CHAPTER FIFTY-SEVEN

CHAPTER FIFTY-SEVEN

I staggered back in shock as the ground quivered with the clash of shadowstone and pounding hoofbeats. My gaze darted across the long field that stretched into the horizon, where the sky bled with the silver of draken fire before the snowcapped mountains.

I spun, taking in the carnage. Everywhere I looked, gods dressed in black and others in crimson were locked in a fierce battle, striking down one another with an instinctual grace that almost hid their innate brutality. The shimmering waves of energy arced and crackled across the field as sword blows gave way to deadly streaks of eather . Charging fearlessly into battle, every swing of their swords and motion was a testament to the Primal gods they descended from.

The Primal God of War and Accord, and the Primal God of Peace and Vengeance.

Ash suddenly jerked me to his chest as a horse rushed past us, the rider—the headless rider—slumping to the side.

His eyes met mine. " Phanos is not here."

"I know. He's somewhere— shit ." I shot to the side, eather responding at once as a massive, ugly-as-fuck kynakos launched itself into the air, snarling with a mouthful of blade-sharp fangs mere feet from Ash's back. I threw out my hand, releasing a stream of gold-tinged silver. I winced at the yelp as the essence smacked into the Dog of War, hitting it in the stomach.

Ash twisted at the waist, catching the arm of a soldier in a black uniform with crimson cloth stretched over shadowstone armor. The soldier shouted in pain as Ash broke the man's arm in one breath and then snapped his neck with brutal quickness in the next.

He spun toward me, eyes filling with eather . "Sera—"

"I'm not leaving," I cut in. "I'm fighting beside you." I sucked in a short breath as Ash suddenly lifted me and turned, shielding my body as eather erupted from his palm. A high-pitched shriek told me his aim had been deadly accurate. His gaze returned to mine. "I remember what I promised you," I said. "No unnecessary risks."

Ash froze for a heartbeat and then cursed. He clasped the back of my neck, drawing my head to his. "I'd better not see a single scratch on you, liessa . Not even one. So, be the badass Queen you are."

"Always," I swore.

He exhaled a ragged breath and glanced up. "Hold off on using the eather as much as you can," he said quickly, picking up the shadowstone sword the soldier had dropped. He pressed the hilt into my hand. Shadows blossomed over his cheeks. "We need to get to Attes . We cannot let him fall."

I nodded, stepping back. His hold on me firmed for a moment and then vanished. My gaze swept the field once more, easily picking out Kyn's soldiers. Crimson covered their armor, and the crests on their helmets were the same bloody shade.

I was really beginning to fucking hate that color.

Snapping forward, I went after the closest soldier, thrusting the sword through his back as a blast of frigid air suddenly rolled off Ash. He rose into the air, his skin hardening as it turned to the color of shadowstone . Dark shadows spilled out of him, spinning and churning as the hazy outline of wings swept out behind him.

"The bitch is on the field!" someone shouted.

My gaze jerked to the right. A soldier wheeled his horse around, his helmet with its tuft of red horsehair stained with blood. "Excuse me?"

The horse charged me, its nostrils flaring as its hooves kicked up soil.

A bolt of eather -laced shadows flowed past me, enveloping the soldier and his horse. In an instant, both were shimmery dust.

"Not the horse!" I cried out.

" Liessa …" Ash rose even higher, the churning eather spinning faster and faster. "Get ready."

I felt the essence surging within me as my hand instinctively tightened around the sword's hilt.

Before me, several soldiers whipped around. I held my breath and began to count. One. Two. The distraction cost them as their opponents from both sides struck them down. Three. Four—

Tendrils of shadowy eather snaked across the battlefield, sweeping over soldiers in red and weaving between those in black. The pounding echoes of death came so fast I couldn't even begin to count how many fell as the torrents of eather continued on their way, carving out a path that left only Attes's soldiers standing and…

Horses suddenly without riders.

My lips curved into a tight smile as I silently thanked Ash.

Then I saw them.

Attes and Kyn were on a hill, locked in a battle of swords and eather .

My chin dipped, and then I broke into a run, Attes's armies turning to follow as a roar shook the land.

A draken dove from the thick clouds, releasing a stream of fiery eather . I swallowed a shout as I slowed, throwing up my arm to ward off the heat as silver flames erupted before me. Fire swept over soldiers, indiscriminately lighting up everything on the field as the sound of pounding hooves jerked my head up. Through the receding flames, I saw a line of horses bearing down on me.

"Motherfucker," I spat, straightening as Aurelia arrived, her greenish-black scales bloody in some spots. She swooped down, digging her talons into the back of the other draken .

From the dying flames, a god lunged at me. Don't take unnecessary risks, I repeated to myself. With a deft sidestep, I swung the sword around, deflecting the blow and pushing him back. Another soldier drove her sword through his back.

" Meyaah Liessa ," she said, wrenching her blade free.

"Hi!" I ran, leaping onto the ruins of a wall. I twisted, the sword arcing through the sky to pierce red armor, knocking a god off his horse. "Please don't bow!"

