The trail ledthem beside the tree-lined edge of one of the lakes, shielding them as successfully as it blocked their view of the Astraea. So it was with inevitable surprise that they rounded a corner at considerable speed and hit straight into the back of the band of Astraeans.
There were more than he had anticipated, but less than he’d feared; about fifteen armed artemians jumped into action. Fortunately, the only horses they had with them pulled an enormous, caged cart, meaning the Astraeans themselves were on foot.
To her credit, Aelia didn’t hesitate for a moment as they ploughed towards them at a gallop. Her dagger was in her hand and bloodied before the first Astraean had a chance to draw his own weapon. Blood sprayed from his neck, his body hitting the floor long after Aelia had passed.
Keeran was hot on her tail, unable to think of anything other than watching her back. She was not ready for this, nowhere near.
His sword whistled through the air, the last sound those who felt its cold touch ever heard. Aelia’s dagger was no match for the swords the Astraeans had now had time to draw, not from horseback and certainly not in her inexperienced hands, but in a rush of swinging steel, they managed to emerge on the other side of the Astraeans unharmed.
Wheeling their horses back around, they faced the now ready group of warriors, their blades high and formation held.
“Aelia, be careful of the…”
She didn’t wait to hear the rest of his caution. Blood flecked her face as she turned to him.
“They have the humans.”
Keeran looked back and felt the familiar red mist start to descend. His attention had been so focused on the threat of the Astraeans, he hadn’t noticed what was in the cage theywere transporting. It was crammed full of humans, so tightly squeezed that some of their limbs poked through the bars like hay from a net.
He closed his grip around the hilt of his sword and met Aelia’s eye.
As one, they charged.
He got ahead of her, breaking into the Astraean formation and sending them scattering. A few of them Shifted, and it was these he focused on, cutting them down as quickly as he could. The more he killed, the less Aelia had to face in his wake.
He twisted to look her way and saw she had leapt from the saddle, sending her dagger flying towards a looming Astraean. She missed. Keeran cursed and dragged his horse back around.
Skidding to her knees, Aelia swiped a sword from a still groaning corpse and raised it just in time to block the blade that swung her way. Her face contorted with the strain, but she flung the Astraean off her. The speed of her reflexes was the only thing that had saved her, but she was facing an experienced soldier, and she couldn’t make it to her feet in time before he was upon her once more.
Keeran hacked his way through the soldiers blocking him from Aelia, the blood he spilt dripping from the dark coat of his horse, but he could see another two Astraeans moving to surround her. The red mist enveloped him, pulsing in his ears and boiling his blood.
He kicked his horse, spurring it on, but it could only go so fast, mangling the corpses it trampled over. By some miracle, she blocked another attack from the first Astraean from where she knelt on the floor, completely oblivious to the two that approached her from behind.
He would not make it in time, and there was no way she could hold off all of them, not when she had never held a sword before in her life.
He watched them descend on her, saw the fear of death flash in her eyes as she noticed she was surrounded, the inevitability of it as clear to her as it was to him.
In that instant, he made a choice. He would give up his search for those who had betrayed his kind, he would flee Demuto, he would face Aelia’s repulsion.
Because he would not let her die.
The flames were alwayswith him, just a psychic touch away from life, and he reached for them now. In his mind’s eye, he guided them even as they woke, already planning their path of swirling incineration, turning the Astraea’s weapon of choice against the soldiers who encircled Aelia.
The oxygen was sucked from him when Aelia grabbed hold of the sword she wielded with both hands and slashed at the feet of the man closest to her with enough strength to cleave bone from bone.
The man hadn’t even hit the floor before she threw herself over him, rolling away from the other two with unnatural speed. It gave him all the time he needed.
The flames died before they were even created, but the steel in his hands came to life, singing through the air as he launched out of the saddle and rolled to his feet between the two remaining Astraeans. It took every single ounce of self-control to kill them with restrained movements, the beast in him yearning to rip their souls from their bodies with his bare hands.
In a matter of seconds, the road was quiet once more.
Aelia stood looking at him. Her sword hung by her side, her chin held high despite the frantic rise and fall of her blood-spattered chest. There wasn’t even a flicker of regret in her eyes, just pure, unadulterated defiance. She’d never looked so beautiful.
His heart thundered in his chest at the sight of her and as he held her gaze, he wondered how the fuck he was ever going to find the strength to leave her.
CHAPTER TWENTY
The road wasn’t silent for long. The humans began to cry out, begging for mercy, pleading for their freedom. Aelia quickly reassured them of both.
