“He stayed foryou!” he bit out, his features hardening in grief. “He could have been safe with the elves. He stayed in Sultira because ofyou, not me. He knew I’d join the units passing through the Lake of Light!”
“Evony, you need to breathe,” I said, reaching for her hand.
She whipped it away, her face soaked with tears.
“You have no idea what I need,” she spat, throwing her hands toward the blood-soaked walls of Aedrialis. “What do you know of this?”
The blood in my veins stilled, my powers going eerily quiet as the events in the Crystal Castle crept to the edge of my memory, but I slid that steel door shut with practiced control. Her blue eyes, brighter through the fresh tears, scanned my own as she waited for my reply, but any words I had left for her remained lodged in my throat.
“I’m not going back there to hide,” she spat. “To wait for this to happen to more people I love!” Her voice broke.
I swallowed, lifting my hands, the iridescent stars shining in the early morning light. She stared at them before taking a shuddering breath.
Shouts erupted from ahead, and Ronan ordered soldiers back to their posts, as arrows pummeled Carina and Drystan’s shield.
“Okay,” I whispered.
Ezrich turned, and the full force of Bear’s son loomed over me as I did my best not to shrink beneath his fury.
“What do you mean,okay?” he seethed.
“You are not her keeper, nor am I,” I snapped.
“She’s sixteen,” he growled, baring his teeth.
“And she’s seen and lived through more than any sixteen-year-old ever should. She’s sick of being treated like someone who hasn’t.”
I turned back to Evony. “You want to do something? Follow me.”
Evony somehow managedto get a hold of her emotions as we strode from the walls of Aedrialis, as if being allowed to help, todo something, had granted her the ability to grab them by the reins.
Fresh devastation and betrayal fueled the gathering darkness as I funneled the unending emotions into my chasm of power, honing it into lethal vengeance in the hours that passed.
We’d met and planned at length after Astraeus had figured out Bear’s message. Twilight stalked the disappearing hours of the day, our time running short. With the approaching armyfrom the south, this was our chance to make Bear’s sacrifice count for something. Evony’s chance.
I sat behind her, arms around her waist, the armor covering every inch of her body clinking as she adjusted her seat. Aquila’s large form flew from the north as we raced over the city, ascending into the clouds where the air thinned.
The dominating castle turrets of Mount Telum came into view as white wisps of clouds floated over the top of the fortress. Aquila and Tiberius circled once, twice…right before Nerissa sent a massive blast of wind into the clouds, scattering like birds in a storm. A blazing white light followed, lighting up the darkening sky and shooting a hundred feet below us to the tip of Mount Telum, where it rippled off the king’s shield.
The shining, twisting pattern of the steepled fern barrier came into view as it shoved against Nerissa’s magic. The spiral shimmered and slipped into nothing as its edges spun into its center, the thinnest point.
Aquila banked hard, taking himself and Nerissa out of range.
Evony’s breath hissed as she drew her bow, aiming over a hundred feet away, on the back of a flying horse, at an invisible target.
“Get ready!” I shouted through the wind.
Evony’s head bobbed, and Tiberius flung his momentum upward, arching backward and shot his hooves to the sky above us. My legs burned as they wrapped around him, and I reached around Evony’s waist for his mane to keep her secure against me.
“Now!” I shouted, dropping my dark shield.
The world flipped, and Evony let out a war cry as the taut bowstring slipped through her fingers. The blazing rubelline arrow tip soared like a star as it ripped through the air, straight toward the center of the king’s shield.
Tiberius righted himself in time to dive after the arrow headfirst. Evony clung to his neck as I threw one hand out, finally shoving out the powers that had built to a boiling point.
Vienah’s betrayal. Bear’s sacrifice. Queen Antares’s scheming. Bayne’s soulbinding.
Devastation and grief collided with a growing wrath and an insatiable need for revenge. Raw memories fueled the emotions that surged from my innermost being, and I latched them onto that strange force binding my two powers.
A twisting spear of black and golden power formed at the tips of my fingers, the Obscura seizing my emotions and the Transcindiel sucking every ounce of energy from my body. The spear rotated as it shot through the air, chasing after the arrow as if my powers knew their target. They caught the feather fletching midair just as the glowing rubelline tip of the arrow struck the center of Saros’s shield.
Everything stilled, sound vanishing, before a deafening crack ripped through the air, and my ears hollowed out. My powers tore through the small hole the rubelline tip pierced in the shield. A tsunami of wind followed as the Obscura power devoured the shield, darkness spiraling out from its center.
Black, massive wings shot out, slowing our momentum. I sagged behind Evony as the expenditure of power hit me. Tiberius chased the rippling darkness as it ate through the invisible shield, leading us to the edge of the city. Shouts from below mingled with the eruption of cheers from the Rising soldiers beyond the city walls.
