“My sweet Willow. Don’t you remember? Have you learned nothing from your years at my side? Ialwayswin. My cock stillsings when I think of your tight little ass. You were always so vocal about your dislike of it, too. I would have preferred to take you alive, but your dead body will be a nice consolation prize,” Ethan boasts, his voice brimming with greed.
He makes a beeline for Willow, and panic and adrenaline turn my blood to sludge.
I have no wings.
No bow.
No way to reach them.
Hells, I can’t even keep my eyes open long enough to see where they are or what they’re doing.
I have only fire.
Only me.
I tear my gaze away from the fight, and it lands on the hawthorn. The ancient tree stands alone beside the cliff, its branches dancing wildly in the wind.
The Sun Court’s sacred tree.
The root of Ethan’s power.
I look down at my bloodstained hands, applying pressure to Ezra’s wounds, and he tilts my chin up to meet my gaze.
“Do it. Burn it,” he croaks. “I’ll be fine.”
Without giving myself enough time to doubt, I run toward the hawthorn and reach the trunk in three strides, then press my palm against the bark.
Everything stops.
The wind.
The battle.
The world.
Fire engulfs wood.
But it’s not like burning Riley did.
No, Riley went quickly, whereas this tree is a pillar of Faerie. Water rises from that geyser inside the mountain, fighting back, protecting it.
Overheated sap pulses beneath the bark.
It boils. Splits the wood.
Ethan’s eyes meet mine through the steam created by my pyre, and for the first time all morning, he looks surprised. Then he lets out an ear-splitting roar.
Death races toward me in the form of Ethan Lightbringer. His wings are impossibly large, his lethal blade thrust forward, and I know I won’t have enough time to burn him, too. If I let go of the hawthorn now, it will only give him more power.
I have to see this through.
Ethan dives, poised to strike.
Then something materializes between us, an invisible form slowly coming into focus.
Ezra.
His hand closes around his father's wrist, and the blade veers away from me. Bone snaps.
