“No,” I said on a breath, the word barely audible. I prepared to lift my blade once more, considering that theycould attack me for murdering their queen, but instead, they looked relieved.
“Thank the gods,” the middle one murmured. “It’s over.”
“Not yet,” I reminded him. “Almost, though. If I put this blade down…”
“Don’t worry, we won’t do anything. We always liked you far better than Adler.” He paused. “And your army is destroying us.”
“What?!” I gasped before running past them to the tower’s opposite edge that overlooked the battlefield.
It was true, and we had the creatures of the forest to thank. I couldn’t believe what my eyes beheld, but now I needed to find a way to stop it.
My eyes landed on Jace, who was still engaged in an intense duel with Kellan, both of them looking exhausted and ready to drop—I had to make sure the one to fall wasn’t my mate.
A roar sounded, and my eyes snapped to Nox, who was halfway across the battlefield, tearing into enemy soldiers with his teeth and clawed wings. They weren’t even moving to attack him anymore; they were just getting caught in the crosshairs of his rage.
Lifting my fingers to my lips, I let out a shrieking whistle in his direction. “NOX!” I bellowed, and my wyvern’s attention snapped to the tower. His wings instantly lifted him into the air and had him hurtling towards me.
I turned to the soldiers I had mistakenly turned my back to, but they kept their word. My eyes landed on a bow that was leaned against the side rail with a cluster of arrows.
I nodded in its direction. “Can I borrow that?” The words sounded foolish the second they left my mouth, but I didn’t have time to care.
“By all means,” one said as he picked it up and practically shoved it at me.
Looping the bow around my back, I prepared myself to leap onto Nox as he came racing towards us. I looked back at them over my shoulder to find they were watching me intently. “Don’t kill any more of my men, or it'smeyou will face. Understood?”
“Yes, Captain,” they answered in unison, and it made me pause for a moment, blinking in confusion. A smirk cracked my lips at their use of my old title.
“Are you going to have your beast harm us?” one of them asked as Nox was almost at the tower.
I heaved myself onto the rail, balancing on the thin bricks of stone. “Who, Noxy? He wouldn’t hurt a fly.” I shot them a menacing grin, and their eyes flared.
A second later, the beat of his wings sent wind flying in our direction as he soared next to the tower, and I ran along the rail in tandem with him, until I leapt off its ledge. Touching down on the nape of Nox’s neck, I grabbed his fin for support, and we effortlessly resumed his high-speed flight.
We soared through the smoke-clearing skies while my eyes were locked on the fight raging between Jace and Kellan.
My mate stumbled backward, leaving his body wide open and vulnerable to Kellan’s strike. My heart stopped painfully while everything around me ceased to exist.
“Nox, now!” I screamed at the top of my lungs as I ripped the bow from over my shoulder and nocked an arrow in place. Tucking his wings into his sides, my wyvern spiraled down toward the terrain, aiming for them.
Jace
The battlefield stretched out like a canvas of chaos. So many had fallen on each side, lives and good soldiers lost, but all I could focus on was Adler as he relentlessly came at me with his weapon.
The air was thick with tension as we frantically swung at each other, sworn enemies with histories written in blood and vengeance.
“Give it the fuck up!” Kellan screamed at me as I blocked his attack by crossing my two blades once more and shoved him back.
“You’re dying,” I breathed, a growl rumbling through me as we each grunted through our counterattacks. “It won’t be long now until your body gives out.”
My body ached, but I could tell he was significantly worse. He was riddled with stab wounds that continued to ooze blood from Lia’s assault on him in the air, and truthfully, I couldn’t believe the bastard was still standing.
A roar erupted overhead from Nox, and my gaze flew up to him, pride beaming from me at the sight of my queen on his back.
Adler’s battle cry echoed through the air as I countered each of his strikes. He was driven by his desire for power, while I was fueled solely by my desire for revenge—for what his fleet had done to my people, for what he had done to my face, and for touching what wasmine.
My eyes swept the field. Zaela, and Gage were each in fierce battles of their own. Centaurs galloped alongside riderless warhorses, striking down our enemy that surely would have defeated us by now if they hadn’t shown up. Landon and his group struck down any enemies that tried to access the healer’s tent, protecting Finnian and the others who remained helpless inside in place of Nox.
Countering one of his attacks, my boots slipped in the thick mud that overtook the ground beneath our feet, sending my body stumbling back right as Adler moved to strike.
