Chapter 50

50

B lood coated my armor and streaked my face, mixing with sweat before freezing on my skin. At this high altitude, it was hard to breathe, but I fought relentlessly anyway, back to back with Endre. Drazen and a dozen other winged Félvér were with us, our little unit fighting fiercely in spots that were harder to reach.

When I landed on a narrow path beside a group of Night Fae archers raining down arrows on soldiers below, I slipped a little on the ice, cursing and trying to use my wings to right myself. My sudden appearance shocked the closest male, but he recovered more quickly than I did, drawing a dagger and swiping at me.

The slice in my forearm stung, and I cursed him before blasting him backward with my silvery magic. He stumbled, nearly knocking his companion over, and then both a sword and an arrow were trained on me.

“Traitor,” the archer swore, pulling back his arm.

“At least my emperor isn’t insane,” I quipped, readying to block the projectile.

Before he could release, a gush of ruby sprouted from his neck, and I whirled, Endre poised with his open hand outstretched. The other male charged, and I thrust my sword out, catching him under the ribs. With a forceful yank, I ripped it out and sent him tumbling down the mountain.

“Thanks,” I panted, swiping at my forehead.

“I’ve got you, Liliana.” His peridot eyes were hard with that promise, and I believed him entirely.

“Let’s get moving,” I said, not wanting to linger, not when there were so many Night Fae and so few of us.

Drazen and another Dragon blasted past us, only partially shifted so they could move faster. With a look, Endre and I dove after them, black feathered wings unfurling behind us and carrying us off toward another set of archers.

The cut on my arm grew more bothersome the more I swung my sword, and I was irritated that the one part of me that wasn’t fully protected was the one part that had been cut. But I said nothing because I knew Endre would insist on healing it, and we didn’t have time for that, not as the sun finally crested the horizon.

It glittered off the mutilated snow, making our targets easier to spot but also increasing the accuracy of their shots. I flew toward a group at the base of the mountain, tucked conveniently beneath an overhang. One noticed my approach, and I had to snap my wings shut to avoid his projectile. Endre swooped in behind me, landing and jumping into a fight against them. Drazen touched down shortly after, the two working as a team to dispatch them.

I was too busy paying attention to them to notice the Night Fae beneath me grabbing one of the fallen Iron Fae’s whips and coiling it up. The crack hit my ears a moment before pain wrapped around my thigh, and I cried out as my leg was yanked out from under me.

“Fuck!” I screeched as I hit the ground, tumbling over myself and trying to dodge the incoming kicks and punches. I tried to stand, but the male still held the whip, maintaining his control over me. I crashed down once again, a frustrated snarl tearing from my throat. Thinking quickly, I reached along it and wrapped it around my hand, then pulled with all my might. He stumbled forward, then realized his mistake and dropped the weapon.

I wasted no time pushing to my feet, holding out a hand as I backstepped to ensure he wouldn’t race forward. The leather unwound from my leg, the air stinging my skin where it had bit into my body.

Fuck, that hurt.

My sword was only a few feet away, and I lunged for it, rolling over a body and grabbing the pommel as I flipped into a crouch. My thigh throbbed from the movement, but I didn’t have the luxury of listening to my body when it protested.

The male charged forward, and I braced for impact as he swung. Our blades collided in a clash that reverberated through my whole body, and I gritted my teeth and pushed back as hard as I could, using the force to come into a stand.

He backed away, leaving me off balance, but I quickly recovered and sank into my stance. Before he could come forward again, I lunged, but he handily parried my blade. We danced around each other, striking hard and fast as I worked to steer him toward a large rock.

If I could just position him a little to the left of it…

To my delight, he never looked behind him as I herded him in that direction, sidestepping and striking in such a way that he kept having to chase my next move. With a blast of silver, I sent him stumbling backward, his leg breaking over the stone with a satisfying crunch. As he impacted the ground, I followed him, stabbing him in the chest and ending his life.

I felt nothing as I pulled my blade free and wiped it clean on his leathers.

“Liliana?”

I whipped around, blade poised to strike. Vadim stood there, his long hair and beard both an utter mess, and his evergreen eyes shone with a mixture of pain and relief.

“Oh thank fuck, Lil,” he said, racing toward me and scooping me into his arms for an embrace.

I squirmed against him, trying to break his hold. “Let me go, Vadim.”

“I didn’t know if you were alive or dead,” he said, releasing me and allowing me my space.

“Well, I’m very much alive. And we’re very much enemies right now,” I hissed, raising my weapon. Without warning, I lunged for him, despite the heaviness in my heart and the voice in the back of my mind screaming at me to stop. I’d sworn to Ruslan I was loyal to the északi Empire, and I couldn’t waver in that again..

He easily swept my sword to the side, not even attempting to fight back. I struck again, and he merely sidestepped, waiting for me to twist and face him once more. On my third attempt, I cut him, momentarily horrified at the sight of his lifeblood trickling down his arm, nearly a twin wound to my own.

