Finally, my gaze found Thames. Cassandra moved around him, commanding his full attention. Maybe we’d distracted him when Kade’s darkness exploded outward, but right now, wrath defined every line on his face, except his motions were sloppy. Like fear had finally crept in. With Kade dead, he had no more ties to Atheria.
He was vulnerable.
With Kade dead.
Another wail escaped me as I looked back down at him.
Move,my light said, breaking through its own sadness.It’s time to make his death mean something. Move.
I brushed the hair blowing in the wind from his face.
A low cry came from over my shoulder, and I looked over to see a strox. The animal lowered its head to Kade’s leg, then inched closer.
It bumped my shoulder.
The beasts had been born of pain long ago. It wasn’t only Kade and I who had to sacrifice. So many others had to as well in this war against Thames.
The first feelings, other than this overwhelming heartache, churned in my body as I faced what I must do. The world came back into focus. My breathing, ragged and growing heavier, was the first thing I registered. Each breath pulled in rage and pushed down the agony I would have to face after this.
AfterThames died.
His evil forced me to lose my mate.
He was to blame.
His time was done.
I called on my light for a strength I didn’t think possible and roared as I yanked the blade from Kade’s chest. I rose to my feet, my sole focus homed in on where Thames battled Cassandra across the field. Though unsteady at first, I straightened, allowing the only remaining shards of my soul to fortify around an unyielding fury.
The strox nudged me again, and I faced the beast. It lowered before me, and I finally understood. It would carry me to our target.
I took one step, then another. Reaching down, I lifted my discarded sword in my hand after sheathing Apollo and approached the strox. Climbing over its side, I touched the bird’s warm neck, as if it could infuse me with the strength. I needed to finish this.
“Take me to Thames,” I said, shocked that my voice came out as strong as it did.
The bird took off, soaring upward, and I pressed my knees to its sides. “Across the battlefield first,” I ordered.
Though we had more fighting among us—those who’d turned back, our own soldiers, strox, and razorven—Thames’s army had been built over years. Thames had turned countless others in his short time free from the void, even with so many sacrificed to Firestone. My people needed hope, and though I felt none with half my soul gone, it wasn’t about me right now. It was about Atheria.
The strox flew close over the battle, and I raised my sword high in the air. “The darkness has been destroyed. Finish this fight. For our homeland, for each other. Thames will regret the day he challenged us.”
I dropped low, circling to the cheers of my people before squeezing the strox again.
“We end this,” I said, empty but determined to get my revenge before I broke.
This time, the strox took me straight toward the man responsible for all the loss and pain in my life.
I held out my sword, urging the strox to dive faster toward Thames.
Cassandra spun away, not looking at me at all but making way for me all the same, as she elegantly shifted away from her battle.
I screamed, bearing my sword down from atop the strox. Thames grinned, throwing his hand out and knocking the strox off course. I jumped off quickly, allowing the bird to regain its bearings.
Fae attacked the strox before it could make it back to me, but I landed on my feet, my knee only grazing the ground before I rose, standing before Thames.
“Ah, the great prophesized queen comes to face me at last,” he said. His arrogance from even a few minutes before had lessened.
“Your mate too strong for you?” I said, clutching my dagger and sprinting toward him, unwilling to let him live a moment longer. I whipped my sword forward as he dodged out of reach.
