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On the count of three I heave her up, letting her clutch my arm as she desperately shifts her weight to my torso. With her now relatively safe, I shift my focus to Gabriel.
“You need to let go.”
“O-okay,” he stammers out, barely able to string together his sentence as he tentatively lets the roots go. I don’t wait for him, and instead lift him the rest of the way off, needing to focus on the battle raging on around us rather than Gabriel.
I grit my teeth as his scream pierces my eardrums. He flails around desperately as though I’m about to drop him.
Well if he keeps doing that I might have to.
“Stop,” I growl, tightening my grip around him.
The sudden pressure must remind him that he isn’t falling, since his scream cuts off and he nearly goes dead-weight in my arms. Motherfucker.
The short flight isn’t nearly short enough as we reach the top of the hill and I deposit them in the clearing, far enough from the crumbling edge that I’m sure the earth won’t break off beneath their feet again.
“Thank you,” the blonde god breathes as she stumbles onto her feet, releasing me from the awkward way she was clinging to me just beneath my wings. Gabriels feet are on the ground but he doesn’t move them, instead letting them awkwardly shift to the side as though he isn’t awake.
“Dammit,” I hiss as I release Gabriel and his limp body crumples to the ground like a ragdoll. “Take care of him, or don’t, I really don’t care anymore.”
I never used to care. I wouldn’t have even stopped before, not with a war waging on around us. I guess that’s just another way Olivia has helped me to care for others or whatever.
“Of course,” the blonde god says as I shoot back into the air, needing to get a better grasp on the battle after that shit show.
Irene has repositioned some of the groups, and now there’s an all-out battle unfolding at the bottom of the hill where gods and demigods fight against the horde of demons that were unleashed upon them.
To be fair, the battle up here isn’t going much better. With the shift in the troops, the dark gods have been able to infiltrate the ranks, and now it’s chaos as all hell breaks loose. I sweep down and land in a crouch next to Irene, needing to check in on Ethereal before losing myself to the battle lust once more.
“How is Lysander doing?” I ask, unsheathing one of my swords as a demon gets too close for comfort. I pull my wings back in, aware I’ll soon be too crowded to really maneuver around with them out.
“He just sent a report that a rift has opened in Ethereal, but it seems to be mostly a distraction tactic as they focus the brunt of their attack here,” Irene says as she lets another arrow loose and it embeds itself in a demon’s eye. “It’s all demons there, but he’s not sure if it’s meant to lull them into a false sense of security.”
I nod in understanding, a wave of cool relief washing over me at the assurance that this is it. Our plans may have gone off the rails a bit, but we can handle this—I can handle this. “Agreed, we don’t pull any teams from Ethereal unless it’s an emergency.”
“Understood.” Irene strings another arrow and takes aim.
“Anything from Linus?”
“They’re waiting outside the castle, and on your mark, they’ll attack from the other side.”
“Good, give him the go as soon as the trickle of demons slows here. I don’t want them to be overwhelmed there.” I swing my sword towards an oncoming demon, scowling as I slice its head from its body. Green blood spurts from the mortal wound and coats my shoes, but my focus has already gone somewhere else.
“Of course.”
I desperately search the battlefield for the other major players. If Romulus really only sent demons to Ethereal, the dark gods must all be here, meaning Helene and Kallen should be here too.
As though my thoughts summoned him, Kallen leisurely strolls from the rift as though he’s on a brisk Sunday walk. Lightning crashes behind him, his dark-blue eyes alight as if electricity shines in their depths.
That fucker’s mine.
My battle lust sings in my veins, as I send a blast below me and catapult myself forward, my sword outstretched, already prepared to battle the moment my feet touch the ground.
Chapter Twenty-Six
Olivia
Myshieldisalreadyin place around us as our bodies take form, and a red flash of power shoots off it just as my vision reforms. Gasping, I take in the battle raging on around us. Demons in all shapes and sizes converge on our troops, but they fight them back, swords and powers colliding in a flurry of motion.
“This way,” Kyros instructs, leading me towards the downed trees. I tug Maximus along with us, the three of us needing a second to regroup before we launch into this fight.
