Her vision waned, but she managed to look down at her legs. They were twisted in the wrong direction. The smoke cleared away from the field.
The Elder Tree was gone.
CHAPTER 84
Dynalya
“Seize her!” Red elves charged at Dyna from all fronts.
Sprinting forward, she slid across the ground on her knees, passing beneath their swords. She sprung to her feet and swung her blade of Essence, parrying an incoming spear. Swerving another attack, she ran for the stairs, only to meet another unit of guards. Gods, they never stopped coming.
Dyna fought down a spiraling flight of stairs, cutting her way through a barrage of elves. There were five floors between her and escape. Dodging a guard’s blade, she shoved a knife into his chest and slammed a palm against the hilt, driving it home.
An arrow zipped past her nose. Another elf was perched on the steps across from her, an arrow aimed at her. A black-winged figure knocked him over the railing, and he fell screaming.
Relief swam through her at the sight of Cassiel. He cast out a torrent of fire at the elves charging at her from above. Parrying another attack, Dyna leaped up onto the railing and jumped.
Cassiel dove and caught her raised hands.
She grinned up at him, unable to hide how immensely relieved she was to see him.
Cassiel returned her smile. “Sorry I’m late?—”
An explosion ripped through the keep.
The force threw them off trajectory and Cassiel yanked her against him, protecting her from the blast. His wings wrapped around her beforethey hit the second landing. He groaned, and she winced, wheezing for the breath knocked out of her. Pushing up, she looked him over.
“Are you all right?” they asked at the same time.
Cassiel laughed tiredly and brushed the hair from her face, cupping her cheek. “I am now.”
Dyna stayed there with him for a moment. His eyes were a little sad, but clear. There was so much she wanted to tell him, but a sudden gust of wind had them both looking out at the massive hole in the Blood Keep.
The explosion had killed the remaining guards, most of their bodies crushing beneath the debris on the bottom floor. Dyna and Cassiel made their way to the opening, providing a view of the courtyard below.
Her Guardians scattered in the sand, some wounded and others unconscious. Rawn and Raiden pushed off the ground as Prince Anon strode out of the smoke, his hands flaring with magic. He shouted out spells, making the earth shake.
“Help them,” Dyna told Cassiel. “I can make it out.”
His brow furrowed with worry. “But?—”
“It’s all right.” She picked up her weapons. “Go!”
Cassiel leaped through the hole and flew for them. Spells flared all around as the elves battled for the upper hand. Klyde and Zev fought to protect their fallen friends, too wounded to fight. The Valkyrie were far off into the sky, battling Gadriel’s army.
She needed to get down, but the stairs had crumbled from whatever blast had hit them. The battle outside caught her attention at the charge of searing magic in the air.
Power bloomed from Anon’s hands in an orange haze, and a glowing hexagon spiraled from beneath palms. Runes flickered through it, the air crackling at the power building. The flowing spell swelled, and he barked a command. An orange beam shot at Cassiel like cannon fire. He winked out of view in a flare of blue as he dodged every attack.
A tide of Seraph fire came for Anon. Snarling, he threw out a shield and slid across the sand, flinging up his hand at the Blood Keep. With a barking command, a large piece of the keep’s broken wall catapulted at Cassiel with frightful speed. It knocked him out of the air and pinned him on the ground with his wing beneath it. Anon yanked down another arm and more boulders piled onto it.
Cassiel cried out in pain. Dyna fell against the wall as she felt his strength seep away with the agony of his broken wing. That was where their power lied.
His weakness.
Cassiel had told her what it was from the beginning of their journey.
Without their wings, they were human.
