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We were fucking trapped, and we’d barely made it out alive when our forces were evenly matched. Now we were what? Three against ten thousand? A hysterical laugh bubbled up out of me before I clapped a hand over my mouth.
“We didn’t make it this far to lose you, Anaria,” Raz said quietly, turning his hand palm up. I wove my fingers into his, leaned my forehead against his spine, and closed my eyes.
“I’m not losing you, and you won’t lose me. But we don’t have a choice. We’re going back. We’ll find a way to finish this and get everyone back.”
Such lies.
We’d all be dead in a couple of hours, and if we failed…if we died, I doubted the Oracle would have much use for an archer, a silver wolf, and my mother.
“Wewillfinish this,” I repeated, my voice stronger, a hint of stardust swirling in the sunbeams. “And when that army is gone and we get our friends back, I will dedicate every ounce of myself to eradicating that bitch from the face of the earth.
37
ANARIA
After we abandoned the horses to the forest, Zor flew us toward Tempeste.
As it turned out, we didn’t have to travel nearly that far.
The king’s Soul Reaper army had marched eastward all night, ten thousand thundering soldiers that churned the hard, cracked earth of the flatlands to a fine dust. Soft enough their blood would soak in deep, giving birth to a new world, and I closed my eyes to the horror of what I was about to do.
Life from death.
Magic from evil.
There was no use defying the Oracle any longer, not when Adele’s, Tristan’s, and Tavion’s lives hung in the balance. Not when a quick death would be better than what the future held for these men. Even the Caladrian soldiers, I imagined, were screaming inside their own bodies. She’d trapped us all so neatly, with no chance of escape, and when this was finished we would be her slaves.
Zor squatted down beside me with Raz on my other side, studying the army that had yet to spot us behind the small clump of rocks—the only cover for miles—Zor had landed us behind.
Once the host scented us, I would have no choice at all, but until that moment, I could pretend there was another way out of this situation.
I could walk away from this horror.
Find some remote place to live happily ever after, just like Raz suggested.
“They’re in a tight enough formation you could take them out in a series of blows.” Zor fell back into his role of general, pointing to the shambling soldiers closest to us. “One clean strike right there would fell the front five lines. Then we’ll move to the left, then the back, and so on. If we keep jumping, they won’t be able to lock onto our location.”
I remembered how fast Ember had moved, little more than a blur.
I wasn’t that fast, but if I kept my magic flowing, the Reapersshoulddie before they got close enough to sink their teeth into me. I just couldn’t falter. Not for a second.
“How much magic do you have?” I asked Zor. My own power was straining to escape, and I had a feeling I’d need every last drop to finish this.
“Enough.” He scratched his jaw. “More than I should.”
I nodded. I hadn’t asked about the strange dark haze hanging around him, nor the way he kept rubbing the mark on his arm. But more magic was better than none, no matter what sort.
My eyes kept flicking to the sky for any dark shadow that looked out of place.
The army had been marching since yesterday, yet they showed no signs of slowing down. Normal men—even hardened Fae soldiers—would have collapsed from thirst by now, but these creatures showed no such weaknesses.
They moved like machines, stiffly but steadily, leaving a cloud of dust behind them that stretched all the way to Tempeste. This close, you could distinguish Caladrian soldier from Solarys, shopkeeper from prisoner, courtier from mage. Even the horrible hounds lurched amongst the reanimated horde, open jaws dripping saliva, black eyes gleaming.
I couldn’t say they were any more frightening now than they had been.
I wondered if anyone from Tempeste had survived.
“They’ll attack once they know where the attack is coming from,” I pointed out. “Ember was clever, but she was even more cunning with that thing inside her. They’re smart. And they’re fast.”
