Page 173 of Prince of Darkness and Deceit

Because ahead, men are still fighting. The remaining humans clash with Fae soldiers who move like shadows, blades flashing, faces blank. Merciless. Unstoppable.

I scan the chaos, and my chest tightens when I don’t see Lev.

Has he fallen?

I shouldn’t care, not after what he did. But Gods help me, I do.

Of course I do.

He betrayed me, and I will never forgive him. But he’s Lev. Just like with Dian, I can’t stand by and not try to help him.

I take a deep breath to loosen the vise around my heart and continue to search the clearing. I don’t see Draven, Jaxon, or Rian. Darius’s opulent tent appears untouched. Maybe the Fae are inside, acting as the last line of defense for their Shadow Prince.

“I’m going to find Draven,” Silas shouts, leaping off Hyde in a fluid motion I envy and then tying the reins to a tree. “Stay here.”

“What?”

I thought I came here to talk sense into Rian. I can’t do that from here.

“You’ll be slaughtered the moment you step foot on that field,” he says, not mincing words. Shadows roll over the ground around him, and he holds my stare. “I’ll find Draven and tell him you’re here. He’ll find Rian.”

I’m about to ask why he can’t just go to Rian himself, but he races off into the fray before I can open my mouth.

I sit frozen on Moonlight, watching my fellow humans break against a wall of Fae steel.

The human soldiers shout orders, dodging and striking with fervor, but they are subdued with ease by the skilled Fae. The magical race moves with unnatural speed, and their strikes possess incredible strength.

When a Fae splits a man clean in two, bile surges up. I throw my weight to the side and vomit, retching until my throat burns.

Moonlight huffs and shuffles her hooves.

“Sorry,” I rasp, stroking her mane.

She shifts anxiously, mirroring my dread.

Steeling my stomach, I look back out at the camp. More men have fallen. And there’s still no sight of the three males I’ve spent the past days with. They’re not needed. It’s only a matter of time before the humans fall, and our region descends into chaos.

A Verdanthian roars, his green uniform stained black with blood and sweat. The bulky man charges at two Fae soldiers with reckless fury.

My body stiffens. I brace for his death.

“Now!” he bellows.

A different pair of men spin away from the group of Fae they’d been surrounding and race to the Fae males’ backs, swords raised.

No!

“Watch out!” I scream.

Swords plunge into the Fae’s backs.

My heart drops, but every emotion within me shutters into shocked horror when the Fae males’ bodies burst into clouds of dark smoke. Their bodies dissolve, vanishing into nothing.

No, not smoke. Shadow.

My pulse roars in my ears.

Fae may have magic, but they have bodies. I’ve felt Darius’s flesh. I’ve felt Rian’s. What weapon could destroy their bodies like that?