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“Yes! I feel it now too. That’s perfect, My Queen.” I preen at Vivia’s praise, gaining more confidence. “We should be able to?—”
Before I can process what’s happening, Vivia dives for me and we go rolling to the ground. A long axe-like weapon lodges itself into a tree only a few feet away from where I’d been. Not far behind it, the scream from a Nephilim follows and it’s approaching fast.
“Go!” I scream at her. The plan had been that Vivia would stay with me to help me strengthen the wards so the process would go faster. That shit isn’t happening now though. Not when Nephilim are out here trying to decapitate me.
Vivia’s a warrior. I know she’s itching to join Aracelia in the battle and honestly, I need her to watch my back. Not stand with me during the process.
To her credit, Vivia doesn’t argue, even though uncertainty races across her features. She pulls off of me and soon her deep purple dragon is standing above me. A second later she flies out, heading straight toward the Nephilim heading this way.
Before I can see the blood bath that will surely follow, I scramble to my feet and fix my attention back on the wards. Vivia said it would feel like threads being knit together and I search for that. To my horror I feel it, but these strands are frayed, held together by a single thread.
This is completely different from awakening dragons. My mind has to work in ways it has never had to before, pulling at invisible threads and accepting the magic of Mescos to help me in my task.
The world around me heats up as dragon fire burns around me. Sweat pools on my scrunched-up brow and drips down my back. It is growing increasingly uncomfortable, but I ignore it. I have to in order to keep my attention on my job. I ignore the shrieks and screams of fallen enemies and friends.
It’s a slow process, stitching up each unraveled strand of thread, knotting them tightly together until they are secure. Over and over, I do this, panting from the mental exertion, but it’s working. I feel the wards pulse with a newfound strength. It’s still extremely fragile, but there’s a difference in the energy. It’s stronger…almost more excited.
I just need more time though. Always more time.
The cries from the battle are only getting louder. It takes everything in me not to turn around and watch the chaos unfold firsthand. Sheer stubbornness keeps me rooted in place along with the need to save Malix and Dragon’s Keep.
My eyes are closed, and my attention is on restoring the wards, so I don’t see or hear the creature approaching me until it’s too late. “Mortal.”
The voice isn’t one I have ever heard before and doesn’t sound normal. It’s scratchy and speaks as if multiple people are talking at once, all saying the same thing but in different registers.
My eyes snap open as cold fear washes over my body. Only a few feet away, standing just outside our borders, is a Nephilim. But there’s something different about him. He’s taller than the rest, by at least half a foot. He wears an eyepatch over his left eye and I see a faint jagged scars peeking out from underneath. He also speaks, something that I haven’t heard from the others.
Is this Gadreel?
I’m torn between fleeing or staying, but somehow, my feet stay rooted to the spot. If I can just knot the threads together faster then maybe it’ll be enough to keep this deadly creature away from me.
“Mortal,” he speaks again, but steps forward. His movements rattle the ground and I brace myself, so I don’t fall over. “So small. So frail.” The Nephilim laughs, sounding like thunder during a particularly nasty storm.
Vivia is no longer near me. She’s off in her own battle, keeping the Nephilim behind me away. I’m on my own.
Faster. Concentrate. You can do this.
I repeat the mantra over and over in my head, hoping if I believe it enough, it will come true. The wards stitch themselves back together only marginally faster and I try to keep the panic building low in my belly at bay. I can’t give up. Not with so much to lose.
The ground beneath me shakes again and the Nephilim approaches me. Hysteria builds in my chest, but I shove it down, only just. “Death is here, mortal.”
This time I can’t help it. I scream, breaking my hold on the wards as I stumble back in my desperate attempt to get away.
The Nephilim laughs again and keeps walking. I pray that enough of the wards have been restored to keep the giant out. The Nephilim stops just outside our invisible walls and I hold my breath, praying to any god, goddess, or deity that will listen.
Everything hangs by a thread…literally, and my sense of safety shatters the moment the creature crouches down and extends his arm out. Without so much as the slightest hesitation, he pushes through my half-formed wards with his sight on me.
I open my mouth again to scream, but no sound comes out. My survival instincts finally kick in and I run. I make it only a few feet before a large hand comes down and cages me inside. It grows darker and darker until all the light from outside is gone.
“Mine.” Is the last word I hear before his hand prison begins to close in on itself, becoming tighter and tighter until I’m pressed against the Nephilim’s fingers and palm.
He applies pressure as his fingers clench around my body, and I scream. I scream for Malix and I hope he knows how hard I tried. I scream for Vivia and Mina, apologizing that I couldn’t create a safe kingdom to raise their boy.
And I scream for myself, knowing I’m about to take my last breath before my bones and body are crushed.
Chapter 36
Malix
