Seven hells, please don’t let us die here.
Aidon wiped sweat from his brow, his throat searing as he sucked in a lungful of smoke. He blinked against the burning in his eyes and tried to make out where, exactly, it was coming from. If they could get closer to the heart of the battle, perhaps they could—
The thought cut off as another soldier came barreling toward him. Aidon blocked his attack, the impact of their colliding swords reverberating down his arm. The man reached out with his free hand, and Aidon could just make out a glow of white in the palm of his hand before the man began to choke.
He turned to see Dauphine drag her hands toward herself, ripping the air from the man’s lungs in one fell swoop. He was dead before he hit the ground.
“You’re welcome!” she called over the din before throwing herself back into the fray.
A choked laugh stuck in Aidon’s throat, tangled up with his oxygen and the bitter smoke that he could not escape.
His sword found another mark, and then another, and gods, he longed to reach for the affinity that was begging for release, but he didn’t trust himself not to spend his energy entirely.
So he relied on his sword, on the weapon he knew as well as he knew himself, and soon he was pushing forward through the crowd, to where he could see more of the gray Midlandian uniforms ahead.
“We have them on the retreat!” one of the soldiers shouted, and a bloodthirsty cheer erupted from the crowd that surged forward. Aidon almost lost his footing as it seemed to swell, but he steadied himself as they spilled into a large open square that stretched toward the docks.
He whirled, searching frantically for his friends. He hadeyes on Liam, and the wolves, and there was Dauphine, but where the hells was Will?
Aidon made for where he’d last seen him, but suddenly a loudcrackechoed throughout the square, and he looked up just in time to see a jagged spear of light hit the side of one of the buildings.
“Shit!” he swore as the corner of the building crumbled. A fresh wave of screams erupted as people fled the falling brick, and Aidon grabbed the person next to him and tugged them forward without another thought. They just barely made it out of range before the debris hit the ground.
“Are you okay?” Aidon asked, turning to face the townsperson.
Except it wasn’t a townsperson at all. Aidon’s heart lurched as he took in the familiar brown eyes and black wiry hair.
“Cole?”
Josie’s friend blinked at him.
“Oh thank the gods you’re alive,” Cole yelled above the chaos as he enveloped Aidon in a bone-crushing hug. Cole froze before shoving off of Aidon a moment later, his eyes going comically wider as he rushed a bow. “Um, I mean, Your Majesty—”
“Seven hells, Cole,” Aidon laughed despite the hells raining down on him, his hand clapping Cole’s shoulder. “Don’t. What are youdoinghere?” He paused, his head whipping back toward the crowd as fear surged in his veins. “Wait, is Josie—?”
“Josie is safe,” Cole assured him hurriedly. He glanced toward the raging battle. “It’s a long story. After? If we don’t die.”
Aidon searched Cole’s face, but he forced himself to swallow his desperate questions. There would be time later. The best thing he could do for his people was help the Midlands defeat Kakos here.
“Later,” Cole urged. “I promise.”
Aidon swallowed hard and nodded. He started to rejointhe soldiers pushing toward the docks, but Cole grabbed him by the arm.
“Wait!” he exclaimed, tugging Aidon back. “They have your friend. They have Aya.”
***
Will pressed his head against the brick wall of the alleyway he’d ducked into and forced himself to breathe. Every inhale was a lash of agony, but he gritted his teeth against it. He could not afford to not use every ounce of his affinity. Not if it meant getting to Aya. But seven hells, did it render his shield useless.
One more moment, and then you fight.It was Galda’s voice, but instead of the chiding tone he’d heard in the wagon, it was a steady cadence that brought him comfort.
Galda had trained him too well for him to die today.
Will sucked in another breath, and then he pushed himself off the wall and darted into the square. The crowd had thinned some, the Midlands soldiers continuing their unlikely advance, but Will didn’t have time to question how they’d managed such a thing. Because there was Aidon, his gaze frantically searching the square, the wolves, Liam, and Dauphine at his side.
“Where the hells have you been?” Aidon yelled as anotherboomrocked the ground beneath their feet. Will opened his mouth to retort, but Aidon waved him off and jerked his head to a man Will hadn’t noticed standing beside him. “She’s here,” Aidon stated. “He’s seen her.”
Will’s heart clenched. Hundreds of questions rose in his throat, but he swallowed them down save for the most important one.
