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Roza didn’t need to be told twice. With a quick nod, she stood by my side, her blade at the ready, ensuring I had all the protection I needed while I focused on countering Xadrian’s magic as he attempted the same trick on our line.
Caelia and Raenisa circled each other, the tension between them palpable.
“Rae, I never wanted this,” Caelia’s voice was soft, pleading. “I don’t want to hurt you.”
Raenisa’s laugh was bitter, filled with pain. “You couldn’t hurt me more than you already have, Caelia.”
The battle raged on around us, but for a moment, everything else faded as the women faced each other.
“Did you know I had a crush on you since we were kids?” Raenisa said as she attacked, each word punctuated by the clash of their weapons as she forced Caelia to defend herself. “From the first time I met you, Caelia. And then... when I realized you felt the same, the joy I felt—I’d experienced nothing like it.”
Tears mixed with the grime of the battlefield on Raenisa’s face as her voice grew thick with emotion. “All I ever wanted, all I ever hoped for, was us. Together. It was why I ran off to join Theron. To give us time for Rhazien to look somewhere else. But you just thrust yourself back into the fray for the crown.”
Caelia’s eyes, usually so full of determination, were filled with anguish now. “Rae, I wanted the same. I still do.”
But Raenisa was relentless, her pain spilling out. “It’s too late. You made your choice, and it wasn’t me.”
Caelia’s expression, just for a heartbeat, was one of pure regret. “I’m sorry,” she whispered, before attacking. Raenisa countered, her war hammer meeting Endbringer. But Caelia wasn’t holding back anymore, and her weapon cleaved the massive hammer. She didn’t even have time to draw her dagger before Caelia struck, driving the hilt of her weapon into Raenisa’s temple. She crumpled, eyes rolling back, and fell to the ground, motionless.
A roar of fury erupted from Roza as she lunged at Caelia.
“You bitch!” She launched herself at the Elven warrior, uncaring that she was faster and stronger, the amount of power she pulled from her armor making her as strong as a deaza.
I stopped casting, drawing my sword, and joining her. We moved as one, parrying, striking, blocking. It was nothing like the militaristic style the elves preferred, instead something more fluid. It was a dance we had perfected over countless skirmishes, even if we had hated each other at the time. But Caelia was exceptional, attacking with a speed I’d never seen before.
I raised my blade in defense just in time to save myself from certain death—the impact of our blades reverberating through my arm like an earthquake. Any other blade and she would have shattered it. With a ferocious yell that echoed across the battlefield, I struck back, dodging Caelia’s powerful blows before landing one in the jointing of her armor, stabbing her behind the knee. She screamed and a wave of magic rolled toward us. I braced myself, struggling to push my power against it.
But Xadrian wasn’t about to let that happen. The ground beneath Roza turned to sand, pulling her into its depths until she was trapped waist-deep, her weapons useless. “Gods fucking damnit!”
“Roza!” I screamed, pushing magic towards her before the earth could swallow her fully. Caelia lunged, her face a rictus of rage. I deflected her first few strikes, but she was relentless. I couldn’t break my concentration from Roza, though, or she’d be killed.
“Kael!” Xadrian screamed from across the battlefield, his magic cutting out abruptly. Maybe he’d fooled himself before, thinking that his sister only intended to capture me. But her intent was clear. Only one of us was making it out of there.
I leapt out of the way as she lunged, barely missing me. Her leg gave out, and I spun.
The wrong way.
She brought down Endbringer in a massive arc, and its sharp edge found its mark, embedding deep into my abdomen. Xadrian screamed and Caelia was yanked back, away from me.
White-hot pain flooded me, the world spinning as I dropped to my knees, blood spilling between my fingers as I touched the blade sticking out of my stomach. Distantly, as if from the end of a long tunnel, I heard Theron scream. My vision blurred, but his voice, filled with fear and desperation, cut through the haze.
“Kael! No!”
A pulse of power ran through the battle, Theron cutting through the melee like a tornado, his magic so strong that he mowed down men like grass to reach me. He was barely visible in the smoke and dust, but I could see his expression—one of pure rage as he pulled more power, becoming stronger and faster as he cut through anything that separated us. Life was draining out of me, my breaths coming in ragged gasps. I clutched at the hilt of the sword, trying to pull it out, but it was lodged too deep.
Roza managed to scramble from the earth, crawling toward me. “Kael! No, no, no.”
Then Theron was there.
“Kael, hold on,” Theron begged, his hands cradling my face. “I got you, love. It’ll be alright.”
“I... can’t,” I gasped, blood bubbling up from my lips. “I love you.”
“I love you too,Sihaya,“ he said, tears streaming down his face. “Please don’t leave me.”
I wanted to stay; I wanted to fight, but my body was failing me. My eyes closed, the world fading into darkness as I tumbled down into the unknown.
Chapter 19
