I aimed my body straight in front of her, my size enough to mostly block her smaller form, and stretched my wings out wide to ensure she was fully shielded. Her head snapped toward me as I braced for the impact.
I couldn’t help the screech that left my maw as the net encircled me, the spikes stabbing through my flesh and hitting deep. I began to free fall, unable to hold my dragon form or my wings, as I rapidly lost hold of my magic. Asteria’s guttural roar sounded more like a scream as I hit the ground with an agonizing jolt.
Horrendous pain overwhelmed me, like my blood was lit by the fires of Tartarus. The irony wasn’t lost on me. Maybe this is what I deserved after taking such joy in torturing Kem. Asteria’s form landed beside me, now in her beautiful Fae form once more.
“Soren! Callisto!Anyhumans,please, I need you!” she yelled, her voice cracking and tears running down her face. “Now!”
She dropped beside me, reaching through the holes in the net to brush back my hair, avoiding the iron. I wanted to tell her to stop, to not risk herself, but I couldn’t bring myself to speak. I was fairly sure her gentle touch was the only thing grounding me, anyway, preventing me from giving in to the pain and passing out.
I may have actually blacked out for a moment or two, as the next thing I knew, the net was being lifted. I screamed in pain as the net took skin and flesh with it, before the spikes then slid out. The burns and holes left behind had to be a gruesome sight.
“I’m so sorry, my dorchadas,” Asteria whispered tearfully. “I’m sososorry. Nox, why did you do that?”
“Couldn’t—let—” I groaned, struggling to speak through the pain. “You—hurt.”
Asteria sobbed, her dark hair falling over my face as she leaned over, kissing my cheeks and forehead before kissing my mouth lightly. The salty taste of her tears killed me. I hated seeing her cry, especially over me.
“Drink my blood,” Asteria said suddenly, and my eyebrows creased. “We’re stronger with sharing, right? You’ll heal quicker,” she insisted, brushing her hair to the side and exposing the creamy white skin of her neck.
I hesitated despite the tempting sight. The pulsing vein in her neck was like a siren song. But while the pain was gods-awful, I didn’t want to weaken her at all in the middle of battle.
“Nox damn you, Calix,” Asteria complained. “Just do it!”
I could tell by the look on her face that there was no arguing with her, and I truly didn’t have the energy to try at the moment. My fangs sunk into her neck, the magic in her blood tasting like the sweetest of sins. I felt it hit me as I drank, like her starlight was lighting up all the dark bits inside of me and cleansing them. It was absolute bliss, despite the pain ricocheting through me.
Asteria moaned, but her hands let go of my shoulder as quickly as they’d latched on, careful not to stab me with her claws. I slowly sat up, until we were both upright, and pulled my fangs out, licking the remnants of blood off her skin. Our eyes met, arousal simmering between us like a match about to light.
“You two about done?” Callisto snapped, and I looked up to find her glaring down at us, her hands on her hips. “We have a war to win here.”
“Thank you for your assistance, Callisto,” I told her dryly, and she rolled her eyes. But I could see the relief in her eyes as I stood up.
I could feel that despite the infusion of blood, I wasn’t fully healed yet. The lingering effects of the iron were slowly being worked out, but I buried the lingering pain as best I could. Asteria watched me with concern, and I knew she could feel it, too. Unfortunately, the circumstances meant I didn’t have the time to fully heal.
We no longer had eyes on Cyrus, but we seemed to have more people still standing than Dusk did, thank Nox.
A loud crash sounded behind us, and we turned to find Baach, Eryx, and Titan had taken down the contraption that released the net. That was a relief, at least. They wouldn’t be able to deploy it again.
“We need to regroup,” I told Asteria, looking around at our warriors fighting Dusk, Dawn, and Day kingdom soldiers. “We aren’t leaving until Cyrus is dead and gone.”
“Of course not.” Asteria smiled. The violent joy in her eyes sparking my arousal once more. My reactions around this woman had the tendency to make me feel like a youngling once more. But I shook it off for now, taking her hand.
“What about my parents?” she asked, biting her lip as she tried to hide her fear.
“Safe,” I promised her. “You’ll see them as soon as this is done.” She nodded gratefully, just as one bolt of lightning after another struck the sky.
We both stopped in our tracks, our eyes meeting before looking up…
Chapter Fifty-seven
Arien
Finally.
My blade swung down at my father, but he moved quickly to the right, so it glanced off his armored shoulder. My father spun around with a growl, eyeing me with contempt.
“Treason, son? Truly?” he spat, sneering at me like his disapproval would make a damn bit of difference at this point.
“Treason?!” I laughed incredulously, swinging once more. I didn’t even care that he blocked it. I wanted this out. To finally say everything I’d held back all these years.
