“Ah yes, Yazmin.” I shifted in my saddle and glanced at his forces. “I don’t see her among your troops. Are you even certain she’s on your side?”
“Playing mind games, are we?Tsk.” He clucked his tongue. “I expected more out of you. Yazmin is exactly where she’s supposed to be, rest assured. Now, are we quite done with this?” He reached for the flag and snapped it in half over his knee, letting the pieces fall to the ground. A sign no peace had been made and that a battle was inevitable.
I did the same, but when I broke my flag in half, I was sure to toss my pieces intentionally—one into Varek’s unsuspecting hands, and the other at Darrien’s feet. He hissed in response, and shadows flared to life in earnest around him.
Varek, much to my surprise, remained calm. Even allowed the shattered pole to clatter to the ground without a second glance. “Careful, Aleksander. Yazmin is intent on destroying your pair bond. I might have persuaded her to stop had this gone differently, but not now.”
My laugh was brittle. “You don’t know who you’re dealing with.”
“And you’re out of your mind if you think you can win.” Yanking on his horse’s reins, he turned about face and galloped toward his army. Darrien and his men slunk away with the shadows, but not before he sent the single blade he’d summoned flying toward my face. I craned my neck to the side just in time so that it only sliced my cheek. Blood welled against my skin, and I willed it to form tiny needles that hovered by my jaw.
“You know how this ends, Darrien.”
He snarled at the blood blades before taking off, leaving us alone in the middle of what was soon to be the battlefield. Darrien. Varek. Both men threatening my life and Leena’s. The earlier uncertainty and anxiety I’d felt about the impending war was gone in a flash, replaced by an ire so reminiscent of my days under Yazmin’s thumb that I half expected to see red tendrils flirting with the onyx shadows in my periphery. But this wasn’t her anger—it was mine. Every breath I took stoked the flame inside me, and I thought of nothing more than seeing this through to the end.
“Let’s go,” I said, words harsh. We pushed our horses into a gallop and stormed back to our lines. Gone was the silence of the morning. Gone was the fear. Everyone snapped to attention then, and suddenly the nickering of horses and stomping of hooves filled the air. Gaige returned to his beasts and touched a finger to the key dangling around his neck. Okean came yowling out of the beast realm, not at all disturbed by the Kitska monsters, and clung to his master’s side.
Madeline and Raven peeled off before their respective brigades as we made our way toward the end of the line—and the Rhynelanders. Isla yanked on her mare’s reins, jerking herself into position ahead of her soldiers, and gave us a tight nod.
“We’ll follow your lead.”
“We’re indebted to Rhyne,” I said, tipping my chin in a bow. “You will always have my gratitude.”
“Look out for the Sentinels,” Ozias added abruptly. “They’re dangerous.”
Isla smirked, and magic flared to life in her pupils. “So am I.”
With that, we raced back up the lines. People fisted their hands over their chests as we passed, and Ozias stuck close to my side, shouting at the assassins to prepare themselves for battle.
Finally coming to a halt before our brethren, I reached over the side of my saddle and snagged the bugle that had been strapped there. With one swift movement, I pressed the coiled horn to my lips. I think I emptied my lungs on that one call, and the low tone reverberated through my chest as it rolled outward over the plains.
“It’s time to end this. All of this.” I let the bugle fall to the ground and summoned shadows of my own. Too long had we been betrayed by those we once trusted. Too long had I spent my days away from Wilheim, from my home. Too long had I fought against the wishes of the gods. They’d known all along the good Leena and I could do for the kingdom, and now was the time to fight for our people. To give them a future and a home to be proud of.
I was Aleksander Nocsis Feyreigner, king of Wilheim.
And I would take back what was mine.
The last thing I heard as I charged into battle was Varek’s answering bugle call, drowned out by the ominous groaning of hundreds of beast realm doors opening at my back.
War had begun.
Thirty-Five
Leena
The process of getting fifteen people through the beast realm door was more painful than I could’ve ever expected, even with my magic shielding us, and we landed in the hidden prison in a heap on the floor. My whole body ached as if I’d been punched repeatedly on end for hours, and my skin felt like it’d been raked over with coals. Even the dull, pale light of the cavern was too much. My head pounded as my vision blurred, and I rubbed my eyes with the back of my hands. But at least we’d all made it in one piece. No one had been lost to the realm—that much I could tell, even through the haze. And fortunately, the aftereffects of such travel faded with each steadying breath.
“If I never have to do that again, it will be too soon,” Emelia said through a wheeze as her fingers dug into the dirt.
“Agreed.” Iov managed to push himself into a sitting position. He gripped either side of his head as if the world were about to give way beneath him.
Forcing myself to stand, I swayed on my feet before gripping the end of a cot. “I have no intention of ever repeating that, trust me.” My vision started to clear, and I turned my head toward the makeshift bed. Mother was exactly how I’d left her. Relief was a cool splash of water on my burning skin, and I brought myself to her side. Gripped her hand in mine.
“Soon,” I whispered. I would’ve tried to wake her right then and there, but the clock was ticking. We had to find Yazmin. At least here, the Charmers were safe.
The rest of the group stood, letting out stifled moans as they stretched and loosened their muscles. Kaori crept toward me, her gaze first locked on my mother. Then, my father. Her eyes grew wider by the second as she took in body after body. Whatever aches and pains she harbored from being tunneled through the realm seemed to disappear completely, and she rushed from cot to cot, hands frantically traveling over each Charmer and the roots crowning their heads.
“Kaori?”
