Chapter 24

Chapter

Twenty-Four

It was chaos. I'd sat in many war council meetings with my father this year to learn how things worked, and they'd given detailed reports of battles along our borders. But never had I seen it in person. Fire, smoke, arrows, swords, bodies, blood, screaming, creatures tearing into each other. Death. So much death.

The attack must have happened the moment my father stepped onto campus, because it was already far along. Imperial soldiers raced across the lawn, shooting arrows up at the sky, where I saw over a dozen flying Talanagi—dragons, griffins, a winged horse, a winged lion, creatures that I didn't even have names for. It was incredible and terrifying all at once.

Some of these Talanagi were carrying large baskets in their talons the size of cars, and inside of those baskets were Luskin soldiers wearing their red uniforms. So that's how they did it.

Before Kohen and I could do anything, they lowered the baskets to the ground and the soldiers scattered like ants. My father was in the center of the campus lawn, slashing through the Luskin intruders with his sword as Zuri ripped out their throats.

Would he be angry if he knew I was here? He had called for all Fleet to report to campus. But somehow I knew that didn't mean me. That he'd want his successor and daughter safe. But I couldn't just sit here and allow this attack to happen.

"Anika!" Kohen shouted down below, and my attention was drawn to the ground. Anika was still in her beautiful dress from the ball with Alek, Dev, and others in tow. They held swords and fanned out along the campus with their creatures, joining the battle without question. I was just glad that Tetra was not among them.

‘Let's help them out,' I told Liana, and she beelined it for the flying creatures on the field. They had dropped the soldiers off in the baskets and were now taking to the skies with their bonded riders. Liana flew closer to a cluster of them and breathed a stream of fire as I pulled out my bolt shooter from where it was clipped on her harness. A couple of the riders fell off their creatures, aflame, and ran away, but some of the creatures were uninjured and now gunning for us. Liana flew higher, pulling them away from the campus. I had nine bolts loaded, and I fired in rapid succession at the wings and necks of the dragon, griffin, and flying lion that were now coming for me. My aim was true, and two of the creatures lost their ability to fly, with three serrated bolts embedded in their wings.

But the red-scaled dragon with its blond female rider was evading my every blow. There was a crest embroidered on her jacket but I wasn't close enough to see what it was. It was some official seal, likely designating her as a commander of some sort.

She raised her fist and I prepared for her to throw fire or an energy blast or something. It took me a second to realize I could no longer breathe. The wind was being sucked from my lungs as Liana dove away from her and flew in another direction to put distance between us. When we got about a hundred yards away from her, I gasped for air, feeling Liana doing the same beneath me, her ribcage widening under my thighs.

Holy crap. The red dragon rider could manipulate the very air in my lungs!

Then that feeling was back, like I couldn't breathe, and I peered behind me to see the psycho grinning ear to ear as her red dragon raced through the sky after us with half a dozen Talanagi in tow. Liana turned her head and breathed a stream of fire, but the red dragon was too fast.

I pulled for my own fire power, but without being able to breathe, it was hard to concentrate. Liana was erratically flying every which way to lose her, but the red dragon rider was on us like glue.

‘Thrall her or we are both going down—and you may not come back,' Liana told me as black dots danced at the edges of my vision.

I hadn't ever wanted to use that again.

Where the hell was Kohen? Alek's hawk? Everyone else?

I saw then, in the distance, behind the goons chasing us, that there were a dozen more flying Luska fighters, all riding Talanagi and chasing down Kohen as he tried to reach me. How did they have so many?

Power built in my core, like an electric zapping along my skin, as Liana began to lose altitude. Without oxygen, she was growing weak, and couldn't outrun this red dragon rider and her team. There were too many Talanagi. They were so fast and powerful. We were woefully unprepared.

I felt like I was going to lose consciousness any second, and the power inside of me snapped.

‘Stop!' I screamed mentally, with no air left in my lungs as I spun to face the red rider and threw out my hand. Two glowing silver threads shot from my palms and wrapped around the heads of the red dragon rider and her creature.

Instantly, the pressure on my lungs was gone and I gasped for air, my throat burning as I coughed and sputtered. Liana gasped beneath me as well, and flew farther away from the red rider. The soldiers who had flanked her were suspended in midair, staring from her to me in confusion, no doubt wondering what was going on with their leader. I still had no idea if the little silver rope could be seen by others. The red rider was open-mouthed, unresponsive with my silver cord still engaged around her head.

That's when her posse came for me. Anger saturated their features and they flew after us with determination. The cord finally snapped, disappearing from my hand, and I shot what bolts I had left at the advancing soldiers.

A blur of brown flew up next to me and I noticed Iniki.

