66. Jace

Chapter sixty-six

Jace

With Lia and Nox at the front, our armed forces had marched through the portal on the opposite end of the realm with ease. Gage and Zaela had flanked both of my sides, with Landon close behind the three of us. The rush of racing through the realm's rift as we led thousands of our warriors to the end of a century-long war was beyond words.

Only weeks ago, I had thought the most magnificent sight my eyes would ever behold was the day of our wedding when my wife agreed to bind herself to me before the gods, but I had never been more wrong. The greatest sight was when she defiantly stood at our enemy’s gates, at a city she once called home, and pleaded for peace among our peoples.

However, the vision was quickly overturned by gut-wrenching fear as I watched my mate’s ex-lover barrel into her and her mount with his own—fire bursting from each wyvern as their bodies collided in the air.

I cursed every god above as I was forced to tear my gaze from her and Nox as Idina’s army raced towards us on the ground below .

Time slowed, and my gaze twisted to each of my sides, where Gage and Zaela watched for my word.

“It has been an honor to serve next to you both,” I said, a deep growl slipping from me as chaos ensued in the sky, where Lia was already waging her own battle.

“The honor has been mine, brother,” Gage said, voice lethal.

“And mine,” Zaela echoed.

I sucked in a breath as I straightened my spine, unsheathing my sword from its case.

“NOW!” I bellowed while raising my blade high in the air above.

My warhorse lifted us up onto his hind legs as a roar of triumph erupted from our forces while they raced forward, past me and my horse, and straight into the enemy’s front lines.

Our armies clashed, slamming into each other with weapons and fists. The air was pierced with horrifying screams as lives were abruptly ended at the very start of the battle. We were at a major disadvantage against the fae army, who were stronger, faster, and more lethal. While they could easily heal their wounds, we had to compensate by staying united and relying on our extensive training.

While galloping through the masses, enemy soldiers flanked me on all sides. I swung my blade in every direction, ending their lives short, just as they already had with my own men.

I desperately willed myself to focus on the chaos ensuing on the terrain and not on the giant blazes of raging flames that continuously erupted in the sky above .

The once serene meadows at the foot of Isla’s towering gates were now a deadly battleground, the air reverberating with the sound of clashing steel and the metallic scent of spilled blood.

The enemy forces launched their assault with a deadly ferocity. It made me wonder if they truly fought for Idina’s cause or if they feared that not fighting for it would doom them even further with her once this was over. No soldier wanted to fight on the losing side of a war—I would know…I’d been fucking leading it for years.

Our catapults groaned and roared as they launched volleys of boulders toward the city walls, but when we expected stone blocks to rain down upon the back of their lines, our enormous rocks shattered instead.

My eyes flared as they remained fixated on where the boulders had struck the city’s battlement. Sparks of crackling power were left in their wake as if a physical shield was forged around the city.

“Fuck,” I breathed as I jumped down from my mount.

Shouts of horror sounded from the gate, and my gaze whipped to the center of the madness unfolding. My eyes landed on the three witches.

Shadows erupted from each of them, and those wearing Islan armor within their proximity dropped to the terrain they stood on, blood seeping from their eyes.

“Holy gods,” I breathed through swipes of my sword.

My gaze landed on them once more as one of the twins, Madalae, formed a ball of lightning in her hand—the force of its crackling power was felt even down the battlefield. My eyes followed it as she launched it straight at the battlement.

I expected the force of her power to shatter the shield, or at the least crack it—but nothing could have prepared me for what occurred next.

The force field around the city absorbed that power she unleashed and shot it directly back at her. The glowing ball of lightning flames soared over the battlefield, the roar of its crackling power even louder than the sound of clashing steel, and slammed right back into Madalae’s chest.

No, not into her chest— through her chest.

My jaw dropped, and I blinked over and over again, praying to Terra herself that what I beheld was a lie. However, no matter how many times I blinked, the sight held true.

Where the ball of power struck the witch, a gaping hole remained in the center of her chest, where her heart had once been. Her eyes were wide and unseeing, Veli and her sister’s matching as they were frozen in pure horror at her side.

Madalae’s body began to char, starting where the power struck her, and quickly took over her entire being until she withered away into nothing but flaking ash on the wind.

A gut-wrenching scream of what could only be described as pure agony left her twin. Empri’s eyes were glowing a blinding red as she sent out a blast of rage-induced power around herself, destroying all within thirty feet of them—including my fucking men.

“EMPRI!” I roared, and her ravenous eyes locked on me.

Veli snapped out of her trance and screamed at Empri to stand down.

The remaining twin’s breath was heaving, and I was forced to catch quick glimpses as I swung my blade at more oncoming soldiers.

A moment later, my horrified eyes watched as Empri vanished, leaving the battlefield and abandoning us to our doom.

Veli’s face was a mixture of pure devastation and fury. Her long silver hair glinted in the pale light of the waning sun as her body began levitating high in the air, her robes flowing around her like an otherworldly dark goddess.

