Chapter 90

Lavinia was protected by rows and rows of Nymphs, making it impossible to get near her, her shadows flooding out into our western ranks and consuming all in their path. Caleb and I were caught in the dance of battle, death and pain so present around me it made my skin prickle with how likely it was that people I loved had already fallen.

My gaze kept flicking to Darcy in the sky, her blue and red fire tumbling through the clouds. I'd caught a glimpse of her hair once and known it was her, but I couldn't let that distraction keep turning my gaze. She was waging a war of her own up there, and I knew she could handle herself even if all my instincts urged me to be with her right now.

Caleb killed another enemy Nymph with his twin blades, stabbing brutally and taking it down. I knocked my shoulder into the gut of another Nymph, throwing it back into two more behind it then rearing away and driving my sword through its chest. I yanked my sword out of its body before it fell dead beneath me, and growled as more Nymphs came my way.

"This isn't fast enough, we need to get to Lavinia before she decimates our western flank,"Caleb's voice carried through my mind.

I had an idea. One that was chaotic and unpredictable, but there was no use in hesitating now.

"Hold the line,"I told Caleb. "I'll be back with a weapon."

"Hurry,"he urged, and I sped away from the Nymphs towards the trampled rows of dead Fae far behind us. I ripped off their arms, trying to only take from our fallen enemies, but their bodies were so covered in blood it was hard to tell one from the other. When I had ten Fae arms gathered, I raced back to my sanguis frater, moving as fast as the wind as I rammed them into the ground in a circle before the Nymphs while Caleb worked to keep them back.

I unsheathed the draining dagger I'd strapped to my leg, stepping into the centre of the circle and cutting my arm, letting my blood spill onto the ground. My father had taught me this trick, the dark magic so potent he had warned me never to use it unless necessary. But me standing in the middle of a battlefield with death calling my name probably counted as necessary.

My eyes shuttered and fell closed, the lull of the magic pulling me into a trance, but instead of the usual whispers I heard within the dark, there was silence. A heady, keen kind of silence that was full of magic untold. The shadows were cleansed now, no tainted Nymph souls trapped there to try and lure me towards my demise within them.

I guided the power towards my desire, threading it into the earth at my feet and I blinked, finding my blood spreading away in ten perfect lines towards the severed arms that stuck out of the ground.

"Faster!"Caleb bellowed in my head, but the blood magic kept me calm, my gaze falling on him where he was struggling to hold the Nymphs back, their probes swinging viciously.

I willed my blood to connect to the arms, feeling it seep into each of them and their fingers began to flex. I groaned as the power of each fallen Fae threaded into me, the gift of their magic rushing between me and them.

"Run," I told Caleb and with one glance my way, he fled, tearing past me, away from the Nymphs who came charging in my direction. If this failed, I was dead. I knew it from the murder in their eyes. There were far too many for me to escape while I stood connected to the shadows. But I'd made my choice, and I prayed it paid off.

Fire, earth, water and air combined in an explosion of almighty power, all ten of the hands spreading and casting for me, joining with my own Elemental power and fuelling the strike. That tremendous clash of ice, flames, wind and the rumbling destruction of an earthquake slammed into the Nymphs, cracking the ground in two.

The Nymphs went tumbling into a pit that stretched fifty feet, taking lines of enemy Fae with them, more than I could hope to kill alone, but with the aid of dark magic, I was unstoppable. The tumultuous power slammed into the fallen Nymphs, burning them, freezing them, pummelling them until only death lay within the chasm beneath me.

The severed arms turned to ash, their power spent and the severe magic used to wield them shattering the last of their flesh. I buckled as that roiling power took its toll on me, my knees hitting the ground and Caleb ran to help, dropping down to kneel at my side. He reached out to heal me as the enemy army closed in again, forming bridges across the chasm, making my pulse thrash with how little time I had to recover.

Before Caleb's hand could meet with my skin, a Caucasian Eagle swept from the sky, its talons latching onto his arm and dragging him skyward. I cried out, leaping for him as he went kicking and thrashing into the clouds in the grasp of the beast.

My legs gave out as I hit the ground again on my knees, my head bowing as I panted and my mind spinning. My magic was spent, my chest ringing hollow. I needed blood, but I was in a field of fallen Nymphs, not close to any Fae body.

Lionel's army was closing in, a line of Centaurs in bronze armour inlaid with his emblem tearing this way with bows and arrows in hand. A female aimed her first arrow at me and I tried to move with a burst of speed, but the dark magic had taken everything out of me.

I cried out as the arrow slammed into a gap in my armour, striking the flesh of my shoulder and knocking me flat on my back. Then their hooves thundered closer, and I couldn't do anything to stop what came next. They didn't halt to finish the kill, they let their hooves do it for them, the beasts trampling me, crushing bone and snapping ribs.

I wheezed, trying to move, trying to drag myself out of harm's way, but they didn't stop coming. Death closed in, and I was forced to cover my head with my hands and pray to the stars that I'd be spared. I rolled onto my front, trying to curl up against the onslaught of pounding hooves, but more kept striking me, my back suddenly making a terrible snapping noise and all feeling leaving my legs.

I groaned into the mud, the pain of it all setting my nerves aflame.

The trampling finally stopped, the Centaurs headed on to a greater fight and the battlefield surrounding me was left quiet as Lavinia turned her forces elsewhere, moving off into the distance. Between all the quiet and the pain, I focused on my mate, and the truth that would sully my soul forevermore.

I'd failed her.

I turned my gaze to the sky, seeing the colours of red and blue lighting the clouds and gritting my teeth as I remembered the promise I'd made to her. The vow that would crush my soul if I broke it.

I dragged myself forward, my legs useless, scraping through the mud behind me as I set my mind on what I needed most. Blood.

Death couldn't have me now or ever, because I belonged to her. I would lay in no grave until our life was well-worn and her smile had brightened thousands of glorious days. We were meant to rise with tomorrow's sun, and I would see that dawn in with my love by my side come what fucking may.