67. Elianna

Chapter sixty-seven

Elianna

Kellan’s wyvern had slammed into Nox head-on, bursting through the wall of flames he shot at them, completely unfazed.

My eyes flared as they met his, a menacing grin adorning the rest of his features as he greeted me in a yell over the madness. “Hello, Princess.”

He winked and blew me a kiss, right before ordering his wyvern to lash out again at Nox.

The sky above the battlefield morphed into a chaotic dance of flame and scales as our mounts repeatedly slammed into each other, clawing, thrashing, and snapping at anything they could get a hold of.

I commanded Nox to soar upwards, to lure Kellan and his wyvern away from the battle below. Racing through the clouds, their enormous, stretched wings eclipsed the sun, casting shadows on the blood-stained earth below.

The skin beneath my armor burned as the wyverns repeatedly shot an eruption of flames at one another. Their roars echoed like thunder across the sky, and my own matched theirs as I desperately clutched my saddle to keep atop my mount. And I had never been more thankful for it .

My eyes roamed over the conjured wyvern, who looked nearly identical to my Nox. Scales the color of obsidian, only they reflected ruby beneath the blinding sun instead of his amethyst—all that differed aside from that were their eyes. While Nox’s gaze had always been a blazing gold, this beast’s eyes were similar to its creator.

Nox’s tail whipped towards them, cutting into the other creature’s hind leg, a shriek of pain echoing from it at the contact of it. With a flash of speed, Kellan’s mount disappeared within the cover of the clouds.

Nox leveled us as we hovered in the sky, slowly beating his wings to keep us steady. Working to catch my breath, I unbuckled myself from the strap of the saddle to get a better look at Nox.

I peered over his shoulder to see a small bit of blood leaking from between his scales, but I was thankful it was minimal compared to the damage we had just done to Kellan’s mount.

“Shit. Nox, are you okay?” My eyes darted back and forth from his face to the wound. A continuous growl rumbled from him. “I can’t touch it,” I whispered. “It will burn me.”

He let out a sad whimper, and my eyes softened, lips parting as sorrow overcame me at the sight of him being in pain, and there was nothing I could do to help.

I sat back in the saddle while my gaze moved through the clouds, and only an eerie silence accompanied us. My once settling heartbeat picked back up again after realizing Kellan had truly disappeared—the fucking coward .

“Nox, we need to—”

My order was cut off by a scream that tore through my throat as Kellan’s mount came barreling at us from the side, emerging from the cover of the thick clouds. Jaw gaping open, the beast unleashed torrents of flame from its maw, scorching Nox’s side and the straps of my saddle with searing heat.

A deafening screech left my wyvern, and my heart cracked, knowing how much pain he must’ve been in to make such a guttural sound.

“Fuck, fuck, fuck, Nox!” I screamed as one of my hands had a death grip on his back fin and the other on my saddle that was barely holding on by a scorched thread.

He leveled out his wings as Kellan’s mount circled through the clouds—both of their lethal stares locked on us.

A snarl crept up my lips, and I positioned myself as quickly as I could, waiting for the attack I knew was coming.

“Come on, you vicious fuck!” I bellowed. “This is what you’ve been waiting for, is it not?!”

He wore a sly smirk as he winked at me the moment I finished uttering the words. Without even being commanded, his mount took a nosedive toward the ground, jaw snapping as its red gaze was locked on the battle that raged beneath us.

My heart instantly sank. “Nox! Dive!” I ordered, and he obeyed.

The wind stung my eyes as we raced to catch up to them, descending toward the unforgiving terrain. We were nearly directly behind him, but still not close enough as Nox’s maw snapped at the other wyvern’s tail while it lashed out at us.

As the ground came into view, the armies fought relentlessly at the foot of the gates. My eyes locked on Kellan as he lifted a single arm and then pointed it at the ground, where both of our armies fought.

“No!” I cried, my voice desperate and breaking. “Nox, faster!”

My wyvern tucked his wings in closer to his sides, sending us shooting toward the ground at terrifying speeds, but we were too late to stop Kellan’s ordered attack.

