“Get him to the healers then find me again,” she said.
“You’re the only one who can stand up against the darkling queen!” I shouted. “Your wellbeing outweighs that of a single warrior who may not even make it to the healers!”
“That’s an order!” she shouted, the gentleness gone from her voice.
I heaved a sigh and ran my fingers through my hair. There was no arguing with her, and I growled my frustrations. What could I do to convince her to stay at my side? “Come with me.”
“I can’t,” she said, and I hated how quickly she turned me down. “I have to be ready if the daughter of Matthias appears.”
She was right. There was no telling when that bitch would show her face or where. The pit was the centermost point of the battlefield, if the darkling queen made her appearance at either end of it, Lucia would be better placed to quickly intercept her.
A wall of fire exploded at the front lines, drawing our attention. I prayed Damien was holding up, that his presence was making a difference, and we could bring an end to this madness. Lucia’s eyes welled with fear as she watched the front lines in the distance, and she took a hesitant step toward it, as if she might abandon her post to go to her mate. I feared she might very well do that if I left her.
I crouched and looped the injured warrior’s arm over my shoulder before hauling him to his unsteady feet. He let out an agonized cry, unable to hold himself up as I supported his weight.
Lucia stood, her gaze shooting past me to the front lines where her mate fought. I stepped closer to her, and her gaze shifted to me, the fear residing within those silver pools breaking something in me.
He’s strong. He’ll come back to you.I wanted to give her all the comforting words but couldn’t bring myself to, fearful I might give her false hope. “Be careful, spitfire.”
A smile crept across her face. “You too, hothead.”
I pulled myself away from her, cursing that I couldn’t stay at her side as I started toward the healers. She was powerful, she could hold her own, and I’d be back to fight at her side.
A shriek at my back halted my steps, and my heart stuttered before I twisted around to find myself face to face with a darkling bound by vines, torn jaws snapping at the air. It fought to get free, to get to us, claws slicing through air but coming up short. Lucia grunted, her hands balled into fists as she willed the vines to tighten around her target before she jerked her hand back. Roots shot into the darkling’s chest, through its heart. The darkling disintegrated, and the vines fell slack as Lucia sagged on her feet, her breaths coming in quick pants.
Could she truly do this alone? Would she stand a chance against the darkling queen in her condition? I took a tentative step toward her, ready to drop the warrior and stay at her side.
She ground her teeth, seeming to pull herself together, to mask just how exhausted she was. “Go!”
I cursed under my breath but dipped my head and turned to hurry through the crowd before I made the mistake of arguing with her. The sooner I dropped this warrior off with the healers, the sooner I could get back to her. With each step, the warrior grew heavier at my side, his grunts quieting, the scent of his blood growing thicker in the air, overwhelming the stench of darkling and death. I had to move faster.
“Hold on,” I demanded. “Just a little farther.”
The edge of the forest grew closer, the white tops of the healer tents peeking out from the view of colliding bodies until we reached the rear guard, where rows of warriors stood the final ground, defending the healers.
“Just a bit longer! We’re here!” I yelled, jostling the warrior who was no longer responding.
The hairs on my arms stood on end as a strange energy surged over me, something unnatural and wrong halting my steps.
“Barrett?” one of the rearguards asked, brows furrowing as my pace slowed. Then, he seemed to feel it too, his eyes wandering.
“Something’s…” I looked around. Something was wrong, very wrong. The shrieks of darklings quieted around us, and I looked over my shoulder to see their bottomless eyes lifted to the tall trees. They didn’t seem to care that their distraction allowed our warriors to cut them down, as if they welcomed death willingly.
I turned, following their gazes, and my heart lurched as a figure leaped from the forest. Tendrils of darkness swept out from her body before she crashed into the ground, and a shockwave of power shattered across the field. It slammed into us, knocking us back, and shadows erupted like great beasts, swallowing everything. I hit the ground, air rushing from my lungs, pain slicing through me as the sky was swallowed by darkness.
30
THALIA
My sword nearly slipped from my grip as it slammed into the dirt, fresh darkling blood painting the black blade. They kept coming, the waves of death seemingly endless. With each darkling I brought down, two or three replaced it. This couldn’t be happening. It couldn’t truly end like this.
“We have to fall back,” I muttered as another flame Stoicheion fell, her screams echoing into my bones as darklings descended on her, tearing her apart. The scent of her blood filled my nose, and I flinched at the sound of bones crunching, of tendons and ligaments tearing as the darklings feasted on her before she had had a chance to take her last breath.
Damien carved his way through another darkling, his armor stained with black blood.
Something crawled over my skin, a sensation of something so very wrong clawing into me, and the beast seemed to recoil at the feeling. I stumbled back, my hand rising to my chest instinctively. The hum of our binding magic still remained—Micah was all right, but that wasn’t what I felt. No, it was something else, something… deeper.
“Oh, gods! The healers!” someone shouted over the fighting.