The sorceress’ eyes exuded their pink-tinged golden glow as shadows erupted from the palms of her hands, shooting towards the Islan troops. Bodies dropped the moment they came in contact with her mischievous darkness, and I was thankful that, for the time being, Idina’s witches weren’t placed among us within the battlefield.

“Yes!” Zaela roared a few feet away from me as she struck down soldier after soldier, her eyes repeatedly flashing in Veli’s direction as she admired the use of her shadows put to work.

Archers appeared then and lined the parapets, releasing their arrows through the air and finding their marks among our ranks.

My eyes widened in horror as an arrow found purchase through one of Veli’s palms, immediately cutting off her shadows and forcing her body to drop to the ground. Her shriek of pain radiated over all the surrounding sounds of war .

“VELI!” Zaela screeched as she was forced to fight her way through the onslaught of enemy soldiers.

“Fuck!” I roared at the same moment as I swiped my sword alongside her.

My mind raced as I desperately tried to come up with a plan. The surrounding men became distracted by the outburst and eruption from Veli, and I immediately was forced to start shouting out orders to get their minds focused once more. If they thought our witches were already defeated, it wouldn’t be long before they all lost hope.

My mate had endured too much—and so much of it I wasn’t even able to help her with, feeling entirely gods-damn useless. I couldn’t step foot on the haunted isles. I couldn’t enter Isla when we tried to evacuate her people. And the worst of all was that no matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t take the weight of the realm off her shoulders. But what I could do was lead our armies in her absence and do everything in my fucking power to ensure our victory. And I intended to do just that.

“Hold your fucking ground!” I screamed over and over. “Do not forget your training! Everything we’ve done our entire lives has led to this moment!”

The massive Islan gates held firm against our relentless catapult attacks, and Lia and Nox were still raging through the sky.

I forced my way to my queen’s aide and heaved her body up from the ground, mortified to see that the arrow was still protruding through her palm .

My hand reached to help her pull it out, but her eyes flashed, not the pink color that we had grown used to, but pure, blinding scarlet—a red as deep as the rage that was exuding from her.

The arrow ignited in flames beneath her stare and burned to ash within seconds, the flurries of it fluttering down to the blood-soaked terrain.

Through deep breaths, I placed my hand on her shoulder, and she flashed her terrifying stare at me. “Are you alright?!” I shouted over the chaos.

“Yes.” The word barely left her in a whisper as her eyes roamed over the insanity unleashing around us at every angle.

Screams of terror sounded as the roaring beat of wings erupted from directly above us, sending storm-like winds through the field.

“ Look out !” Veli screamed, the sound blood-curdling, as she lifted her uninjured hand above us and towards the sky.

A bright golden light burst from it right before Adler’s wyvern sent a roaring blaze directly down at my troops, not even giving a damn that his own men were deeply mingled among us all.

A roar of horror left me at the sight of the blinding, all-consuming flames that were unleashed upon us, just barely blocked by the force of power Veli shot out to meet it.

The flames poured over the far ends of the shield she conjured, scalding the unfortunate souls that were fighting just beyond its reach .

Lia and Nox were directly behind him, her mount snapping at the tail of his as she desperately tried to distract him from raining more hellfire down on our troops.

Veli’s force field dropped, and she nearly collapsed into my side, drained from exerting herself while already injured.

“I’m alright!” she snapped as she shoved out of my protection.

I struck down a soldier that barreled toward us.

“No, you aren’t!” I barked. “Go to the healers’ tent! Check on Finn!”

A rage-filled retort was working its way up her throat, but I cut her off before she had the chance to say it. “That is a fucking order, Veli!”

She watched me beneath furrowed brows as her breathing quickened, but a moment later, she vanished. An enemy soldier immediately took the place where she stood, who aimed to strike her down, but I met his attack just in time, killing him instantly.

We were already surrounded. It barely took any time at all for absolute chaos to ensue. My men were scattered, some troops no longer working as a unit as they desperately fought for their lives.

“Hold the line! Hold the line, damn it!” I bellowed, my voice straining to rise above the madness. “Archers, cover the left flank! Hold your fucking ground!”

The archers, positioned towards the back of our lines, released a volley of arrows instantly. Below them, infantrymen locked shields and braced against the oncoming soldiers who charged toward our arrows as if they were nothing.

Leon found me then, his face smeared with dirt and blood, panting heavily. “Commander, the eastern troop is under heavy assault with Landon. They’re aiming for our healers’ tent to take them out. We were relying too much on the witches. We need reinforcements!”

“There are no fucking reinforcements! Send the reserve units to the eastern troop. Tell them to hold it at all costs! Finnian is in there! If too many are injured, have them fall back to the second line if you must, but do not let them get to the healers’ tent!”

Leon gave me a curt nod as his gaze swept across the battlefield before taking off in their direction, swinging his blade with each step.

More than anything, I wanted to reach down into the bond and check on Lia, but I knew that any distraction could cost each of us our lives. So, I forced myself to stay true to our promise to one another and kept my focus on cutting down the enemy fleet.

Yet, I knew that this was only the beginning.