I took off toward the battling Primals as I summoned eather , releasing a wave of essence that swept adversaries off their feet, clearing a small space amid the chaos.

Above, the sky roared with the fire of a new draken . Ehthawn . His wings blotted out the sun intermittently, casting moving shadows over the battlefield. He unleashed his flames, turning patches of the field into infernos that consumed both soil and flesh. Even as I shoved the blade through a god's chest, I felt the heat on my face, the acrid smell of death and destruction lacing the air. I jumped from the wall as Ash landed, shadowy tendrils whipping out.

He and I surged forward, but it was different than before when I slipped away into battle. There was a pattern to how we moved, almost as if we were one. In the back of my mind, it made sense. We were two halves of the same whole, our movements nearly synchronized, punctuated by the thrust of my sword and the arc of his.

We wove through the combat with swift strikes and fluid defensive moves. Ash would maneuver a god to meet my sword, and I would kick another into his, each act a testament to our inherent understanding of each other.

But I knew there was a difference as I met fierce blows with the same strength and lashed out with the essence. When I fought before, I could always let go of my fear. I couldn't this time. Each swing and thrust was tinged with bitter emotion. I wasn't scared for myself or even Ash. I worried about the babes I carried inside me. My fear for them made each swing harder, every release of energy more violent. The fear didn't make me a worse fighter.

It made me a far deadlier one.

Overhead, Aurelia tore through a draken's throat, releasing him as he shifted into his mortal form and fell to the ground, only to be swallowed by the warring soldiers.

I drew in a stuttered breath as the pulse of death was a continuous throb in my chest. A wave of eather whipped out of Ash, slamming into the Dogs of War. The scent of burnt fur mingled with that of flesh as I shouted, swinging the blade down on a god's head. Blood spurted, spraying the front of my tunic and face.

The death…

There was so much.

A sudden wrenching sensation in the center of my chest caused me to stagger. I cried out, clutching at my breast, expecting to see a bone blade or blood, but there was nothing there. The pain wasn't really pain. It was more a dull ache but not a physical one. More like a loss…

Oh, gods.

I'd felt this when Keella died, and I knew who it was. I saw them in my mind, and my heart ached.

Ash was at my side at once, folding an arm around my waist. "What is it?" he demanded. "Where are you hurt?"

"It's not me." I rose with his help, the sudden knowledge of where Phanos had gone with his ships and armies weakening me. "It's Maia. She's fallen."

"Fuck," snarled Ash.

A blast of intense eather drew both our gazes to the hill. My heart clenched as I saw Kyn rise into the air ahead of us, driving Attes to the ground. Ash took to the air again, but one of Kyn's draken dove for him. Ash's cold laugh caused a sea of soldiers to look up at the gathering dark storm of energy.

A crack of power drew my attention to the hill. Attes was once more on his feet.

The field shook with the fury of the Primal brothers' clash as they came together, trading blows upon the hill that split the horizon like the spine of a slumbering draken . Dark clouds rolled above them, responding to the tempest of emotions inside them as their raw power beat the air. That kind of Primal energy kept the fighting gods from them, pushing the soldiers farther and farther back, but Ash and I pushed forward.

Kyn's and Attes's forms were blurs of motion, each strike a mirror image of the other. Their brutality was relentless, even as their swords shattered when they clashed. I pushed faster, picking up speed. I didn't want Attes to be the one to end his brother's life. I didn't want him to carry that with him. My wide eyes met Ash's. I could see that he felt the same.

Fuck.

I threw the sword at a soldier on horseback, hitting him in the chest. Then I shadowstepped , appearing several feet down the hill. Summoning eather , I started to rush up the remaining distance, Ash right beside me—

A wave of Primal power knocked both of us back as Attes yelled, slamming his fist into the center of Kyn's chest.

The impact shattered Kyn's armor. I stumbled, falling to my knees as fragments spun through the air, glinting like stars flung from the night sky. They fell to the ground below, merely discarded remnants.

No. No. No.

Kyn staggered, falling to his knees, his eyes widening with shock as Ash dragged me to my feet.

"Don't do it," I whispered—or maybe yelled. " Attes !"

He lurched forward, grabbing his brother by the throat. "Lailah," Attes shouted, my breath wilting in my chest as he turned toward us. Tears streamed down his face, mingling with blood. Eather pooled around his raised hand, crackling and spitting. "Ascend Lailah, Sera. Now!"

I was rooted to where I stood until Ash grabbed me by my shoulders. "You need to go," he said. "She's on the Rise by the Black Bay. Ascend Lailah. Do it now."

I sucked in air, gaze flying to Ash's. "Stay with him. Please."

"I will," he promised, letting go. "I love you."

"I love you, too," I whispered, stepping back as lightning erupted from the dark clouds overhead.

As gold-and-silver mist rose around me, Attes turned back to his brother. The last thing I heard before I appeared on the Rise was Attes screaming, and he sounded just as I had when I found my family impaled to the walls of Wayfair. His scream was that of a wild, broken animal full of sorrow and rage.