Page 174 of The Reaping Rose

He stares into the beast’s fiery eyes, homing in on the heat that brews within it. The palemor opens its mouth, and we stand our ground as it empties its belly of flame. Until it is left with nothing more than teeth and claws.

Like us, a palemor’s magic is not endless. Once the creature lets out a final huff of smoke, its fire magic falters. The beast can fight with physical force, but it will take time for it to refuel the fire in its belly. With a breath, icy cold blackness covers the beach, sending a chill up my spine.

The palemor coils, ready to strike. There’s only one thing that can kill it: a searing blade to the heart. Fire against fire.

“Now.” Atlas’s grin somehow lightens the beach.

A single flame licks at his fingertip. It spreads like fire on kindling, illuminating a pillar of light up his blade. The dome of magic protecting us glows, and Atlas is the source at the center.

The moment the palemor’s smoky breath thins, I drop the barrier, and Atlas moves as fast as fire spreads. Wild and untamed. He drives forward hard and fast, having battled these creatures at my side before. He aims for one of its legs, slicing it cleanly through.

Only, one cut is not enough to take a beast like this down, no matter how much it slows it. The palemor rears back, screeching when blood pours from its leg. Its scales drip with tar as Atlas strikes again and again.

The palemor winds tight like a serpent, curling around the east side of the beach. It surrounds us on three sides with the length of its body. It keeps its belly low, refusing to expose its heart. Creatures like this aren’t mindless like some others. It knows what Atlas has planned and will fight against it until its dying breath.

“Only a strike to the heart will kill it,” I remind Atlas when he drives a flaming blade into its leg.

“It’s insulting that you think I’ve forgotten.” He smirks, striking again.

Atlas, Greer, and Callum hold off the razor-sharp bites of the palemor as it tries to swallow them whole, while Elorie and I bind its legs in magic, tethering the beast back.

The tip of its tail whips back and forth, nearly striking Elorie. I barely reach her and pull her to my chest before the scales strike the sand. When the tail rears back a second time, it doesn’t slice down on us. It makes room for something else churning in the darkness overhead.

“Ravagers,” Elorie whispers as a cloud of darkness overwhelms the night sky. “I’ve never seen that many of them.”

“The state of the Well has made Fae desperate,” I tell her.

With magic faltering, Fae in both realms have become willing to do anything to survive, including stealing magic. Except the more they drain, the hotter it burns, becoming unsustainable. They grow dependent on that surge. That rush. The more they steal, the more they need, turning Fae to ravagers faster than we can combat the problem.

I’ve fought back hordes of ravagers before, but the number flooding the beach is more than I’ve faced in my lifetime.

“Together,” Elorie says in my mind. “We’ll face them together.”

She presses close, and my hand moves down Elorie’s arm, flushing her skin with magic until I’m threading my fingers through hers.

Aether and starlight stir like they did last night. Only this time, I hold our palms out and focus every drop outward. A pulse so strong it thumps in my ears. It streams at the dark cloud of ravagers that has yet to take physical form. Our magic claps against the darkness and forces them into their bodies so we have something to fight.

Elorie looks back over her shoulder at me, worry pinching her eyebrows. She hasn’t forgotten that the last time I did that, I nearly drained all my magic. Except this time, mine is twined with hers, and we tapped into our soul bind.

“I didn’t know I could do that,” she says.

“The things you can do are endless, Starfire.” I place her hand on the dagger at her hip. “Let’s go show them.”

Her smile is so big my heart jumps to my throat. She takes her daggers in her hands, wrapping them in glowing light as she turns toward the ravagers. Her eyes and freckles gleam, as if daring them to dull her shine.

Atlas, Callum, and Greer continue to focus on the palemor, while Elorie and I use magic to draw the ravagers’ attention toward us. A wave of pale skin and white hair floods the beach, tunneling toward us. Their skin has a grayish hue, and their eyes are empty, drained of all color.

The ravagers are practically phantoms, clacking their teeth as they rush forward.

There are too many for us to fight. But Elorie, with her heart of steel, doesn’t back up or run. She holds her ground.

A stench of rotted flesh and putrid breath hangs heavy around them. But right before they reach us, the Gate stirs, and the first wave of Darvel’s army storms the beach.

“Cutting it close,” I grumble as Darvel appears beside me.

“Keeping you guessing, King Riven.” He grins, shoving his blade through the first ravager to reach us.

With the next, Elorie drops low, driving her blade upward, piercing its heart.