REVENGE

52

Evelyn raced on all fours toward the Unifier scum littering the battlefield before her.

She'd waited patiently among the trees, camouflaged by the dark, until she'd gotten a signal to act. And Vera shooting through the ceiling of the Academy as it melted around her had been the definition of a signal if she'd ever seen one.

The sight of the glowing woman had been enough to shake her to her core. But there was no time for her to consider what she beheld. Fae clashed in the skies above her and people were dropping. Quickly. She didn't take the time to ascertain which side they were on, she just ran. Right to the front lines.

She dodged the pillars of earth that erupted beneath her with ease as winds roared around her—whether from the storm raging above them, or at the hands of the fae, she couldn't tell. Probably both.

She took advantage of the hand-to-hand combat that broke out on the ground, and her night vision, to sneak up behind the entangled fae and slash at the throats of the unsuspecting Unifiers from behind. She offered a silent note of thanks to Shara who had suggested the fae on their side borrow black leathers and armor from their reserves, leaving the Unifiers easy to spot in the standard brown leathers of the fae.

After relieving a few fae of their opponents, she turned her attention toward the craggy mountain that jutted up in front of her.

Well, that's new, she mused .

Racing toward the base, she spotted two Unifiers against one wolf. She climbed up the mountainside and roared, drawing their attention away from the injured canine. She pounced, catching one of the Unifiers off guard and tackling him to the ground. They tumbled, rolling into the hard side of a cliff edge. Evelyn landed on top as the fae's helmet rolled away, revealing the face beneath it.

It was the same guard she'd fended off that day in the woods.

Garreth .

She quickly glanced back toward the wolf she'd assisted, watching as they backed the remaining fae over the side of the mountain. A mistake. Garreth used the opportunity to slice at her arm that had him pinned with the blade of his dagger. The pain of it caused her to shift against her will, and she reared up, clutching where blood wept from her wound.

He thrust his hips, bucking her off him and onto her back. " You ," he sneered, standing and looming over her. "I came for the princess, but you'll do just fine in her stead."

Something in the way he said princess snapped her back into her body. No one talked about Aria like that. Not to her.

She jammed a booted foot into his stomach. It didn't take him down, but it was enough of a distraction for her to unsheathe a knife from her side, clutching it in the palm of her wounded arm. Shift, shift, shift , she willed herself to no avail .

With her elbows and feet, dirt clumping along her gash, she shuffled backward awkwardly, careful not to let him see the knife she held close to her chest. Shift, damn it.

Her body still wouldn't listen. If this was going to work, if she was going to get out of this alive, she had to make him think she couldn't fight back. It was her only shot.

He wrapped her ankles and her free hand in earthen cuffs, seeking his own revenge for that day he'd followed them. She writhed against the restraints, making a show of her injured limb. Closer , she urged him silently. Just a little closer. Garreth took the bait easily, too arrogant to think ahead, to see her plan.

"Oh, I'm going to take my time with you, bitch," he spat at her feet, holding his abdomen as he advanced, bending over her. Perfect, she thought.

"That will be time you don't have," she snarled. And shoved her knife directly into his eye.

Garreth wailed, grasping at the handle of her blade that protruded from his face, dropping his hold on her cuffs in surprise, along with his dagger. He stumbled backward, tripping over her feet and landing on his back. The force of her movement made her arm howl in pain, but she scrambled up and followed him, kicking his dagger over the edge of the cliff.

Curses flew from his mouth as he pulled the knife from its socket sheath with a nauseating squelch. Blood poured in pulsing rivulets down the side of his face, swollen and ragged flesh in the place where his eye had been. "Fuck you!" He tossed the blade at her sloppily, rage contorting his features. She dodged it easily as it skidded on the ground behind her.

"Looks like you didn't heed the princess's warning," she hissed, pulling out another knife, ready to end this. She had more work to do. "I will not be as generous to you as she was. "

"Go fuck yourself," he said, trying and failing to pull shards of stone from the earth, his powers depleting with his loss of blood.

"So original," she rolled her eyes and hurled her blade into the center of his throat. His remaining eye went wide as dark, red liquid gurgled from the opening. Garreth clawed at his neck, moaning as he crawled away from her clumsily, a final attempt at escape before he collapsed in the dirt. "Send your little family my regards," she growled.

And rolled his limp body down the side of the mountain.

***

Aria found her mother flying toward Vera and watched as Joyen tried hurling both piercing shards and large chunks of earth at her own mother. Vera simply melted them before they could reach her. Melted them, Aria realized with a mix of wonder and pure terror. Like they'd been nothing but ice in a sea of fire.

Meanwhile, Luka and Shara spewed thick flames at Vera, but it did nothing but bounce off her skin. Hyla even sent plumes of air into their inferno, fueling it into a blazing wall to engulf Vera. And still nothing. It was as if an invisible shield surrounded the monster within, protecting her from anything they threw at her.

None of Vera's troops even bothered to shelter her. The rest of her army directed their attention to the other fae and shifters battling below, knowing Vera could stand on her own.

It was Vera versus everyone else. And Vera was winning.

Another dragon, a green one Aria didn't recognize, flew directly at Vera in an attempt to knock her out of the sky. Their mouth opened to try and clamp Vera in their jaws, but as their teeth grazed Vera's skin, Aria watched in frozen horror as the dragon's form turned to embers and ash and floated through the air around them, disappearing into the wind.

Vera only smiled brightly.

Luka roared over the chorus of screams that sounded around them. No , Aria thought. That's impossible .

Vera was impenetrable. Invincible. And she'd just disintegrated an entire dragon with no more than a touch.

Get a grip, Aria. She needed to act. But what was she supposed to do against an impossible enemy? She was so tired from this morning's efforts with the storm, she wasn't sure she would be of much use, her magic levels already dwindling.

But Aria flew to the group in front of her anyway. To the group who still desperately tried to impact Vera in some way. She sent spike after spike of jagged stone toward their target, using pulses of air to aim them straight for her grandmother's heart.

Clem and Taren appeared out of the corner of her eye, joining the growing number of fae who were running out of Unifiers to fight on the ground. "Together!" Taren ordered them, "Pick up that mound!" They gestured to one of the many new spiked hills that towered over the remains of the Academy. The fae with earth powers flew a little closer to the mound and began pulling at the base where it cracked and separated from the land.

Meanwhile, Hyla led the others in a maneuver in the opposite direction to try and distract Vera from their efforts. After straining for a few moments, the spike finally lifted, and Taren directed them to guide it over Vera's head where they would hopefully drop it and crush her. As the enormous chunk of earth floated clumsily through the air, Aria glanced at Taren, who was obviously pushing themselves too hard. Thick veins bulged from their neck and outstretched forearms as they guided the earth above its target .

"As soon as it's over her, drop it!" Clem shouted. Almost there , Aria thought, her limbs shaking. They all gave one last push, and Aria squinted against the blinding light of Vera's form as she let go.

Let go and prayed.

Let go. And wailed.

Any bit of hope she'd felt crumbled along with the graft as it dissipated into sand before even reaching Vera's head.

Vera was going to win single-handedly, and there was nothing they could do about it.