He lifted his hand and signaled his soldiers to charge.
55
Cora returned to the battlement she’d left not long ago, though now it stood empty. Teryn, his guards, and the enemy squad were nowhere to be seen. Yet sounds of fighting blared all around; she’d traded one active battlefield for another. Even though her destination lay at Centerpointe Rock, she needed to ensure Ridine was safe. That, and she’d promised to take Teryn with her when the time came to push themorafrom the human world. It could be too dangerous for her to attempt the feat alone. If anything went sideways, if themoraoverwhelmed her or she began to harness it when she was supposed to push it back, she could depend on Teryn to anchor her.
She peered over the parapet to find a sea of mist and blood. The mist came from the hazy figures of the warrior wraiths that swarmed the grounds, hacking down Darius’ fighters, their semi-transparent weapons making muted thuds against their opponents’ swords and armor.
Her archers shot arrows into the melee, picking off more of the enemy fighters one by one. The vicious, bloody fight turned her stomach, but she couldn’t bring herself to feel remorse. Not when the tides were in her favor.
Not when the win was hers.
Teryn had made the right call in choosing this battle as the wraiths’ final fight. With Darius’ men already inside the castle walls, Khero’s chances of victory would have been slim without them.
She hurried away from the parapet and entered the stairwell leading down from the battlement. Opening her senses, she sought Teryn’s location. To her relief, his energy pulsed back, not too far from where she was now. As she exited the stairwell, the clang of steel met her ears. She unsheathed her dagger—the only weapon on her person now that Darius had wrested her bow from her—and crept toward Teryn’s energy as well as the sounds of conflict.
She fled down the hall, noting bodies strewn here and there. Most of them belonged to the enemy squad, but one corpse at the end of the hall was a member of her royal guard.
Her heart clenched.
She rounded the corner at the end of the next corridor and finally caught sight of motion. Captain Alden was engaged in combat with one of Darius’ men, as were several more of her guards. Another bout took place down the next stairwell, the only sign being the clash of blades and the sway of the fighters’ shadows against the stone wall, cast by the light burning in the sconces.
Teryn’s energy pulsed from that direction.
Cora’s heart thundered as she rushed toward the stairwell, keeping close to the wall to evade the notice of the other fighters. Not that any were unoccupied enough to pay her much heed. She reached the top of the stairs, her dagger at the ready, and proceeded down on quick feet. She pulled up short at the sight of Teryn. He and one of Darius’ men were locked in armed combat. Blood covered one of Teryn’s shoulders, his gambeson split open to reveal crimson soaking the linen of his shirt. His left hand was wrapped in what looked like a torn piece of cloth.
Yet the enemy soldier bore wounds too. One eye was slashed and swollen, a gash on his cheek just beneath it. His helm was gone, as were several other pieces of his armor, but he fought relentlessly. Teryn had the high ground and pursued the man farther and farther down the stairs, but with Teryn standing between her and his opponent, his back facing her, there was nothing she could do to help?—
No, that wasn’t true at all.
She released a slow breath, anchored her feet on the stone beneath her, and poured her focus onto the blood-splattered stair behind the enemy. Without even bothering to close her eyes, she lifted a foot, leaned forward…
And planted her soles on the intended step.
Teryn’s eyes widened slightly when he spotted her, but he didn’t falter. He kept the man’s full attention as Cora swiped out with her dagger and slashed the backs of the man’s knees. With a grunt, his legs buckled. Cora retreated down a few steps and Teryn plunged his sword into the man’s throat.
Cora’s chest heaved as she watched the tip of the blade protrude from the back of the man’s neck. Teryn withdrew his sword, and the enemy crumpled onto the stairwell. Cora kept her eyes locked on Teryn, not the dying man or the pool of blood quickly slicking the stairs. Instead, she took in his face, the spatter of blood flecked over his skin, the wounds he’d sustained on his arms.
She sagged with relief to see him devoid of life-threatening injuries.
He assessed her with the same relieved intensity. Her name left his lips as he sheathed his sword. “Cora.”
She ran the rest of the way up the stairs to him, skirting around the man and the blood, until she collided with his chest, his arms around her. The discomfort of his hard breastplate against her cheek didn’t matter. Only he did.
He pressed a kiss to the top of her head and spoke into her hair. “This is the last of the soldiers who got inside the halls.”
She pulled away, knowing they didn’t have much time to waste. “The ambush has begun.”
“Majesty.” Alden appeared at the top of the stairs, followed by more of the royal guard.
It was then Cora heard the relative silence. The conflicts in the hallway above had ceased.
Alden gave her a knowing look. “Is it time?”
Captain Alden and the royal guard knew what came next. Knew what Cora had promised to do. Cora gave her a solemn nod. As much as Cora wanted to wait until every enemy fighter was felled, she couldn’t linger. Not if she wanted to fulfill her vow to Ailan and lock Darius out of El’Ara.
“Our victory is secure,” Alden said, tone brimming with confidence. “We will finish this.”
Teryn and Cora exchanged a glance. If they left now, Teryn would need to call off the wraiths. They couldn’t risk leaving them to fight without Teryn’s guidance. When they’d served Morkai, they hadn’t seemed to care who they killed, only that they fought.