The red-gazed wyvern unleashed a fiery blaze down toward the land, right atop our soldiers.

I was screaming. Words weren’t coming out of me, but only sounds and cries of fury and horror as I watched the flames fan out over a quarter of the battlefield.

Assuming my own screams were drowning out those of the ones being burned alive, tears streamed down my soot-covered cheeks. But as the flames cleared, my eyes flared.

The blaze was met with power—pure, blinding sorcery, as a golden light slipped back into a silver-haired witch that watched us from the ground below, my mate standing next to her.

“ YES! ” I roared as I pumped my fist in the air, causing the saddle to slip further off of Nox from accidentally releasing my hold on it.

Both Kellan’s mount and Nox pulled up right before slamming into the terrain, our beasts racing only feet above the chaos of battle .

He turned back to face me, our eyes meeting once more, and I could have sworn I heard his scoff of annoyance over the rushing winds.

My vision was fixated on him. A pure obsidian haze blocked out everything else that surrounded us, and I knew it wasn’t from the smoke from our wyverns’ flames—but from my wrath.

My mate was down there. My husband was right where Kellan placed the attack. He would’ve been consumed by the blaze that was unleashed upon them if it wasn’t for Veli and her shield of power.

As if ordered, Nox sped through the skies as Kellan’s mount pulled upwards, sending us soaring toward the sea that rested at Isla’s opposite end.

Nox snapped at the beast’s tail, his countless rows of dagger-sharp teeth sinking into the flesh beneath its scales. The shriek of pain it let out echoed over the city, but my only reaction was to hit them while we could.

“ Ignystae !” I bellowed, and Nox answered by sending a helix of flames licking up the wyvern’s tail and scorching Kellan’s back.

His anguished screams filled the air, and my eyes remained locked on him, burning with fury. A twisted grin tugged at the corners of my lips as the sound reached my ears.

He swatted at his back, desperately trying to put out the embers that continued to burn.

My mind raced as we continued to chase them, knowing that at some point, Nox’s flames would run out. It wasn’t a matter of if but of when. And the knowledge of that was both terrifying and valuable. If I ordered him to unleash everything he had, and they escaped the blaze, we would be left vulnerable, and it would doom us.

Keep your wits about you . Lukas’ old warning played in my mind. They threatened to paralyze me, but I had to listen to them. I had to be smart if I was to be deserving of my crown.

I growled as his mount made it over the sea, dipping its tail that had remained ablaze into the water, extinguishing what had remained of our attack.

Our wyverns weaved through the empty, blood-stained ships, where my eyes caught the sirens lingering beneath some of the vessels and in the distance perched on jagged rocks.

As we glided out over the sea, he circled back to the city, aiming for the castle. We caught up by cutting across the open sky beneath them.

“What’s the matter, Kellan?” I called over the winds, and his furious gaze snapped to mine. “Crew caught in a siren song?” I taunted him with a wink.

He chuckled. The psychopath chuckled at my words right before reaching into his boot and whipping a dagger in my direction. His beast veered left, gliding away from us as I barely dodged the blade by slamming my chest down onto Nox’s back.

“Mother fucker .” I growled. “Get him!” Nox took off as commanded, barreling after them over the city.

We rapidly flew around Castle Isla as we weaved between its stone towers, high in the sky. The wind howled around us, carrying the scent of burning embers and spilled blood. The other beast twisted and looped, attempting to evade the oncoming barrage of flame Nox sent without my permission.

“Nox, no!” I screeched.

Kellan’s mount circled up one of the east towers, and we followed in a relentless dance. His wyvern’s jaw snapped at me, and I foolishly released my hold on Nox’s fin—our saddle began sliding down his body, bringing me with it.

Shit. Shit. Shit.

I gasped in horror as the saddle completely slid over his side, Kellan’s beast still snapping at me and my own, as the booming beat of several wings threatened to make me deaf. One of the clawed tips of Nox’s wings sank into the other’s chest, and he used the forceful momentum to shoot us higher in the sky and our enemy back down to the ground, hundreds of feet below.

