“Run, Eme.” My mother turned, pulling water up around her, preparing to buy me time to escape. Her legs trembled; her stance was weak. She wouldn’t make it.
“Aw, how sweet, but we both know you won’t be doing much damage with hemlock coursing through your veins.” He flashed a wicked grin as flames ignited, licking up his arms. The men followed his lead, lighting the forest in a faint orange glow. Hemlock wouldn’t kill a fae, not in small amounts, but it wouldmake them feel like death. They’d be feeble and sick until their bodies had time to burn off the poison.
“Emelyn, run! Now!” my mother shouted as she launched sharp daggers of water in their direction. Panic and adrenaline flooded my senses.
“What about you!?” I cried.
“I said go!” she screamed while pumping the last of her strength into her bending, keeping the Fire Fae surrounding the woods away as they blocked her blows. My vision grew blurry with tears as fear sunk into my gut.
“Now, Emelyn!”
Panic took root in my chest. I ran, or stumbled, my way through the forest. I couldn’t remember; everything became cloudy. Screams echoed behind me, my mother’s screams. There wasn’t enough air in my lungs. My heart hammered in my ears. Gooseflesh slivered down my spine. Pain shot through my chest. Sweat dotted my brow even though I was trembling from the chill that had crept over my skin. Arms wrapped around me as my vision came back into focus. I saw black feathers and muscled arms. He shook me back to my senses. His eyes looked me over for any wounds before they met mine. My heart shattered, but I remained emotionless, numb from what was happening. He held me close for a moment before he palmed my face with one of his hands.
“I got worried and came looking for you. What happened?” Ace signed with his free hand as my trembling slowed.
“Ima…,” I croaked, and his eyes widened in recognition. He yanked me back into his grip. His warmth pieced my shattered soul back together, if only for that moment. I felt relief in the comfort of his hold. Shock overtook me. I didn’t have time to mourn. I’d mourn when this was over.
“We have to go…” I sounded muffled against his hard chest. “Ember is using hemlock to weaken us. They ambushed the healers.”
He released me and we darted to the front lines. The march had already started. My father and Hallan were at the front. I wasn’t close enough to warn him about what had happened when a figure approached. Part of me wondered if he already knew about Ima. Could he feel it? Was it something he felt inside himself, or had Ima blocked him out during her final moments? Or was it like a change in his world? I didn’t know the workings of being mated. I had only heard the stories.
A woman stood in the distance. She wore a cocky grin on her face, hip cocked to the side with black pants and leather boots laced up to her knees. Her hair was as dark as onyx and her eyes were so golden, they almost looked red, like the flames she wielded danced behind them. She was devastatingly beautiful. Power radiated from her presence. An army of men lay in wait for her command.
“Hand over the chosen and no one has to get hurt,” she called out loud enough for all to hear.
“You mean like the women and children you killed!” Hallan shouted, rage lacing his tone.
“Oh right.” She tsked. “I meant to say, no oneelsehas to get hurt.” She winked at Hallan, a proud smile stretched across her wicked face like she had won a prize for the death of innocents. This was a game to her, one that she enjoyed playing.
He launched forward, but my father grabbed him, holding him back. The men standing behind her had fire blazing from their fists the moment Hallan moved in her direction.
“You’re fucking dead, Valla! You hear me? Dead!” Hallan’s voice boomed through the silence of the battlefield, his grief palatable in the air. I now knew why this woman was thePrincess of Ember, the leader of her empire’s army, known for her ruthless wrath and apathetic nature.
“Why are you here, Orion?” Valla questioned, disregarding Hallan all together. “I’m not here for you or your people. I’m here for the elves.”
“Anyone willing to kill innocents that walk on the soil of my homeland is labeled an enemy in my eyes. My people chose to stand against you with the elves.”
“Then you shall fall with them.” Her statement wasn’t a warning; it was a promise. She would watch the world burn until only she was left.
Chapter Eight
The Fire Fae marched forward, and I rushed to the front where my father was.
“Pada!” I yelled as I pushed through until Ace wrapped an arm around my waist and launched us over the remaining crowd of soldiers to get to my father and Hallan.
“What is it? What’s wrong?” His voice was ragged as I tried to explain.
“They ambushed us. They took down the healers with hemlock and Ima…” My voice fell and my father’s eyes went dark, as if I had just extinguished the last of his light and hope. He nodded, looking into the distance. I thought I had confirmed what he already knew. He cocked his head toward Valla and she grinned at us, a knowing expression on her face as we put together her plan all along. She never intended for a fair battle. Valla had snaked her way into our land and placed her men strategically like a game of cat and mouse. She aligned her Tile pieces carefully, right under our noses.
“You poisoned them.” My father spoke up to Valla. She unsheathed her sword, revealing the glinting light-brown, straw-colored liquid dripping from it.
“I don’t play by rules, Orion. I make my own.”
My father snapped. He lunged forward, blade drawn in one hand, water whipping from the other, with Hallan by his side. Everyone moved at a breakneck speed before flames, water, and wind clashed like a tidal wave of power. Flames licked up the trees, and the forceful winds blew down the weak ones, turning them into nothing but ash.
Shouts and booming orders echoed from all directions as my father yelled, “Watch the blades! Try to disarm them!”
“Turn their weapons on them!” Hallan shouted from the sky.
