Aidon’s gaze traced her face, soaking in her beauty. And then he kissed her, deep and long, the drums keeping time with their beating hearts.
“Fuck the gods,” he whispered as he pulled away.
He would be damned if they continued to take from him.
***
Liam stood on the Wall of Dunmeaden, his brows drawn together as he tried to see down the stretch of land that stretched toward the mouth of the town. It was too dark to see much, the sun having not yet risen above the horizon. But he knew what would be coming.
Lines and lines of Kakos soldiers, marching straight through Dunmeaden. Liam could feel the palace towering over him, a formidable shadow at his back.
Protecting him. Protecting them all.
He’d chosen this place purposefully. Fighting with the Wall and palace at their backs gave them the advantage. Liam knew this stretch of land better than anyone, save the Athatis.
He and Lena had spent years racing each other across the rocky paths, through the heart of the city and up to the curving Wall and beyond it to the palace grounds and gates.
This was the right choice. He knew that.
Azul stepped up to his side, his head nudging his hip, as if to reaffirm it as well. He scratched the space between his bonded’s ears, willing his breath to stay even and calm.
His people were counting on him. He would not fail them.
Mathias’s horn pierced through the quiet, a single long note that seemed to hang, suspended in space and time.
Liam sucked in a deep breath.
“Incends!” he called out. There was a pause. And then…
Flames flickered to life on either side of him, spreading down the Wall as the Incends lit their torches and flaming arrows.
It continued to spread, out and down andforward, first across the Talan army at the base of the Wall, and then the Trahirians, and then the Midlandians and the Milsaions.
Forward and across and forward until the entire hillside was ablaze with light.
“Caeli and Auqin at the ready!” he called out to theVisya waiting at the selected points on the Wall. He heard the telltale whirring of the magic they’d practiced for days in the courtyard.
“Hold!” he commanded, his gaze fixed on mouth of the town.
The sky began to lighten, illuminating the space in a soft gray. Azul gave a low growl, his ears pinning back as he stared at the city.
“Good boy,” he murmured. To the Caeli and the Auqin, he yelled, “Send!”
His gaze cut to the sky, where he could just make out the small clouds the Visya sent over their army. Slowly, those clouds floated across the across the field, where Liam could just see a dark line of troops moving toward them.
“Hold!” he called to the Visya. He pushed their labored breaths from his mind, their grunts fading behind the pounding of his heart as he waited.
“Come on,” he urged. “Come and fight, you cowards.”
But Kakos stilled on the far side of the field, their lines stretching back into the city.
Liam’s jaw locked as he bit back his frustration. They were out of reach from their archers.
It wasn’t ideal, but…the Auqin and the Caeli would not be able to hold out forever.
Just before he gave the call, Aidon stepped up beside him, Dauphine with him. “What the hells are you doing here?” Liam demanded as he glanced at the king.
He was supposed to be at the higher part of the Wall, with Aya.
