Page 463 of Commanding Scythe and Sky

Crushing my wife to my chest, anger boiled through me as I pressed my lips to her forehead and turned for Alec. His jaw flexed, eyes trained past me as he wordlessly opened his arms, taking Ally from me even as my bond screamed its defiance.

I’ve got eyes on the serpent, I sent down the line, cracking my neck as I stepped forward.

A little fuckin’ preoccupied, Freya snapped back.

“Are you gonna tell him?” Marlana purred sweetly, black eyes like daggers—focused on Kade. Her smile sharp with the promise of pain, her voice saccharine, she added, “Or should I?”

Kingsley growled low in his chest, hackles raised as he prowled forward. His pack followed suit, shifting to form a perimeter between her and Alvara—between the snake and my mate.

Hands sparking, I drew my bow, lightning arching across the arrow as I trained it on the miserable bitch.

“Alvara cut down Branoc and Odessa, not two days ago,” she drawled, each syllable laced with malice. A chorus of deep whines went up from every side. Terramyst was grieving. And she’d used Ally to do it.

I fired—damn curiosity.

But the bitch shifted through the shadows to evade the strike, reappearing a foot away, her wicked smile fixed on me, eyes flashing in challenge. “Kade, I think you’ve been a very bad boy,” she said, pinching her brows in mock sympathy. “I don’t think August knows who you are, now does he?”

“Stop,” Kade ground out, his hands contorted with conjuring.

All around us, green seeped from the earth in twisting misty spirals.

Marlana threw her head back and laughed, shrill as steel across iron.

Get her another dose of Jo’s antidote, I thought down the line, needing that reaper’s venom out of Ally’s system so her body could start repairing now.

Way ahead of ya’ rookie.

And get her outta here.

Already getting some distance. Keep their eyes on you.

My fucking pleasure.

“Well, you see, Mr. Porter, Kade here is a Balaskas.”

“And?”

“And our bloodline can be traced to the beginning,” she said smugly, canines flashing. I drew another lightning arrow. “Prior to the Great War, there were two great families. Ours won.” She took a step forward, ash drifting up in her wake, the earth around her burning, charring, curling in on itself. Behind her, the palace shook, a deafening rumble sending a plume of dust skyward in the collapse.

Fuck. Freya, move your ass.

“From the wreckage emerged Khaos and Koa,” that sharp smile turned wicked, decadent in her self-satisfaction as Kade barked, “Enough!”

“Is it though, poor cousin?” she chastised. “I think sad li’l King Calloway would quite like to know the demon that cleaved him in two answered to the father of Khaos. Khaos after that. For all dark creatures are subjects of the untamable.”

“What is she saying, Kade?” I growled, bow drawn low as she prowled forward, a train wreck I couldn’t quite look away from.

“She’s gonna get you twisted,” he muttered. “It’s what they do—this bloodline, my bloodline—they warp what is good in the world until you can’t recognize it.” Like Ally. Like her brother?

“Twisted?” she scoffed, laughing breathlessly. Finally near enough to examine, I noted the blood across her ribs, her naked body marred with nicks and bruises, none of them fatal. “I’m not sure what there is to twist, dear cousin. He’s seen you pull from it.”

“Pull from what?” I demanded as Kingsley snarled, stepping closer to me, his sharp eyes tracking Kade. I risked a glance his way in time to see him wet his lips, his chest rising and falling heavily, as though weighed down by that unseen burden.

“I’m about sick of hearing her voice. Aren’t you?” From all sides, shades emerged—from the earth, the trunks of trees, the building behind her, unsettled spirits spilled from vessels they’d bonded to. I leveled my bow, aiming for her chest as goosebumps rippled down my arms.

“Pull from what, Kade?”

“From the darkness within,” she tittered in delight, clearly pleased with the outcome. “Kade likes to pretend he’s better than us children of Koa, but Khaos was just as beholden to the god in his veins.”