“How would you know? How would you know anything?” I bit out, descending further until I was weaving in and out of buildings, dodging the rush of heat expelled from the burning structures. “You led me away from him, sent me searching for someone else when I should have been at his side.”
It didn’t respond, and it irritated me to know I’d trusted in its instinct, let it guide me to Barrett instead of my bonded who needed me. Thecreature was right, though. Barrett had also needed me. Lucia and Damien wouldn’t have found him in time if I hadn’t been there. I shook the thought away as my mind pooled with the image of his steel eyes void of life.
The fires were spreading out of control, crawling across the ground to the neighboring houses with ravenous, insatiable energy, leaving the survivors screaming as they watched in horror or found themselves trapped inside. I couldn’t stop to help them no matter how badly I wanted to, couldn’t slow my search. Not until I found him, until I knew he was all right.
“Micah!” I called out, rounding a corner, and relief flooded me as I found him pulling survivors from the wreckage. I dropped out of the air, allowing the feathers to recede, the talons to retract as my boots slammed into the ash-covered ground. Hot air burned my lungs as I ran for him, my heart racing.
Hope lit his face, his arms reaching out to catch me as I crashed into him.
“Thank the gods,” he breathed as he held me, his hand grasping the back of my head to pull me closer as he pressed his nose into my hair and drew deep breaths.
I pulled away, my hands shooting to his face as I searched him for any injuries. “Are you hurt?”
“Nothing serious,” he assured me with a smile, and I grimaced at the cut lining his jaw. “What happened? I thought we were done for, and then the darklings suddenly fled.”
“Lucia brought the queen down,” I said, feeling hopeful for the first time since we’d charged into the swarm of creatures so many hours ago. “We won.”
“We won?” he asked, eyes widening in disbelief.
I nodded, my chest swelling at the relief in his expression as he pressed his lips to my forehead. “We won.”
“Micah!” a voice called from the distance.
Micah and I parted as one of his men ran for us, and I shook off the momentary celebration. We had won, but our work wasn’t finished.
“We’ve managed to douse some of the fires, but the stone bridge is out of control, and its continuing to spread!” the warrior shouted. “We’re evacuating everyone we can.”
Micah glanced past him briefly. “Good. Do your best with the humans. Gather anyNoususers you have to subdue them.”
Thalia.
I sucked in a sharp breath at the sound of Lucia’s voice in my thoughts, and I reached back out to her, unsure if she was still tapped into my thoughts.You should be resting.
I need you and Micah to withdraw with what warriors are still standing as well as any members of The Underworld still willing to help.
Why would she be calling us away from the city? There were too many humans scattered, and gods knew what remained of the immortal civilians.
I glanced sidelong at some of the approaching immortals, knowing them not as warriors but as the criminals who had agreed to a temporary ceasefire to help us through Barrett’s connections. They couldn’t be trusted, but we didn’t have a choice. The city would have fallen if not for their aid.
“We managed to evacuate many of the civilians south—” Micah halted when he caught my gaze. “Everything all right?” he asked, and I blinked, unease settling in my gut at the sheer exhaustion in Lucia’s voice.
I turned to him. “We need to get to Lucia and Damien.”
Lucia and Damien were overseeing the search for survivors among the bodies strewn out across the killing field by the time we made it to them. A part of me crumbled at the sight of how few warriors searched the carnage for survivors.
How many had we lost?
“I’m relieved to know you’re all right, Micah,” Lucia said without looking, as if she didn’t need to know we approached.
Micah looked over the battlefield. “How bad is it?”
“We won’t know just how many we’ve lost until we’ve finished searching,” Damien said, his eyes lowered on a bloodied dagger in his hands, and he shifted on his feet as he turned to us. “House Latros is gone.”
“Gods,” I muttered. The healers? Every single one?
Barrett wrapped Micah in a hug. I directed my attention away from them, guilt twisting my chest at how desperately I had searched for Barrett before I’d gone looking for my bonded.
If you hadn’t, he would’ve been lost to us.
