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Liana lunged after him, “Arrow,” she called, “No, come back!”
I grabbed Liana, stopping her before she fell over the terrace.
But the falcon was almost there, it was too late. Arrow tore through the Alchemist’s wards, attacking the man’s face with his razor-sharp talons. Digging out his eyes. The Alchemist raised his hands to shield his face, screaming out at the assault. A glowing light pulsed out from the man’s raised hand, and Arrow went rigid, tumbling from the air to connect with the ground in a plume of dirt and dust.
A lancing pain seared into my chest as the skin on skin contact between Liana and I heaved her grief and anger and anguish into me.
Chapter Thirty-Three
Liana
Icouldn’t see him. Arrow had fallen, disappeared into a cloud of dirt at the Alchemists feet. My chest ached. Tiernan wasn’t even here. He was down there, at the gates. He didn’t know his companion of the last twenty years had fallen.
This time, Arrow wouldn’t be nursed back to health. A hot tear dropped down my face, and the grief rapidly turned to fury in my blood.
The archers used the window of opportunity to shoot down the men still battering the gate, but more came, and the blinded Alchemist began the chant once more, his eyes ringed in dripping crimson.
Stupid.Stupid bird! Why?
Why did the loss of the creature open a jagged fissure in my heart?
The battle hadn’t even truly begun, and I’d already had enough. I’d kill them. I’d wipe them all from the face ofmyland. The weight of the black amulet in my pocket reassured me. I searched through the crowd for his face again, for a glimpse of his shining silver hair.
Once I found him, I’d be the one to end him. It was a promise I’d made myself, and one I fully intended to keep. I wasn’t sure how I’d do it yet, but when the time came, I’d figure it out.
Each blow to the gate reverberated through the palace. The stone itself shuddering against the assault of the metal tipped wooden beam. Another crack split the air, and if I leaned over, I could see they were almost through. My stomach dropped.
It wasn’t supposed to happen like this. So quickly. The full force of Ricon’s army began a slow march toward the gate, their shields raised from the onslaught of arrows. Silas called volley after volley, finally giving the order to fire at will in a fierce roar.
“Tiernan,” I said, “He has to get out of there. They’ll be through the gate any minute!”
Alaric shook his head, his expression grim, “And Tiernan is a valuable soldier who will be needed on the front lines. He knew this would be the outcome when he went down there to brace the gate.”
No.
I scrambled to find the tether between us, yanked on it hard,Tiernan, I said down the bond,Tiernan you have to come back. They’re about to break through.
A beat of silence.
Then I felt his answering tug in my chest.
I can’t come back… It’s time to fight.
Get back here! That’s an order, Tiernan!
My chest swelled, and my throat burned.
He didn’t answer.
My breathing came in ragged gasps, and my skinburned.Flames licked up and down my arms, and I was close to the breaking point.
Maybe they were right. I wasn’t ready for war. To sacrifice what needed sacrificing to save my lands and the denizens of my court. Because if it meant losingthem, how could I ever come to terms with that?
Tiernan was right.
Itistime to fight.
If Tiernan fought, I’d fight alongside him. We’d fight together. All of us.