"Tell Alek I'm okay. Focus on the ground fight. I'm going to take out their wing crew," I told her.

She nodded and then dove downward.

Liana brought me closer to Kohen, who was igniting fires across the sky as best he could, but he was clearly overwhelmed. There were so many of them. I felt that well of power inside of me growing as my anger simmered to the surface.

"Kohen, land and help the others!" I screamed to him over the wind just as a streak of fire came from one of the dragon riders, heading right for him. Onyx ducked, dropping him down ten feet in the air.

Kohen peered up at me, a knowing in his gaze. Had he seen this? Did he know my plan? He must have, because he nodded once and then dropped to the ground. That was very unlike protective Kohen to just leave me in danger. He knew.

‘I will lead them on a bit of a chase to get them to cluster together,' Liana said. So she had read my mind and she knew my plan as well. Good, everyone was on board.

I gripped the handles of Liana's harness as she went into her super speed mode, which drew all the Talanagi in the sky into a chase with us.

I peered down at the ground. Amersean soldiers were running back and forth across the campus, screaming orders and engaging the Luskins. But there seemed to be fewer red coats than before, so I thought we were winning the ground front.

And then the air was sucked from my lungs.

Dammit.

Red dragon rider was back in action. I peered behind me and counted thirteen Talanagi in all.

I hoped most of them were not impervious to fire.

Because like Instructor Ashendell said, I was a human bomb.

And I was about to go off.

‘Now!' I told Liana and she suspended in midair, allowing the others to catch up with us. They whooshed alongside me just as I exploded.

I pushed the limits of my power this time. Heat engulfed me, and my vision was overcome with flames. Fire crawled across the sky and I pinched my eyes shut as screams rose up around me. My eyes popped open just in time to see the tidal wave of fire lap against the Talanagi pursuing me and ignite their riders into flames. All except two—the red dragon rider and a green dragon rider. They seemed to be protected and flew away unharmed, clearly giving up the fight. Meanwhile, their fellow soldiers burned in the sky as they flew in frantic circles.

The sight was sickening.

‘Take me down,' I ordered Liana.

She did, and when I landed it was a relief to see we had won against the ground assault too. The red coats were dead or taken prisoner. Medics were starting to triage the wounded.

Instructor Ashendell was there suddenly, holding a bow in her hands.

"Take them down and put them out of their misery," I told her, pointing to the sky.

The lead instructor followed my gaze and nodded. "Archers! With me!" she cried.

A group of a dozen soldiers rushed to her side and took a knee. They shot their arrows into the sky as I leapt off Liana and ran to the battlefield. "Kohan! Anika! Dev! Alek!" I just started screaming the names of those I knew were here, leaping over dead bodies and scanning their faces for my friends.

It wasn't until I saw Ariyel limping over to me with ash on her fur that Kohen's vision about someone I loved dying rose up into my mind.

"TETRA!" I bellowed, until my voice was hoarse, doing a full three-sixty, scanning the field frantically. My heart raced as bile rose in my throat. No. No don't take her. Not her. Anyone but her.

My eyes filled with tears, spilling over onto my cheeks, and I knew this was the moment from Kohen's vision. If anyone could thaw my heart and soften me to tears, it was Tetra. My beloved best friend.

Someone crashed into me from behind, squeezing me tightly. Her blonde hair half covered my face and I saw her cane drop to the ground as I spun and held her so hard I thought I might break her.

"I thought you were…" A tear slipped down my cheek and I felt relief. Kohen was wrong. He must have seen the moment up until now—with tears in my eyes and dead bodies all around me—and assumed someone I cared about died.

I pulled Tetra back and looked her over.

"You okay?" I asked, wiping all evidence of weakness from my face. She looked good—no blood or signs of damage.

She nodded, scanning me. "The sky lit up like the fire sky in The Wilds! Was that you?"

"Yes." I took her hand in mine. "Where is everyone else?"

Word got out that the attack was over and people began to leave their hiding spaces, crawling out of bushes and from behind buildings.

Anika limped over to us with a torniquet cinched tight on her upper thigh. Her lion creature nuzzled her bad leg. Dev, Jace, Alek, Meera… they were okay. I sagged in relief.

"Wait, where's Kohen?" I asked.

"I'm here," he called from behind me, and I couldn't explain the amount of relief I felt.

I spun to him, and there was alarm etched all over his face.

"Where's Nikhil?" he asked Anika.

"Dead." Her voice was hollow as she stood there and stared at Kohen with an empty expression. "He saved me."

"No…" Kohen's voice cracked and my heart broke in that moment. Nikhil… the funny ladies' man had grown on me. This was what Kohen must have seen that day in the woods when he said his friends were hurt and he didn't know who survived.

