Namely, one bastard Pegasus going after my mate.
Thankfully, Calix is twice the warrior Cyrus is, even on his bad days. I watched as Cyrus tried to sneak up on Calix with his sword drawn, but Calix spun on the spot, still agile and fast despite his injuries, and blocked the blade.
The sneers shared between the two would be enough to scare off most people, but I knew these two men too well to be frightened.
Calix was still recovering from the iron, despite his best efforts to pretend otherwise. His responses were a bit slower than normal, and he was favoring his right side.
On the other hand, Cyrus was faster and stronger than I remembered him being, but his lack of practice kept him from being as great a warrior as Calix. Where my mate moved instinctively, Cyrus struggled to keep up. Blood magic couldn’t make up for centuries spent honing the skill.
I was impressed that Calix was doing so well despite his injuries. My shoulder still throbbed in pain from the one stab wound I received, but Calix had used his entire body to block mine, taking iron everywhere. I tried to check in and see how he was feeling, but I tilted by head to the side as I realized I had no idea.
I could only feel the barest trace of him. I must have been too distracted to realize at first that the bond was being slowly muffled. But I recognized it all too well now. He was using the same tactic I had used to bury my feelings away.
He’d only weaken further if he didn’t tap into the extra strength offered by the bond. And there was only one reason he’d do such a thing.
To keepmefrom feeling his pain.
He had to be in agony still, and it broke my heart he wouldn’t use the boost from the bond just to protect me.
The two of them traded blows for several minutes before Cyrus’s wings unfurled, and he flew upward. Calix’s head cocked to the side, trying to figure out his opponent’s next move. But I recognized the gleam in Cyrus’s eyes. Like an animal backed into a corner, he was about to lash out.
Panic overcame me as I rushed forward—but not fast enough. Cyrus grabbed a vial from his pocket and downed it. I thought that would be it, but he pulled another out and drank it down, then another, and another… finishing off six of them in rapid succession.
Lightning crackled at his fingertips before running up to his arms, which were spread wide. A smile of complete bliss overtook his face, his eyes fluttering in pleasure as the blood magic seemed to take him over.
“Cyrus!” I screamed up to him, rushing in front of Calix and standing in between the two.
In my periphery, I could see our allies facing off with Cyrus’s men. Titan was fighting a soldier from Day to my left, while Harpina and Arien took on several Dusk soldiers at once on my right. Eryx and Baach had joined Altan and Zakat in facing Gravadain and his men, while Ndrita was in her dragon form, circling above and chasing off the sirens. I even spotted Rhidian, who was seemingly playing with a much smaller man who stood no chance at all against him.
Cyrus lowered to the ground, walking toward me with his sword lowered. “Asteria.”
“You don’t understand what you’re doing,” I pleaded desperately. “The blood magic is pushing the entirety of Adamah out of balance. If we fall to chaos, the god of blood will be released. He was imprisoned millennia ago to save the realms, and if you keep on this path, you’re going to release him!”
Cyrus laughed, throwing his head back as I ground my teeth, my fingers tightening around my sword in frustration.
“What an imagination you have, darling,” Cyrus mocked, shaking his head at me. “Once you’re back home, I’ll help you shake any silly notions Calix has put in your head right back out.”
The absolute gall of this man.
“Calix—” I stressed, “didn’t tell me that. The gods did.” Cyrus’s face creased, anger flashing in his blue orbs, lightning crackling through them like a barely contained storm struggling to break free and lash out.
“Thegods,”he spat, snarling as he walked closer. “The gods are the ones who caused this. Their ridiculous rules limited and controlledourmagic! But we are finally breaking free of them. Under my rule, magic will never be restricted again.”
His words had all the preachy ‘I know best’ attitude of the elders in Sonmathion, who’d talk down to you but wrap it up in a way that it was all for your benefit.
“Wouldn’t you like that, Asteria?” Cyrus cooed, that charm of his spilling forth as he slithered toward me. Trying to tempt me, as if his manipulations hadeverworked on me. “Complete magical freedom.”
“More like complete oppression,” I argued back. “Your rule would see this world in chaos!”
“This world needs chaos!” he shouted, panting from the force of his fury. “Don’t you see? What has the balance gotten us? Truly? Nothing but fading magic and lost power.”
Cyrus shook his head, his lip curling, but I could see the plea in his eyes as he looked at me.
“Cyrus, this isn’t you,” I begged, hoping against hope he wasn’t as lost as he seemed. “You’re a bastard, sure, and I will nevereverforgive you for what you did. Butthis?”
My arms raised as I spun in place, indicating the chaos surrounding us. Running battles were taking place all over the city. Flames met the tides, while a tornado ripped through a crowd of battling soldiers, and a flare of sunlight was lost amidst the light of the sun already bearing down on us from above. Fae and humans alike lay dead all over the city streets, lost because of one rouge god’s lust for power.
Forblood.
