Chapter Forty-Six

RUNE SCREAMED MY NAME AS I tumbled through the air with Jesiah falling near me. Rune leaned over the edge of the crack with wild eyes, trying to find me. The Fae who'd sent us tumbling came up behind Rune and went to push him in, too, but Rune spun and shoved his clawed fist into the man's chest, his hand coming out the other side, holding his heart. That was the last thing I saw before the surface got too far away.

Three other Fae clawed futilely at the air as they gasped and cried out at the disappearing surface—two Feline Fae in gold-and-green armor and a Water Fae in silver-and-blue. My eyes locked with one of the Land Fae, and I saw the unmistakable terror clouding her wet eyes. She didn't want to die.

And I wasn't going to let us.

I dug inside me and called out to the water high above. I watched as water spilled over the edge of the hole in the earth. It raced toward us, and with a sweep of my hands, the water arched under all of us like a net. The water caught us, ceasing our fall, and everyone looked around with wild eyes as they tried to grasp that we'd stopped falling.

"Is everyone okay?" I asked, scanning my gaze over Jesiah as he shook off the confusion, before passing the look to the other three Fae.

The Feline Fae narrowed their eyes at me and glanced at the water they knelt on.

"Why did you catch us, too?" the girl with the tears in her eyes asked.

"Because as much as you and others may want to believe it, I'm not your enemy. I wasn't going to let you all die," I answered firmly. "Are you both okay?"

They slowly nodded.

I glanced over the edge of the water platform to peer down into the abyss below. "Did I miss anyone?"

"No," Jesiah said while catching his breath. "It was just the five of us who fell."

Nodding, I looked between the group. "I'm taking us back up. Is everyone ready?"

"Yes, my Queen," the Water Fae soldier answered.

The two Felines shared an indecipherable look, then met my eyes. They nodded.

Steeling myself for the battle I was about to throw us all back into, I thrust my arms into the air, hoisting us up and out of the hole. Rune was the first to race to my side when he saw us reappear.

He gripped my arm, smashing his foot into someone who tried to rush us at the same time. Locking his eyes on mine, he asked, "Are you okay?"

"Fine. Don't worry about me. Focus."

He pressed a chaste kiss to my lips before turning to fight two snarling Land Fae. At the same time, three Fae dressed in gold closed in around me. Before I even had a chance to defend myself, a flash of gold whizzed past my head. The Feline Fae I'd saved pounced on the advancing Fae, slicing a knife through the neck of one and gutting the other two—armor and all—with their very own claws.

My eyes widened as the two women looked from the carcasses of their fallen comrades to me.

"Thank you for saving us," one said.

"Those guys were all assholes," the other stated, gesturing to the men she'd just killed.

The one with the dagger held it up for me to see where it dripped red and black. "High-ranked personnel have weapons soaked in Nightbloom. They'll have a crest on their armor that others don't. Warn all those you can."

I slowly nodded. "I will. Thank you."

The two Fae turned and took off, and I watched for a moment as they now fought those in gold instead of silver.

There was no time to speculate as to what made them have a change of heart. The fight was in full swing—wails of pain, booms as the earth was called upon to do Land Fae bidding, splashes of water as it was wielded as a weapon. I spotted my mom up ahead, hurling geysers of water at every Fae in gold who came near her. I ducked and avoided attacks aimed my way as I raced toward her.

"Mom!" When I reached her side, I sent my own deluge at a Fae who approached in her blind spot. "Watch their weapons. Some of them have Nightbloom."

Her eyes narrowed. "I'll be—" She gasped as a new foe landed in front of us. My mother did a double take. "Angus?"

The traitorous general stared at my mother, speechless for once.

My mother looked him over again. "You really joined the other side?"

Still, he said nothing. He just stared at her.

She slowly shook her head. "What happened to you?"

Finally, he spoke. "You did."

My gaze darted between Mom and Angus. Tension gathered between them, and I fought to gather what it stemmed from. A history unbeknownst to me seemed to bubble up between them, and honestly, it left me feeling like I was listening in on something I shouldn't be.

Her brow plummeted. "Me? After all this time, Angus?"

Angus held his ice sword up between the two of them as he shouted, "I refuse to follow orders from her. From Khal's daughter."

