Chapter Forty-five

Wilder didn't think; he simply moved. One moment he was standing atop the reaper's corpse, and the next he was throwing himself in front of those tendrils of power, blocking their path to Talemir with his own body.

The pain lanced through him like a white-hot blade from the forge, singular and agonising. He hit the cobblestones and rolled. But Wilder had suffered enough shadow magic to force himself back up, brandishing his swords at the true master of darkness.

He didn't glance back to see if Talemir was alright. He only stared the princess down, bracing himself.

When darkness came for him, he was ready.

Lash after lash he deflected, cleaving through the power and closing the gap between him and Jasira.

‘Did you like the tower, Warsword?' she taunted from the safety of her shadows, pummelling him with more of the same nightmares and visions he always saw. ‘My father put you there at my behest. I wanted to see what it took to break a warrior like you.'

‘There's no breaking a warrior like me,' he said. ‘And all you did by putting me in that prison was make me stronger.'

In his peripheral vision, he saw a flash of lightning. The sight of Thea's magic fuelled him. He cut through Jasira's next lash of shadow with so much force that she was sent reeling back with a cry.

He made to run her through with his blade, but more wraiths flooded the fortress, a force of flapping wings blocking out the moon.

The tumult of battle ensued and Wilder was nearly overcome with the jostling bodies and swinging blades. But suddenly Talemir was at his side.

‘You know I had her,' the Shadow Prince growled.

‘Sure you did,' Wilder replied, signalling to Cal and his handful of men on the wall as Wilder himself made for a swarm of wraiths surrounding the Embervale sisters.

Fire arrows lit up the sky, and the shrieks of wraiths filled the air once more.

There was a deafening cry, and a fresh force of midrealms men and women burst from the fortress, and from the cellar grate that flung open amid the cobbles. They charged into the fray, blades raised and shouts of vengeance on their lips, with Kipp in the lead. It wasn't just warriors, but tavern patrons too, plus Albert, Marise and Everard, all brandishing swords of their own, throwing themselves at the enemy, their grit just about making up for their lack of finesse —

Thunder rolled overhead, and the scent of rain filled the air.

Anya and Thea were at the heart of the chaos, each of them calling to their storms, lightning and wind whipping through the night around them. But where was Wren?

Panting, Wilder spotted the youngest Embervale on the steps of the fortress, Farissa at her side. Both women launched small round bottles filled with alchemical concoctions and sun orchid essence, immobilising entire units with bursts of gold. He remembered Wren suggesting that they thicken the substances to an oil-like consistency so that it stuck to the enemy and wasn't easily washed off – it was working.

With Talemir at his side, Wilder slayed wraith after wraith, howler after howler, his Furies-given stamina holding strong.

‘We need to find the reapers,' he shouted to Tal. ‘Otherwise it's all for nothing.'

‘And Jasira —' Talemir pointed with his sword to where the princess had fallen, but there was no sign of her.

‘Fuck,' Wilder muttered, his heart sinking as he spotted the clouded blue eyes pinning them from the surrounding walls. ‘I think we found the reapers.'

There were more of them than Wilder could count, and even with the sun orchid essence coating the regular steel weaponry of their forces, he knew it wasn't enough.

‘Thea!' he shouted over the pandemonium.

Her head whipped around, eyes latching onto him instantly. Then her gaze landed on the reapers, her jaw clenching at the sight.

‘Furies fucking save us,' Talemir breathed beside him, wiping the perspiration from his brow.

‘The Furies won't do a fucking thing,' Wilder told him. ‘But the Embervale sisters might.'

He motioned to where Thea and Anya had reached Wren across the battlefield, the three of them standing shoulder to shoulder as they surveyed the host of reapers now at their door.

Together, they summoned the storm.