With a growl, he charged, and finally, he fought me back.

My brother trained me to fight, which meant he knew all my moves – but I also knew all of his. The past year of training with the Iron Fae and Félvér had taught me a few new tricks, and I called on one just as Vadim arced his sword toward me. Instead of leaping backward and out of the way of his lethal blade, I rolled over my shoulder, hooking my legs around his and using them to send him crashing to the ground. With an oomph, he flattened, and I leaped to my feet immediately, jumping on his chest and pinning him down.

He raised both hands, the pommel of his sword slipping from his grip as he opened them. “I don’t want to fight with you.”

Still poised over him, I hissed, “You chose the wrong side.”

“I know.”

In a flash, he had me on my back, pinned beneath him. I thrashed and struggled in his hold, but he gripped my wrists and pressed them tightly against my chest.

“I should have listened to you and Domi last year. Lil, I’ve been so worried about you since then. Mother and father were furious when I returned without you. Mother has been heartbroken since that day, and she barely gets out of bed anymore, worried that something has happened to you.”

His words were sincere, and guilt settled in my gut, a heavier weight than my brother pinning me down. I stilled, waiting for him to continue.

“We know this is a losing battle – me and Viktor and Kaztar. Someone has to kill Kazimir to make it stop. We’re doing everything we can to put him in harm’s way. Please, Lil, stop fighting me and start helping me.” The plea in his voice was as apparent as the concern in his eyes.

Releasing a breath, I nodded, and he released my wrists, straightening to his full height. He offered me a hand to help me up – the olive branch we both needed. My palm collided with his, and his muscles corded and flexed as he hauled me upright. Our blood mixed together from the cuts on our forearms, and I nearly laughed at the absurdity of the situation.

But then, I blinked, and something hot splashed against my face. My brother’s jaw slackened in a silent scream.

“Vadim!” I shrieked, stumbling into him and catching my brother as he fell to the ground. The sharp tip of an iron arrow pinged off my chest plate, but I didn’t notice or care as I lowered him to the ground, tears spilling over my face.

He coughed, misting the air with garnet. “Vadim, no, please, please, no,” I wailed, my hands scrambling across his chest as I fought against the tide of death.

“Liliana… I love you,” he managed to wheeze out.

“No, don’t you give up on me!” I screamed at him, holding pressure around his wound, careful to avoid the bolt.

“You can’t save me,” he rasped, his voice growing fainter and his evergreen eyes dimming.

“No, I love you, Vadim, you can’t leave me, not yet,” I sobbed, my tears slipping down my face and onto his chest.

Two heavy thuds shook the ground, and I glanced up to find Endre and Drazen racing toward me. Endre slid to his knees, careening to a stop at Vadim’s side and pressing his hands into Vadim’s chest.

My brother gave a weak shake of his head. “Let me go, Endre.”

Mirror tears poured down Endre’s cheeks. “I can’t lose you, too.”

“The Nighthounds are done,” Vadim coughed. “You have to kill him.”

My heart shattered into a million tiny pieces at the pain that etched both of their faces. Endre leaned down, touching foreheads with Vadim. “You were the best brother I could have asked for.”

“Me too,” I choked out, joining their little huddle. “I’m so sorry.”

“Nothing to be sorry for… so proud… of you.”

My world splintered then, and it wasn’t until Drazen hauled me backward that I realized my brother had died. The battle raged on around us, but grief pounded in my ears, drowning out all other sound.

Vadim was dead.

Sob after sob wracked my chest as I remained caught between Endre and Drazen. My vision was a swirl of red, white, and black, and I collapsed again, unable to support myself under the massive weight of his death. I couldn’t get enough air, and what little I did was like razor blades to my lungs.

“Let’s get you away from here,” Drazen murmured finally, and I allowed him to scoop me into his arms. My head lolled back, all energy sucked from my body. We shot into the sky, Endre staying right with us as we navigated the peaks to the small camp that had been erected away from the battlefield to tend to the wounded.

Numbness had overtaken me by the time Drazen laid me on a cot inside a warm tent. The fire burning in the brazier mere feet away did nothing to chase away the chill that sank into my bones. Endre crawled behind me, wrapping himself around me as I started to shake uncontrollably.

“I’ll stay here,” he murmured to Drazen, though his words sounded distant, like they were muffled beneath water.

“Thank you. I need to get back,” Drazen replied, also sounding like an echo through the mountains.

“Stay whole,” Endre murmured, reaching out. The two clasped arms, their camaraderie solidified by my love for both of them.

I never got to tell Vadim that.

Drazen’s ocean blue eyes held an endless depth of sorrow, and he brushed the backs of his knuckles against my cheek before leaving us. I scarcely felt the touch, nor Endre’s, despite how we were positioned.

“Everything will be okay,” Endre reassured me with a gentle squeeze.

But everything was not okay.

And I wasn’t sure it would be ever again.