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“Daughter of Katia!” I heard again. And again. And again. A small group of soldiers had spotted me where I stood. They waved their blades through the air, trying to catch my attention. “Your Majesty! Use your powers!”
I blanched. It was all I could do to stare, completely helpless as they were cut down one by one.
“Hey.” Miles nudged me, and I turned to see black eyes, pensive and proud. “Daughter of Katia,” he breathed. “It’s been an honor.”
“I forgive you,” I blurted.
His eyes widened momentarily as the words hung between us. I wanted to say something,anything, but I found myself speechless as he stared at me. “Thank you,” he murmured, and I almost didn’t hear it over the sound of warfare. “Maybe I’ll see her again in another life, right? If I’m lucky.”
I couldn’t look at him as the meaning of his words sank in. Cielle was out there in the world somewhere, and she had no idea that she’d be the only thing on his mind as he took his last breath. I stared out at the people calling for the Daughter of Katia, begging me to heal them, pleading for me to use my powers, but I thought maybe it was Miles who was in Noros’ grip. The pain in his voice was unbearable.
“Absolutely, Miles. You will see her again.”
He almost seemed relieved for a moment as his lips parted in a beaming smile, pride once again washing over all of his features as he looked out over the battle then back to me. “Go down swinging.”
I would.
Miles had taken the first step down the stairs when a noise began pulsing low and heavy. The battle came to a dead halt as the ground began to vibrate beneath our feet. The soldiers stopped, the Vacants stopped, the soulhags and kelpies just…stopped. Blades froze in midair, archers dropped their bows. Even the dying ceased their screaming. Utter silence descended over streets that had become a battlefield, cobblestones slick with crimson. My head swung around to the north wall, trying to discern the source of the sound that shook all of Eserene.
I was cast in shadow only for a split second as it crested the wall, wings half as wide as the castle was tall. Four more followed, soaring above the city with leathery wings. I shook my head, because this was impossible. This was utterly impossible.
“Drivas,” I whispered.
I didn’t know if it was blood or tears that I swiped from my cheek, but the sob broke from me then as I stared, each driva massive and terrifying, each covered in opaline black scales, each with a maw that hung open to reveal rows upon rows of glistening teeth as long as a broadsword. The city was swallowed by their menacing shadows, dirt stirred up with every wingbeat.
“Fuckingdrivas,” Miles murmured from beside me, his voice thick with disbelief.
Every bone in my body shook as the largest driva’s jaw opened further and angry red flames exploded from its throat to where the Vacants poured down the streets. Any of their dying screams were muffled out completely by the sound that came straight from the depths of a nightmare.
Miles pointed to the sky, identifying each one. “Rixa, Obitus, Gehenna, Ventus…” His finger hovered in the air, pointing to the largest driva as it incinerated everything in its path. “It’s her. Adorex.”
A sound broke through the terror then, the sound of Miles’ laugh landing in my ears like the sweetest music as I watched each of the five legendary monsters reduce Castemont’s forces to ash. Nell and Whit were suddenly there, somehow, both of them erupting into shouts of victory. My broadsword clattered to the steps.
Adorex’s serpentine neck snapped toward me at the sound of steel on stone, and even as the beast soared a hundred feet above, her eyes unmistakably locked on mine. I stood, dwarfed by this myth that wasn’t supposed to exist as she watched me. Her wingbeats slowed so she hovered in place, intently staring at me with glassy, pale blue eyes.
Without thinking, I pointed to the highest tower of the castle, where I knew Castemont watched over the battle like a reaper.
The driva blinked once, some kind of knowing in her gaze before she turned in midair. Mighty, massive wings pounded hard, eyes set on the tower as she gained altitude. As if they were of a single mind, the four other drivas moved in the same direction, the mass of beasts converging on the place where I knew Castemont waited.
This moment… I relished the feeling, the anticipation, the knowledge that the fucking bastard was staring out the window of the stone tower, panic seeping into his muscles as he realized he was going to die, and he was going to die in aninferno. Screams of both terror and triumph sounded around me as the drivas surrounded the tower, their heads cocked back, their jaws wide and dripping.
Waiting.
My voice was a whisper, but they heard it loud and clear. “Now.”
The roars that ripped from their throats were beyond deafening, every district of Eserene quaking and rumbling and burning as each of the five drivas unleashed fury unparalleled.
The flames kept coming, the sandstone castle quickly turning black in the heat of the fire, whole sections of it beginning to disintegrate and crumble. I held my breath as the tower began to teeter. And as the drivas let their flames die, the castle crumbled to the ground in a heap of smoking rubble, the Saint of Pain along with it.
Chapter 52
The castle that once stood was replaced by a column of billowing black smoke.
No ships remained in the harbor, and I watched as a wave rose and crashed over the herd of kelpies. When it calmed, the herd was gone, returning to lurk in the deep. The soulhags climbed back into the rifts they’d opened in the ground, the massive canyons cracking shut behind them.
Five pairs of wings slowed their beating until each landed on the ground, their talons scraping across ashy debris while their nostrils flared and huffed. Adorex clawed at the stone, her icy eyes locked on me. I descended the staircase, watching her as she watched me, my breath heaving in and out as I tried to come to terms with what just happened.
With a single hand raised, I approached her, disbelief the only thing propelling me forward. She lowered her serpentine neck, her head just feet from the ground. A low growl rumbled in her throat as she pushed her snout forward, teeth gleaming where they jutted from her maw. The fear was undeniable, but I gently laid my hand against the scales above her nose, breath huffing from her flaring nostrils as she stared at me. She was a myth, a fearsome legend that never existed, yet here she was.
