Elianna
I reveled in thewinds as they rushed around my face, whipping my hair around as we soared through the sunlit sky. The four of us kept our eyes peeled for the retreating army, but it appeared they had already marched farther back than we anticipated.
“Do you think they already made it back to their camp?” Zaela shouted over the loudness of the breeze.
I contemplated momentarily as my eyes continued to observe the ground below. “I would be shocked unless they had arrived on horseback and hid them beyond the battlefield.”
“I did notice some horses in the distance when we shot that bastard down. It’s definitely possible,” Gage chimed in as he held his arms out at his sides, just as I had done once I was finally comfortable flying.
I turned to Jace, and he shrugged a shoulder. “Regardless, we will catch up to them. If they made it back to a camp, we will just light up their whole fucking army.”
I gave a wicked grin in response to him. “Agreed,” I breathed.
A sudden growl rumbled beneath us and up through the saddle as Nox’s gaze looked to a dark mass a few miles ahead of us.
My spine instantly straightened, and I crawled halfway up his neck to get a better look.
My eyes squinted from the blinding sun as I noticed the village.
“Nox, that’s just Celan Village, it’s not—” I cut myself off as my eyes focused in on the giant, moving mass. “Holy shit, it's their camp,” I breathed as I whipped around and leapt back down onto the front of the saddle to face them.
“They really made camp there?” Jace asked through a grumble of annoyance.
“It’s a little poetic, don’t you think? He destroyed the village, and now we get to destroy him in that very spot,” I taunted him.
The tiniest smile graced his face. “Well, when you put it that way…”
I blew out a breath. “Are you ready? Things are about to get heated. Literally,” I said as I looked at them through furrowed brows.
Gage was the only one who laughed.
I carefully reached over and unslung my bow from my shoulder, ensuring it was within easy reach. My opposite hand gripped the saddle tightly as my gaze fixated on the camp awaiting our arrival.
Every second in the air brought us closer to my revenge. Every breath my lungs took hitched at the thought of obtaining a sliver of my desired vengeance, and what itwould feel like to finally bring their deserved karma to them—and that karma wasme.
Jace’s chest pressed against my back as he gently kissed the side of my neck. “Give them hellfire, my Lia,” he whispered into my ear, sending a shiver through me.
My grin was infinite as I lifted my bow high and roared a battle cry. It echoed through the clouds we soared through, signaling Nox into a nose-dive directly toward the enemy war camp built on our own terrain.
Our bodies were at the mercy of the relentless winds, forcing us to grip the saddle tightly. The closer we dove to the camp, the clearer our view of what we would be dealing with became.
Their soldiers had already formed the lines that I had drilled into their brains so gods-damn well in another life. A life where I blindly led them to slaughter thousands of innocents. A life that would forever stain my soul and haunt my nightmares for the remainder of my existence. I couldn’t change the past, but I would do everything I could now to make it right for a better future—a better and safer realm.
We were barreling straight toward them, and none of the soldiers abandoned their posts.
Out of nowhere, an arrow whizzed by my face.
“Fuck! Lia, look out!” Jace shouted from behind me as I ducked down from another one.
The sudden onslaught of arrows seemed to come from every angle—launched into the air from the back of the lines, raining down on us.
Ignystaewas on the tip of my tongue as I prepared myself to give the order.
Straightening my body, I peered down below to see how close we were, and my eyes flared. “Nox, pull left!” I shouted as I forcefully flattened my hand on the left side of his neck. He turned just in time before we would’ve crash landed directly into the army.
Shouts rang out from the ground, and arrows continued to fly at us from all sides as we circled the masses below.
They didn’t deserve to beimmediatelyincinerated—that would be a mercy.
