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Louis nodded a thank you to Cade and lunged at the druid, but his opponent turned to smoke again. He growled as his claws swatted at empty space. Then Rowan and Cade were up, one conjuring a web of thorned vines to trap the smoke, the other tossing dark spells at the fading smoke.
“Fucking coward!” Louis spat.
The druid wouldn’t engage directly with the powerful princes, since I’d destroyed his supposedly unbreakable shield—the crystal ball. He popped up a dozen yards away with his army between him and the princes. The left sleeve and a corner of his robe frayed away where he stood. Cade’s spells had grazed him after all.
Silas had engaged in a fight against three cult brothers, one sword against three. When they broke apart, all four of them were bleeding. A beastly growl tore out of Silas’s throat as he shifted to his warrior form—half-wolf and half-man—and added two feet to his formidable height.
The shifter prince leapt into the air, his broad blade finding purchase and swiping a cult brother’s head clean off, but another cult brother shot an arrow into his thigh. Silas roared in rage and pain, throwing his hand up, and a stream of water forced its way into the archer’s mouth, not stopping until he was down.
The rest of the princes formed a protective triangle around Barbie, watching each other’s backs while guarding her as waves of cult brothers charged them. There were too many, dozens of them. Surprisingly, Headmistress Ethel joined the princes, tossing her wind and fire at the legion to try to push them back.
Rowan’s lethal, thorny vines shot out from the ground and burst from the walls, but too many students got in the way. Some students, mostly first-years, ran like headless chickens, trying to duck the magical fire, water, vines, arrows, and spells that flew everywhere. There were casualties, of course, the innocent caught in the crossfire.
“Get the bride candidates out of here, Lady Ethel!” Rowan shouted. “That’s your duty!”
Headmistress Ethel darted to clear a path and led the students out. America rushed to assist her. The death squad didn’t stop them, as the bad guys were only interested in Barbie.
Amid the chaos and clamor, quite a few students fell and were trampled by the other students as they all shoved forward to flee toward the exit. Cade let his spells fly toward the windows and shattered them to create more exits for the students to get out.
A group of candidates from Barbie’s underdog cult rushed to join the princes’ team instead of fleeing, tossing fire, wind, and water at the Brotherhood members. I was proud of them.
The princes’ guards, including our chaos house warriors, hadn’t been allowed to enter Skyward when the trial started. And now they couldn’t get to us through the exodus of the candidates. The bridge was packed with panicked students trying to get to the safety of the other end. Some students fell off the bridge as a result. The warriors at the end of the bridge were yelling for the candidates to be calm and hurry the fuck up. They were anxious to get to us and join the fight.
Jinx, one of Barbie’s friends, got hit in the shoulder and cried out in pain. Bea flew to her side to tend to her. I appreciated their bravery and loyalty, but they weren’t ready to fight against the death squad, who were all professional killers.
Get my friends out, Pucker! Barbie said weakly in my head as soon as she stopped thrashing around in a violent fit. Tell them to leave me. Send them to safety.
I related Barbie’s urgent message.
“Let us be part of this fight!” said Drusilla, the half-vampire. “We won’t abandon Barbie. She’s the voice and hope of the underdogs.”
They won’t leave. They’re loyal to you, and they need this, I told Barbie. If you want to protect them, fight the Seed of Heaven and get up!
I’m trying, she whimpered, beads of blood dotting her forehead, pain filling her eyes.
Try harder!
The druid had disabled Barbie first so she couldn’t join the princes in the battle and tilt the odds in our favor.
I held her hand for moral support. She was fighting to stay conscious. If she blacked out, it’d be game over for her.
I needed to go get Killian. No one could reach him faster than I, yet it wasn’t in me to just leave my mistress while she was mortally wounded. I was terrified that once I was gone, I’d never see her again. I knew a goddess wouldn’t perish like a mortal or even an immortal, but when you cared for someone so much, you didn’t follow all the facts and cold logic.
The battle raged on in the hall. The two sides hurled offensive magic at each other. Blades flashed. Claws sank into flesh. Screams of pain met battle cries.
Cade brandished his wand, chanting rapidly. Where the spells from his wand landed, fireballs exploded and flesh burned. Silas, in his formidable warrior form, led with his long claws, his sword a sidekick. He was very much into tearing out throats and beheading his opponents as he leapt into the enemy ranks, ignoring the silver arrow still buried in his thigh. Actually, he had a new one piercing his shoulder.
Rowan and Cade fought near Barbie to safeguard her. Louis charged into the enemy’s ranks to thin the herd. He was missing an ear and had a long gash across his forearm.
Fire, smoke, fallen beams, broken glass, and blood were everywhere. There were heavy casualties on both sides.
“First the kidnapping, then this. Why do they want Barbie so much?” Rowan asked, his thorny vines piercing the heart of a cult brother.
“Why do we all want her in our houses, Rowan?” Cade answered. “Her power calls to everyone.”
Louis retreated to join Cade and Rowan, cursing. A second later, Silas also returned after he’d dealt with a half-demon, half-shifter. The princes fought back-to-back, with Barbie in the center, guarded by Cami, Bea, and me. Drusilla, Jinx, and the other geeks fought between the princes as the first defense.
The enemies’ numbers were too many.
