“Rae,” he beamed as he spotted Kallon’s girlfriend behind her. “You made it, and duh, every battle needs a name.”
“Yeah, she’s here, no thanks toyou,” Kallon hissed. “We’re going to have a talk later, Rainer.”
“Can you all do a little more fighting and a little less talking?” Sie snapped as he took out another two soldiers. “You’re giving me a headache.”
“I’m heading up,” I said before anyone else could interject. “I’m going to find Tezya now that you have reinforcements.”
I reached my hand out to Sie. “Do you still have a connection to Dove?”
“Yeah,” he said. “I kept it locked on her so she could let me know once they found the King.”
“Great. Teleport me to her now.”
SEVENTY-TWO
SCOTLIND
“You promisedme you’d keep her away,” Tezya snapped at Sie as soon as he saw us.
He was covered in blood and a quick scan from head to toe showed me the “so-called scratch” I sensed from him earlier. A diagonal cut ran from his collarbone to hip with blood still pouring from it.
You need a healer,I immediately flooded Tezya’s mind.We need to get Brock.
“No. I promised I’d keep her safe, and I’m still doing that,” Sie shot back. “She was going to find you with or without me.”
I’m fine, Rumor,Tezya answered in my head, then turned to Sie. “You knew exactly what I meant.”
We didn’t have time to talk as more Luxian soldiers rushed us. Even with Brock and Rainer’s reinforcements fighting somewhere below us, the King had more and more men at his disposal.
An axe was about to split me in half before it disintegrated into ash along with the arm holding it. Wails of agony reached my ears as the Luxian soldier started burning alive in front ofme. I looked up and saw Tezya staring before he turned back to his own fight.
Night had fallen by the time we got a semblance of a break, and we still hadn’t seen Athler or the King. The rest of the group met up with us at some point, and we barricaded ourselves in a room long enough for us to heal our wounds. Dovelyn had a shield around the room so we could take our masks off to eat something, and Kallon already had a portal at her disposal in case we got trapped inside or someone from the army found us.
Peter must have stolen croissants from the kitchen at some point, and Vallie was sitting on the floor next to him silently eating one. They were covered in blood, but I was so happy that, for the most part, it wasn’t their own.
Brock healed the large gash over Tezya’s chest and abdomen until it scabbed over and stopped bleeding, but he refused to let his friend heal him fully, claiming he didn’t want to waste all his reserves.
Tezya had pulled me into a hug the moment we locked the door. I was so relieved that we were all still alive—so relieved that Tezya was.
“Are you hurt?” he whispered into my hair.
I shook my head, refusing to move from his chest, though I was careful to only put pressure on the side that wasn’t injured. My translucent mask was pulled down around my neck, and although it was lightweight, it felt so nice to be able to breathe without it pressed against my mouth.
“You should have Brock look at you, just in case.”
“Tezya, I’m completely fine. I don’t even think I have a scratch to show for the day because anyone who got within a foot radius of me, you burned alive.”
He inhaled, but I knew he wasn’t satisfied with my answer, so I grabbed his hand and let him feel me. My body was achingand bruised in a few spots, and my arms felt like jello, but other than that, I was fine.
Once he realized I was completely uninjured, I pulled away from him enough to scan the room we were in. Everyone was exhausted, but that was expected. What I didn’t expect to see was Savannah curled up in a corner. Out of all of us she was probably the most excited to fight. I squinted to get a closer look and saw she was crying to herself.
Don’t,Tezya said into my mind, stopping me from going to her.She needs to be alone right now. She doesn’t do well when people bombard her right away.
What’s wrong with her? Is she hurt?She didn’t look injured, but she could’ve been hiding an injury beneath her clothes. I was amazed by how well she fought and half the time I found myself forgetting she was human. Even without a mask on, she managed to escape any vapor while still taking out a huge chunk of the army. She was skilled and it seemed to come naturally to her, so I didn’t think it was the bloodshed affecting her.
Her father was killed,Tezya said a moment later, and I gasped out loud, causing a few glances my way.
Dravenburg? How? What happened? I thought he wasn’t fighting?Questions were pouring out of me and into Tezya’s mind. The camp commander had a knack for war and strategies, and I couldn’t deny that he had helped us a lot, but I knew he was only planning on leading from the sidelines. He made it clear this was our war, and that he’d assist as much as possible without putting himself or his children in the direct line of fire. But I’d been so consumed in my own fight, I barely got to see how anyone else was fairing until now.