Finally, I released my hold on the ruined saddle and used all the force of my body to heave myself back up onto Nox’s back, but my grip slipped. Suddenly, I was free-falling in the open air.

Nox let out a high-pitched shriek of terror as he moved to dive back down, watching me fall to what would be my death, while a scream tore through my throat.

My breath caught as time slowed. The red-gazed wyvern finally leveled out below us as his wings shot out, slowing their fall—directly beneath me.

A grin grew on my face as I reached to unsheathe my dagger from my thigh. The second my blade was free, Kellan glanced up, eyes flaring as they made contact with mine—but he was too late as he reached to unsheathe his sword .

With a battle cry, I dropped down onto his mount and slammed into him—repeatedly stabbing anything I could with my dagger as I ferociously swiped my blade in every direction, feeling each time it found purchase in his flesh.

Kellan’s blood sprayed, covering me, but I couldn’t stop as he roared in pain—his mount too, as if I was stabbing the beast and not its rider.

His hands reached out and grabbed my throat as he tried to suffocate me while we both worked to not fall to our deaths. Each time he aimed to squeeze, the slipperiness of his own blood loosened his hold, and I head-butted him the second he brought me close enough.

He yelped as he threw me, aiming for over the side of his wyvern, but I landed halfway down its back instead, grabbing hold of its scales as the rushing winds nearly swept me off.

My gaze shot to the side at the sound of a violent roar as Nox burst out from the clouds and collided with us. The second the force of their bodies met, I pushed myself to my feet and ran up his wyvern’s back, desperately leaping out toward my own.

My body was mid-air as Kellan’s mount slammed into the castle tower closest to us. Large bricks of stone shattered from the structure, raining down into the courtyard at the terrifying depth below.

With a desperate reach, I willed my body toward Nox as the tower’s pieces flew all around us, slicing into my skin. The second I sensed his wing beneath me, my legs mimicked a run through the air, touching down on his powerful wing and had me racing up it until I reached his back.

“Holy gods!” I screamed as I settled back into my seat at the nape of his neck.

Chest heaving, my gaze whipped back in the direction of the collapsing tower, and I watched as Kellan fled, guiding his wyvern far beyond the reaches of the castle.

“Fucking coward,” I whispered, shaking my head as Nox hovered in the air.

I glanced down at the front of myself and watched the blood of my enemy dry onto my skin and armor. My body ached from the attack, but we were alive, and I doubted Kellan would be within the next few minutes after everything we had just unleashed on him.

I reached down into the bond, sensing Jace there, his heart racing with adrenaline just as mine was—but he was alive, and that was what mattered. I didn’t dare risk full communication, worried my voice could distract him from defending himself or our people.

My eyes drifted to the city streets that were shockingly empty. I expected the citizens to be trying to get glimpses of the battle occurring just beyond their gates, but they appeared to be hiding in their homes. Then my gaze found the castle, leisurely moving over the crumbling tower and across the other sky-high spires.

I reached down as my breathing finally slowed, patting the scales of Nox’s shoulder. “I need to find Avery,” I admitted.

He twisted his neck to look at me, a golden eye narrowing in distrust for those inside the palace .

“I know,” I whispered, forcing a soft smile at him. “But she needs us. She needs our help.”

He let out a groan, sounding as exasperated as my mate did when I was up to my usual mischief. A moment later, he swooped down and hovered above one of the east balconies, allowing me to jump down from him.

I landed on the platform and twisted back to meet him; he nuzzled his scale-covered snout into my chest. I reached out to rub his own, careful to avoid any of his fiery blood that dribbled from between his scales.

My eyes found his. “Go find Jace,” I whispered. “Protect them. I will find you.”

Nox then took off toward the fields beyond the city gates, where the sound of clashing swords persisted. I blew out a breath before peering around the balcony entrance, creeping low to the floor to say hidden.

Once deemed empty, I pulled off my armor to avoid causing any extra noise, revealing my fighting leathers underneath. Rushing out on silent feet, I made my way to the throne room, where I was certain the queen was hiding with my sister in her wicked grasp.