Her bewilderment suddenly morphed to acrimony as she bared her teeth. "You did this , betrayed your Kingdom, because of that? Because you hate Khal?"

Angus's face turned red, and his hands tightened around his sword until they turned white. "She would've been my daughter if you'd chosen me! But she is Khal's, so now I'll destroy her legacy. I'll destroy Khal's legacy!"

Angus rushed forward with a bitter roar, and my mom met him with the same ferocity. The two were a mess of swings, swipes, and missed hits. Part of me desperately wanted to stay to make sure my mom was okay, but there were countless fights happening around me. I needed to stay focused, and I needed to resume my task.

Searching for Elias.

I spotted Dallas and Rune deep in combat with Fae. Gathering up water in each hand, I ran up to them, shooting the geysers at their opponents. They knocked the Land Fae back into the sea of battle.

"Have you guys seen Elias?" I asked when they turned to me.

"He was still on the other side of the lake from what I saw," Dallas reported.

"A lot of his forces are," Rune added, his tone darkening. "I think he's trying to draw people over there, and from the few glances I've gotten, he's keeping his strongest fighters over there."

"Great," Dallas huffed, surveying those still in full fighting mode on this side of the lake.

While some of our army had made it across, there were still far more gold-and-green standing over there. The ones clad in silver-and-blue on that side were … down, unmoving, and silent.

Nausea rolled through me, but I swallowed it down as Dallas finished, "He's trying to tire us out before we make it over there. We'll be weaker and easier to take down."

"Avoid fighting with anyone then," I ordered. "Let's get across the lake and deal with Elias."

The three of us raced across the field toward the lake. We swatted opponents and avoided putting too much energy into dealing with them. We yelled at those we passed to follow us across, and soon, silver-and-blue clad Fae were rushing toward the lake and opposing side.

I looked at Rune as we ran and held my hand out for him. "Hold on!"

He gripped my hand tightly, and as soon as we reached the shore, we didn't stop moving. With a sweep of my hand, the water rose up like a wave and headed for Rune and me, rocketing us across the lake like a torpedo on the surface of the water. We leapt off when we reached the other side with Dallas right beside us, and Akira flying overhead

The Raven swooped down and pointed toward the thickest part of the fight that was breaking open as Fae attacked Fae. "I spotted Elias. He's in that large group, looking very at ease, I might add."

The knowledge that Elias wasn't even phased by this made red hot anger boil inside me. People were dying . His people. But he didn't give two shits.

Narrowing my eyes, I said, "Then let's give him something to shake things up."

Akira grinned and pumped his fist into the air. "For Ambrolia."

I couldn't fight my smile, because Akira was right. He was always right. We could and would do this. "For Ambrolia!"

Akira took back to the air, and Dallas, Rune, and I ran into the thick of the fight. I saw more and more of Elias's army wielding weapons over here, and the black gunk coating them made my stomach pitch forward. One little cut, one measly drop of that getting into a wound, and we'd become as fragile as humans. Easy kill for the Fae around us.

And that death had already started.

As I blocked an attack by Bella—the Water Fae girl who'd turned against us with her family—I sent her falling over a still body on the ground. When I made the mistake of looking at it, my chest constricted.

Blake, the troubled, lonely Fae who'd finally come back home after years of struggling to fit into the human world. He lay there, a slice across his neck, seeping red and black.

A wound made fatal for our kind because of the Nightbloom.

"Ha!" Bella laughed, seeing the horror on my face. "He was an easy kill from what I saw. Weak. A pussy. He's better off as food for the maggots than—"

I sent water crashing around the woman and squeezed my fingers closed, instantly encasing her in ice. She stood inside, frozen mid-word, as still as a statue.

"That was for Blake," I hissed through gritted teeth.

Just as I started to step around her, a disc of water darted past my face. I watched as it severed the head of a Fae near me. Their body crashed to their knees before falling forward, blood instantly pooling around the decapitated form. I whipped my head around to look at the source of the attack, only to be clocked in the cheek by a fist. Spit and blood sputtered from my lips as pain burst along my jaw, and it took everything inside me to ignore the throbbing so that I could focus on the deliverer of the blow.

Dax observed his red knuckles before turning a smug grin on me. "Miss me, wifey?"