, starlight energy, its intricate engravings glowing as if alive. In an instant, a shimmering shield erupted from the key, expanding outward in a perfect dome of luminous power.
The shield barely solidified before the enormous wave crashed down with a deafening roar, its immense force hammering against the barrier. The impact was monumental—water cascading like a liquid avalanche, its fury spilling over the edges of Astraea’s shield. She couldn’t prevent the catastrophe fully, but she’d saved many lives and homes with her heroism.
For a heartbeat, it seemed the barrier might fail too soon; the radiant energy flickered under the relentless onslaught. But she stood firm, her feet planted against the trembling ground, the light surrounding her blazing brighter with each surge of the ocean’s wrath. The key in her hand burned hot, resonating with an otherworldly hum, as though it drew strength from some ancient and infinite source.
Beyond the shield, the city was a chaos of water and shadow, streets transformed into rivers and buildings groaning against the weight of the flood. But within the dome of light, there was a haven—a fragile, defiant sanctuary against the overwhelming tide.
Her eyes gleamed with determination, and with a whispered command, the shield expanded farther, pushing back the water in a brilliant wave of its own.
Using the void, I was by Astraea’s side in my next breath, circling an arm around her as her body trembled and her stance strained.
“You can let go now. You did it,” I said gently.
Astraea was burning with Lightsdeath. Her skin glowed with her eyes to harness the power of a god. She was absolutely magnificent. She had learned control quicker than I ever could with Nightsdeath. I never wanted to. But Astraea did… she was so brave and brilliant to master her discipline to better the world rather than cave to the destruction it could grant her.
The shield came down as though the wave was reversed, returning the water that remained trapped against her light back into the grand river around the city.
When she let go of her magick, Astraea slumped into me as her tattoos faded out.
“Did you find Fedora?” she asked breathily.
“She used the wave as a distraction. I think she intends to break the city wall and clear a path for enemies outside.”
The dormant city was upended into chaos in the span of minutes.
Eltanin roared, hurtling his breath of shadowy starlight through the enemy lines outside the wall, robbing them of all senses before decaying their bodies from the inside out.
More dragon cries cut the night, and I scanned the skies to find both awe and carnage cutting through the clouds. There were too many dragons for me to track. Red and blue and yellow and all of varying sizes. Though not all the dragons were fighting on our side, creating balls of sun and charges of lightning with their breath.
I spied Drystan on Athebyne with Nadia riding behind him, braced precariously, but it was like they’d done this many times before. She aimed her bow and arrow, shooting nightcrawlers and celestials wearing Aquilo’s coat of arms out of the sky. I wondered if they even knew it wasn’t really their High Celestial they fought for and would lose many lives for.
I couldn’t afford to think of that. I wouldn’t think of anything but winning against whoever stood in our way, and that was going to take a lot of blood.
Eltanin’s next roar was so powerful it shook me to my very bones. I realized what he was doing when two dragons clawing at each other broke apart before he charged between them. He was using his celestial heritage to assert his command over them. It wasn’t enough to stop all of them, and someresumed their vicious battling after a pause, defying the order, but it helped slow the carnage.
Athebyne soared down to land outside the city walls, and I took Astraea’s hand, pulling her through the void.
Drystan was already dismounting when the darkness cleared.
“We have unexpected friends, thanks to you two, in case you didn’t take notice of the boats on the river,” he said.
I glanced sideways and saw them then, a half dozen ships surrounding the river that ran around the perimeter of the three-leveled mighty city of Vesitire. One, theSilver Sparrow, confirmed it was Balthezar who had rallied the small armada and come to my call I’d sent weeks ago. I didn’t really think he would come.