"False retreat! False retreat!" Instructor Ashendell screamed, and we looked up into the sky to see the red and green dragon rider barreling towards us.

I sucked in a breath. There was no time to think of a strategy or do anything as they descended from the sky and flew right at us.

Tetra suddenly hopped on one foot and threw herself in front of all of us.

"No!" I screamed as fire and arrows bore down from the dragon riders on our little group of survivors.

I flinched, waiting to be struck with the rain of steel when Tetra threw her arms wide and a pearlescent shield burst from her hands, covering us all like a dome. The fire splashed across the dome, bringing heat but nothing else. The arrows snapped and hit the ground, useless.

The red and green dragon riders circled for a second attack, but Liana and Onyx took to the skies, chasing the riders off.

I turned to my best friend with wide eyes. "Holy crap, Tetra, you can do that?"

I knew shield making was her gift, but in practice she'd never gotten it bigger than the size of a tire.

Her hands shook a little, her face ashen with shock. "I guess so."

Anika and everyone rushed forward then to hug and thank her.

‘Onyx and I are chasing them off. They are heading west to the Cove.'

I flicked my gaze to Kohen and he nodded to show that he knew as well, but something seemed off about him. His expression was pinched, as if he were expecting something.

‘Keep me posted,' I told her, and frowned at Kohen.

The double doors to the main training center building burst open and Admiral Caruso rushed out, face whiter than a sheet.

Her eyes scanned the carnage outside and rested on me. I froze, chills racing up my arms.

It wasn't until that moment that I wondered… Where is my father?

Admiral Caruso rushed over to me and I straightened my back, standing at attention. We all did.

"The emperor is dead. I need to swear you in."

Her words were like fog in my brain. They made no sense. Everything was muffled and confusing. The emperor couldn't be dead. The emperor was my father.

My breathing grew ragged. Tetra slipped her hand in mine but I shook her off.

"What? I didn't hear you." I extended my left ear to Admiral Caruso.

Compassion washed over her face and she swallowed hard. "Your father is dead. You are the leader of Amersea now, Empress Aisling." She saluted me and my whole body went numb.

"Where is he?" This was a lie. She was mistaken.

"Inside the building, in the mess hall, but?—"

I took off running, leaping over fallen soldiers, bursting through the double doors. The halls of the campus were bathed in blood and soot. It was clear many soldiers tried to barricade themselves in here. I turned the corner and sprinted into the mess hall, where I skidded to a stop. Slumped over on his side, on the floor, was my father. No significant blood marred his suit, no sword was in his back, just a thin bit of foam on his lips and some small cuts on his arms.

Zuri was lifeless on his lap, and every wall I'd built up inside of me crumbled in that moment.

"Daddy!" I sobbed, rushing forward as I was reduced to what I used to call him as a small child. His ashen skin and graying hair made him look so old in that moment. It killed me.

Tears filled my eyes so quickly, I had to blink rapidly to clear them as my chest heaved and my throat burned. A sob ripped from me as I screamed in horror. I couldn't remember the last time I'd cried like this. Maybe when my mother died giving birth to the triplets. It felt like I was drowning. I never got to tell him I loved him. He was a hardass, strict, cold, but he was my father, the only parent I had left.

"Don't leave me. I'm not ready," I whimpered to him.

I heard footsteps and spun around just in time to see Kohen. He looked heartbroken for me, and I suddenly became angry.

"You knew!" I screamed at him, rushing to beat him on the chest. "You knew it would be him and you didn't tell me!" I punched his chest like a wild animal and he just held me as I broke down, letting every emotion I'd stored up over the years fall out of me in a messy heap.

"Step away from the empress!" Admiral Caruso barked from behind him, and Kohen released me. I wiped my eyes, trying to get myself together as she walked down the hall with Instructor Ashendell. Caruso took one look at Kohen and flicked her head at the exit, indicating that it was his time to leave. "You no longer have clearance to be around her."

‘I'm coming,' Liana told me. She knew. She saw everything through me and she knew.

Kohen took one more agonizing look at me and left back down the hall he came.

The admiral grasped both sides of my shoulders and held my gaze. "We've just sustained the first attack on record in the city of Riverine. Our great safe capital. The people will be rocked by this news and by the passing of their emperor. I need to swear you in, and I need you to be strong. For the soldiers out there and the families at home. For all of us."

I sucked up my last tear, rebuilding the walls around my heart, and nodded to her.

I peered down at my father's lifeless body. "Find me the bastard that did this. I want their head on a spike in the middle of the square." My voice was hollow. I felt dead inside.

"Yes, Empress," she vowed.

Whatever shred of innocence I had left died in that moment. All I cared about now was revenge on whoever just took the only remaining parent my little sisters and I had.