AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Chapter22
Aloud screech overhead made me crouch immediately, pure reflex.
Dragons.
The Seelie army had dragons.
And the army was much more than a few hundred men. It was as if they had their entire forces lying in wait. It was more than were needed to take Dukesburg. They could take multiple towns on a march to the castle easily.
One quick glance between Noah and me was all we had time for before a voice cried out in the dark for the troops to prepare.
“Run,” Noah shouted at me. He got behind me, shoving my back as I stumbled through the woods. It wasn’t far to get to the police and our companions.
“Ready for attack, the Seelie are here!” Noah yelled to the others.
He turned to stand his ground with his warriors, who had stopped moving, waiting for the Seelie, but I grabbed his arm, moving him away from the others to give us a moment or two before the entire Seelie army descended on our outnumbered and sorely ill-prepared gaggle.
“You have to go,” I said.
Noah was frantically looking around. “There are not many vantage points for the dragons, but if we station some men at city hall—"
“Noah!” I shouted, grabbing his shoulders and forcing him to look me in the eyes. “You have to go. You have to ride toward the kingdom and gather everyone. We can’t win this. We can’t fight them. The police have no talents like trained soldiers.”
“I will not leave my men. We have to stay,” he argued.
I shook my head, glancing over my shoulder as shouting echoed through the woods. There wasn’t all hell raining down on us, so Noah still had a chance. A chance to slip away before anyone saw him.
“Noah, you have to go. Staying is painting a target on your back with our small numbers. They’ll know who you are and practically win the war before it begins. You have to get reinforcements. Just you.”
“Absolutely not. It’s too dangerous for you to stay.”
“You’ll ride faster without me and you know it. Ride, get reinforcements, and make sure the Seelie can’t progress further. We must hold them. You know I’m right.” I released the grip I had on his shoulders, letting my hands slide down his arms. “I can figure out a way to distract them long enough to learn what I can.”
“How are you going to do that?” he asked.
I shrugged and gave him as playful a smile as I could manage. “I’m resourceful.”
He looked at me helplessly, shaking his head, but I knew I’d gotten through to him. The defeat in his eyes as he stared at me was clear.
“I’m a nobody to them. They won’t recognize me. I can surrender, I can think of something to buy us time. While you find a way to save the day.”
I let go of Noah this time, but he grabbed my hands in his. “Cora, I—" He stared at me for just a beat. A moment that was enough to sear itself into my mind as I watched him struggle and then finally wrap his arms around me, pulling me in and claiming my lips.
His kiss was desperate, filled with enough raging passion that it tore down the animosity and confusion that had grown insurmountable between us all those months. His tongue slid over mine and I whimpered, pulling him closer as my own walls crumbled down inside of me.
It was a kiss that blew away the other ones we’d shared, making those few chaste and unworthy to even think of. A kiss that locked Noah Driscoll into my heart in what felt like a permanent place.
“Be careful,” he said, cupping my cheeks. “I can’t lose you.”
When he pulled me close this time, he placed a lingering kiss on my forehead.
“I will bring us the reinforcements we need,” he said to the others, walking forward to meet their fearful stares. The only ones who looked calm were the four fae I’d come here with. The others were terrified.
“Listen to Coraline. She has training from the captain of the Unseelie himself. She has a plan to buy us time.”
My heart swelled as Noah spoke. I hadn’t even told him my plan, but he’d put his faith in me, and his own men’s faith in me. And that right there, that trust, reignited my drive and made me feel alive again. A reminder that people were counting on me. The Unseelie were counting on me to protect their prince. And I would. Maybe not by being the feeder they thought I was, but I’d be so much more than that. I’d be a warrior, just like them. Fighting for the kingdom.
Fighting for the Unseelie.
