Alarm bells clang inside my head, and I barely have time to yank my arm up over my face and squeeze my eyes shut before that blinding light blocks out everything else. All around us, dragons screech in panic. Fear clenches my heart when I realize that I don’t know if it’s our enemies or allies who are screaming.
“Selena!”Draven yells into my mind. And the panic in his voice rakes claws of ice down my spine.“I can’t open my eyes. He’s going to attack while I can’t see. I need you to make his magic stop.”
Mithran, whose clan magic is the ability to create light, can keep us all blinded while he can see through it himself.
“Which direction?”I call back into Draven’s mind.
“Straight ahead! He’s coming! He’s?—”
A roar of agony rips from Draven’s throat. I gasp as pain pulses across my chest as if someone had raked sharp claws over it. Dragon fire crackles through the air in front of me as Draven no doubt tries to breathe it at Mithran. But pain just bursts through my ribs instead as the leader of the White Clan slashes his claws across Draven’s side.
The moment I feel the pain spear through me, I call up my magic. I still haven’t recovered since that last massive attack, but I dredge up every ounce of power I possess and slam a huge violet flame of pain straight into the dragon on my right.
Mithran screeches in agony.
And the blinding white light disappears.
Blinking furiously, I try to clear my vision while still increasing the flame of pain in Mithran’s chest. But my magic was almost drained before I even started, and energy is pouring out of me like a flood with every second.
“Draven!”I yell into his mind.
“I’ll take it from here!” he calls back.
I cut the flow of my magic and sever the final thread. The sky full of dragons wobbles around me as my vision swims, and I have to grip Draven’s spikes hard to stop myself from falling off. Dragging in deep breaths, I shake my head hard in an effort to push past the exhaustion while Draven shoots towards Mithran.
The leader of the White Clan throws his head from side to side, no doubt trying to remove the lingering echoes of agony. Draven doesn’t give him even a second to recover.
Summoning a massive storm, he slams churning black clouds straight at his enemy. Mithran roars, and white light pulses out around him. The two forces collide in a storm of light and darkness.
I hold on tightly while Draven crashes into Mithran. The white dragon screams in pain as Draven sinks his claws into his body while snapping his teeth at his throat. All around us, the other dragons have lurched into motion as well.
Galen and Lyra speed forward, slamming into a cluster of white dragons who were about to attack Draven. Torrents of fire roll through the air as Alistair forces the rest of them back. Mithran yanks his head away right before Draven can rip his throat out. More white light pulses around us, but Draven drawson more of his own magic. Thick black clouds spread across the battlefield and cancel out enough of the blinding light to make it possible to see if I squint.
“On the left!”I yell through our union bond.
Draven doesn’t hesitate for one second. Releasing his grip on Mithran, he dives downwards right before a stream of ice flames could crash into him from the left. Mithran roars in fury when they almost hit him instead, but the attack from the silver dragons who are now rushing us bought him enough time to escape Draven. Blood wells out of the deep wounds that Draven’s claws made, and the huge white dragon speeds back through their armies and towards safety, taking his blinding light with him.
Swinging his head around, Draven breathes fire at the silver dragons to block their ice flames while he sends lightning bolts flashing after Mithran.
Lyra roars.
Even though I don’t understand it myself, the sound of it is so panicked that my lungs cease working for a moment. Snapping my gaze towards her, I try to figure out what she’s saying. But only Draven understands now that they’re in their dragon forms.
“Fuck!”Draven screams in my mind, the panic in his voice making my heart stop.“It was a distraction!”
Dragon fire streams out around us as he forces the silver dragons back and then takes off through the sky with such speed that I’m thrown back in my seat. Only my tight grip on the spikes saves me from sliding down his spine.
Black, purple, and blue dragons surge forward, crashing into the ranks of white, silver, and red dragons. Wings boom, fire crackles, magic flashes, and roars echo across the landscape as our two forces slam into each other. The dragons on both sides attack with claws and teeth and dragon fire while the Seelie fae and Unseelie fae who are bonded to our allies shoot magic attacks through the sky.
The battle rages furiously on all sides of us as we speed towards the back of our army. Galen remains on the front lines, leading the charge with Orion who is hitting them mercilessly with his nightmare magic. A short distance from him, Isera throws blocks of ice at our enemies while the dragon she rides breathes fire and tries to charge through. And behind it all, Jessina Iceheart is still hovering in the air. Watching it all. Waiting. Untouchable as a goddess.
Lyra speeds through the chaos towards us while Alistair protects her back by shooting fire behind them. She lets out another stressful roar as she reaches us. My heart pounds in my chest as she and Draven fly at breakneck speed towards the back of our army.
“What’s going on?”I ask.
Dread pulses through every word as Draven responds,“They’re going after Rin.”
Fear sinks into my stomach like poison. Rin Tanaka is working tirelessly to heal everyone who gets hurt in the battle. If we lose her, a lot of people are going to start dying.
