Page 175 of The Reaping Rose

I swing in a wide arc, beheading three in one strike. Hearts and heads are the only way to kill them. So that’s what Elorie and I do. With blades and magic, we push the ravagers back. Andare’s warriors fight at our sides, holding the line, keeping them away from where Atlas, Callum, and Greer continue to battle the palemor.

“Why did you wait so long?” I eye Darvel, who fights beside me.

“We didn’t.” His sword drives through two ravagers’ hearts at once. “This is the second wave. I’m guessing the first one didn’t make it?”

I grit my teeth, shaking my head once. If they aren’t here, where did the Arch send them? Could it have spit them out in another part of the realm, like it did when Elorie returned from the Mortal Realm? Or did it send them elsewhere?

“Let’s hope Rior doesn’t have that same trouble,” I say.

If he and Esen can’t get through, then this will all be for nothing.

Elorie gasps, and my heart stops, thinking she’s been struck. I rush to her side, expecting blood or pain. But she’s not hurt. Her eyes are set on the distance, where a group of three ravagers has split off to attack a small village at the far end of the beach.

“They might be dead already,” I warn her.

She meets my gaze. “Or they could be alive with no one to protect them.”

Elorie is running before I have a chance to convince her not to. Ravagers flood from all sides, separating us. I can’t leave the line I’m holding, or the ravagers will start attacking Callum and Atlas, and they’re finally inching closer to the palemor’s heart.

I open a thread, finding my way through to Greer.

“Get out of my head, Wilder,” she huffs out before I can say anything, sensing me at the edge of her thoughts.

While she’s loyal to Elorie, her glare over her shoulder proves how little she’s warmed up to me.

“Elorie needs help. The ravagers split off toward a village in the south.”

Greer’s head snaps that direction, where Elorie’s blue braids whip behind her as she runs.

“Gods, souls, and stars, of course she did,” Greer grumbles, and I chuckle as I pull away, watching Greer tear across the beach toward Elorie.

Between the two of them, they have it covered, so I turn my attention back to the fight in front of me. Only, with each strike, my sword is heavier. With each flick of aether, the sparks dull. In the distance, the orb throbs, toying with my magic.

“They thought I wouldn’t find you,” it whispers. “There you are.”

A chill climbs my spine, shooting pain through the back of my skull. Whatever magic screams through the orb feels like it comes from within me.

Pain rattles my nerves, but I don’t let it pull me to my knees. I grip my blade tighter, slicing. Carving. Soaking this beach in blood as I push forward. There is no time to think or breathe. My arms ache, and my heart thunders in my chest, but I do not falter.

We push the ravagers back, leaving a trail of limbs and bodies behind us.

“Almost there,” Atlas grunts out as he slices off another one of the palemor’s claws when it reaches for him. “I think I can get it⁠—"

Callum clears a path, and Atlas shoves his flame-imbued blade through a set of scales. The moment he does, all three of us step back, knowing he missed the heart. The palemor rears back, not in fear, but a fit of rage. Sweat drips down my neck as the air peaks in an unbearable rush of heat.

“Wilder!” Elorie screams through the thread, and I look in time to see that the palemor’s head isn’t the only thing that is thrashing.

The bottom half of its body has shifted. Its tail coils behind it, ready to snap and decimate everything in its path, including the village.

“We’ve got this,” Atlas assures me, seeing where I’m looking. “Go.”

Callum nods, his face streaked in blood and tar, and I don’t wait; I run.

Chapter 59

Callum

“You’re not half bad for a member of the Crown Guard.” Atlas grins as I take out one of the palemor’s long legs.