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Lorian studied my face and lifted the trowth stone. “They’re here to help,” he said. “Don’t touch them.”
Daharak said something, but I was too busy watching Natan and what had to be a hundred other humans—dressed in mismatched armor and wielding old crossbows and dulled swords, a clearly stolen cannon listing off the side of their ship.
Somehow…somehow, Natan had survived the massacre of our village. And he’d found others willing to fight.
I am, however, attempting to get some more help to you in time. Vicer had written. And this was what he’d been working on.
We might all die here today, and yet they’d come anyway.
Our ship rocked beneath us. Something had slipped through our ward.
“Now, Prisca!” Lorian yelled. And then he enveloped me in his arms, and I reached for my hourglass, pulling at the threads of my power. It was difficult. So difficult to only stop time for Regner’s men. It had drained me when I’d done it just days ago at the Frosthaven Isles, where there had been far fewer ships to manage.
Our people jumped into action, taking advantage of the brief respite. Arrows slammed into Regner’s front lines. Madinia was aiming her fire at the ship closest to hers, while Lorian lifted one hand from my body and aimed at several ships at once. Just a moment later, he closed that hand over mine.
“Let go.”
It was easier this time. Just as it had been easier to focus on what was happening around me, instead of becoming lost in my power. Perhaps I was getting better. Or maybe it was that I was becoming drained and could no longer hold time for as long.
Several of Regner’s ships exploded, their wards faltering beneath our attack. Fire swamped the one Madinia had hit, and Regner’s soldiers jumped overboard, braving the ocean. Lorian was using his power like a spike, keeping it narrow and drilling it through the hulls of the ships on the front lines.
Our people were channeling as much power as they could into the barrier. But even with Conreth’s and Galon’s best warders protecting our ships, they couldn’t hold against all the elemental cannons continually firing fire and ice—and iron arrows shooting through the sky toward us. Our wards buckled in places and were instantly shored up. But some of those elemental cannons sent our ships to the bottom of the sea, while those vicious fae-iron arrows slammed into fae and hybrid and human.
Turning, I surveyed our people, then Regner’s and Eryndan’s.
We were losing. If Verdion, Sylvielle, and Caliar had joined us, perhaps we would have taken down the barrier and slaughtered Regner’s most powerful people. But the human king only had to keep us from bringing down the barrier. We had to kill them and find a way to smash the barrier without the grimoire.
Every single decision I’d made began to flash in front of my eyes. Sending Demos and Asinia after Tibris. Allowing Vicer to go back to the hybrid camp. Choosing to strike now, rather than waiting. My eyes met Lorian’s. His expression was grim, but his eyes blazed with fury.
One of Regner’s ships was circling us, attempting to get to Jamic and the others. Lorian’s lightning torched the hull, and it went up in flames. But another ship was ready to take its place.
We were out of tricks. I had no more plans.
Their ships just kept coming.
If we dropped the wards, we would have enough power to take down the barrier. But the loss of life would be immeasurable.
Watching our people aim their power at the barrier, I understood. The fae could attack it from a distance, their power awe-inspiring. But there were others with power too. Immense power, even drained as they were. The problem was the distance. The hybrids and humans had to be much closer. Right now, their power was a weak stream compared to the fae.
Sweeping my gaze over our warship, I pointed at the small boat on one side of the deck. “What is that?”
Lorian aimed his power at the ship closest to Regner.
He ignored my question, his lips curled in a vicious snarl. “When were you going to tell me your cousin was here?”
“Just as soon as we were close enough to kill him,” I said.
“And I suppose the man standing next to him is Eadric?”
“Yes.”
Lightning flashed through his eyes.
I’d threatened Eadric with Lorian. But this vengeance was mine to take. I was the one he should be afraid of.
“If we get the chance to kill them, we take it. But this is important, Lorian. We need to get anyone with enough power left into those small boats and as close to the barrier as possible. Now.”
His brow creased further, but after a moment of deliberation, he nodded. “It’s dangerous. If it goes wrong, anyone in the skiffs will be dead.”
