My gaze slid back to Astraeus, whose hand had gone slack in mine, his dark eyes widening beneath the lines of paint as his mouth fell open. He held my gaze for a moment before blinking and wiping the mask of shock from his face. He slowly backed away, barking orders to his crew.
What in Tynan’s Hell was that?Ti asked.
I don’t care,I responded.Let’s take our city back.
A chokinggray smoke wafted up the streets of Aedrialis as we soared over the Ripped River and beneath the looming Arches of Cascada. Evony was still in front and picking off the sentries onthe higher buildings as we raced toward Mount Telum, Saros’s castle.
The tang of blood mingled with smoke as the clang of armor and cries of battle echoed below. Aquila let out his own shriek in the distance as he flipped, dodging a set of arrows along the white walls that he and Nerissa cleared of Sultiran soldiers. Rising forces burst through the burning gates of the city, lit by Soleia flames.
“Ezrich!” Evony cried out, her words lost in the wind above the chaos.
Her brother wielded a lethal-looking axe in one hand and a short-blade in the other as he led a small party of soldiers up the battlements where the spiked traitors hung on display.
Blood rained down the stone line of stairs as his axe sank into the necks of the soldiers who got in his way. The blade in his left hand moved with a practiced sort of precision as a frantic, raw kind of fury directed the axe in his right. The whites of his eyes flashed against the blood on his dark face as we soared past.
He chased revenge.
We all did.
Ti descended until we soared over the main avenue. A small force of Rising fighters raced through the streets, cutting through the Sultiran posts stationed near the inner city. I caught the glimmer of Drystan’s shield against the torches lining the road as he raced ahead, sending blasts of wind through the avenue with his arms out, steering Tempest with his legs.
I let a brief moment of appreciation pass through my thoughts as Tiberius swooped down, only ten feet above them, and we surged ahead. A group of soldiers lunged from behind an alley, and Evony’s arrows ripped through the few on the left while I sent death swarming to the group on the right.
Ti plunged forward, and we banked left, scanning the blood-soaked streets below for any sign of the breaching force headingto Mount Telum. A blast of wind buckled against the looming fortress, and my eyes snagged on the back of Carina’s long braid. Kresida rode next to her, with the War Slayer’s arrow finding every target. Carina threw her hands forward, releasing a blast of wind with such power, it knocked aside the wagons and carriages parked on the avenue.
Ronan’s light hair, streaked with mud and blood, bounced as his stallion galloped down the street. Tiberius soared over them to cheers of triumph from the group. A line of soldiers stood several feet in front of thirty priests, evenly spaced around the white fortress and bedecked in robes of gray. They slowly raised their hands as we came into view.
“Shields!” I bellowed to the group behind, throwing up my own, as the mages lifted their hands and bits of light danced between them.
Ti staggered in the air, his wings pumping as the massive blast of wind slammed into my dark shield. Buildings crashed to the ground with the boom of thunder as the force of the mages’ magic hit the surrounding area. I tightened my grip around Evony as I threw a blast of shadows in their direction. The darkness slammed into a shield, and Evony reached into her quiver as we rounded the neighboring buildings.
Evony’s second rubelline arrow blazed like a flame as it aimed straight at the mage in the center before she let it fly. I readied my powers to chase after the flying fletching as Carina’s scream ripped through the air from below.
Her agrippa bounded down the street, and she lifted her hands, massive chunks of stone from the demolished buildings rising in the air as she held them there, before thrusting her hands toward the base of Mount Telum.
Cries echoed from the soldiers and mages surrounding the fortress as massive chunks of stone hurtled toward its base. Kresida and Ronan pushed their mounts past Carina as shedropped her hands, sagging. The rest of them cut through the remaining Sultiran forces that weren’t already scattering.
I slid off Ti’s back as his hooves neared the veranda of the castle, running to keep from stumbling.
Keep her safe!
His hooves touched down momentarily as his wings beat and sent gusts of smoke and stale autumn air flying up. He soared back toward the walls with a fresh arrow already nocked in Evony’s hands.
Screams echoedthrough the arched halls of Mount Telum, the stench of blood, vomit and smoke heavy and oppressive. I raced through the halls, shoving past soldiers in black and various mismatched armor, keeping sight of Kresida, steps ahead of me.
Bear’s bloody, shredded body remained burned in my mind. His agonizing cry rang in my ears like a blaring canon blast. The horror of witnessing his death, his sacrifice, hung like an ominous thunderhead. The kind that looms in the skies, somehow making them larger. The kind that stands as a warning of what is to come. A warning to all who stand in its path before a violent blend of fire and ice obliterate it all in a cascade of rage.
A rage fueling my hunt.
Saros.
My powers writhed beneath my skin, screaming their own cries of war. Whatever magic Astraeus had used on his ship had done more than refill my reserves. It had connected something incomplete.
“Which way?” Kresida’s voice was clear, her breath irritatingly even as we reached the fork in the eighth set of stairs.
My lungs burned as much as my thighs as I raised an arm, pointing to the spiral staircase leading to Saros’s tower. I’d never been to the king’s tower, but I knew it lay beneath the center and highest turret of Mount Telum. Kresida’s head bobbed in confirmation, the whites of her eyes stark against dark irises.
We sprinted up the marble steps, the last of daylight diminishing as we ascended, and the ornate oval windows disappeared, replaced by delicate candlelit sconces adorning the stone walls. Kresida slowed, her fist rising as her elf ears picked up noise from above I couldn’t hear. She unfurled four fingers as the slightest clinking of armored boots descended the stairs from above.
