It was all I could do to keep up with him, my footwork getting sloppy as he quickly gained ground to corner me against the wall. I couldn’t help my attention slipping to Ciaran every few strikes, and I was relieved to see he was trying to push himself upright again.
I managed to dodge a strike aiming for my abdomen. But theblow still sliced across my side deep enough that it made my heart stall with a knowing horror.
I cried out in pain, and my hand immediately pressed against the gaping wound, but I knew that it was too late. My side was soaked, and my green, maple-scented blood was pooling on the ground around me. It did not flower for once, since the magic in it had been repressed.
I lost the sword when he struck his next blow because my grip had grown too weak, and then he quickly kneed me in the stomach.
“He will thank me for putting you down,” he hissed as he held his sword up over his head. I tried to move away, but the pain in my side made me scream as I clutched it. Before I could fully accept the fact that I would never see Sage again… the blade was slicing down at me.
Another large body appeared suddenly out of nowhere, catching my assailant off guard as they parried the blow that was meant to end my life. I expected it to be Ciaran saving me, but I saw an unexpected face instead.
Prince Faolán…
And thank all the gods, he was more than a match for Laisren’s enforcer. He drove the vicious male away from where I lay, their sparring an impressive blur of motion as they battled hard for dominance.
Laisren’s man eventually seemed to realize that Faolán might be a better fighter. He gave a bloody smirk after the prince managed to catch him with an elbow and backed into the courtyard toward the writhing tree. I watched the two males anxiously as Faolán followed, undeterred as he was forced to begin dodging all the tree limbs.
“Easy now,” said another male softly, and I turned to see Seaghán kneeling next to me. He put his hands on my wound to heal me, and I gave a sigh of relief once all the pain finally ebbed away.
“I need to… get to Ciaran,” I croaked, still weak and dizzy from the blood loss.
Seaghán nodded and put an arm around me to help me shuffle toward Ciaran who was sitting up against the wall with blood covering the side of his head. I glanced toward Prince Faolán who was still holding his own in the fight. The other two Oak Wood dryad males had also appeared and were the ones firing flaming arrows at the tree that was now half ablaze.
We had almost reached Ciaran when the tree suddenly lurched with a creaking moan, branches slamming to the ground on either side of us. I looked up at Ciaran in time to see the brick wall crumbling down above him.
“No!” I screamed and yanked away from Seaghán who shouted at me in protest.
I dove onto Ciaran without any hesitation and covered him with my body to shield him from the debris raining down from the blast. I felt heavy chunks of stone landing on me, crushing me against him, but I held my position until the commotion settled around us.
Alive. We were…alive.
How were we alive?
“Are you alright?” he gasped and then coughed on the brick dust floating between us.
“Fine,” I grunted, my arms trembling as I braced under the pile of rubble on top of us. Luckily, I could already hear several people hauling away stone slabs and digging through the bricks. It only took a few moments before we were uncovered enough for me to lift myself off Ciaran.
I sat up anxiously to check his wounds but hesitated as he came into sharper focus than I was used to. His green blood seemed more vibrant, and its sweet nectar and rose scent was more potent than it had been before.
“Well, it was about time,” he wheezed and nodded his head between us at what I was now wearing.
My armour. I summoned my armour to protect him.
I was stunned as I raised my hand to examine all the intricatebands of thorn and bone that interlocked over my forearm. It looked similar to Sage’s suit but was decidedly more feminine in the way it conformed to all my curves. Similar to my saddle, it also had living vines and flowers sprawling across the bone.
It wasbeautiful.
I reached up to pull off the helm so I could look at it, but it snagged on my antlers.
Ciaran reached up with a grunt of pain and guided my hands so I could feel how my antlers had to slide through the hooked slits on either side of the helmet. Once it was off my head, I set it down on the ground next to Ciaran and sat staring at the skull-like face. It had those black, empty eye sockets just like Sage’s helmet, but there were honeysuckle vines etched on the forehead and temples.
“Did the poison wear off for you? I am still unable to feel my magic,” Ciaran admitted.
“No,” I answered as my mind turned inward to trace my tether to the armour, which felt so strong and vibrant. “It seems the armour attached itself to my shapeshifting abilities and not to my magic. Dryads have a very limited use of shapeshifting while under the powder’s thrall.”
This was why it had been so difficult to summon the armour before. I was using the wrong power to access it.
Someone was climbing through the rubble next to us, and we both turned as Prince Faolán knelt next to Ciaran. The rider tensed when the dryad put his hand on his arm to heal him, but I could see the tension seeping out of my friend once his pain was gone.
