“Orion!” I scream while Draven surges forward, heading straight for Jessina.
Galen swerves in the air, changing direction and flying after Draven while Orion clings to his spikes. Exhaustion rolls offevery inch of Orion’s body, but his eye glows as he throws his magic towards Jessina.
She screams and almost crashes into a red dragon when her vision disappears and is replaced by nightmares. Flying jerkily through the air, she bellows, “The Unseelie King! Kill the Unseelie King!”
The parts of her army that aren’t being strangled by the terrible might of the dryads tear themselves away from their battles and shoot towards Galen. Ice flames roar towards him from every direction. Galen jerks back, but the attacks are coming from all sides. Whirling around, Draven bellows in panic as his best friend is about to be consumed by ice flames. Atop Galen’s back, Orion keeps his chin raised, the crown glinting on his head as the attacks reach them.
Shields of ice and torrents of fire blast out right in front of Galen and Orion as Lyra and another black dragon crash into their ranks.
“Touch him and I will fucking kill you!” Isera bellows across the battlefield.
“Take him out!” Jessina screams.
Draven whirls back towards her, but the horde of dragons swarms Galen and the others. Ice flames and dragon fire clash as they slam into each other.
Jessina suddenly speeds away, heading deeper into the battlefield. Orion must have been forced to release his magic. Or he ran out of energy. I cast a panicked look back, finding Isera and Alistair practically slumped over their dragons’ backs. We’re all running on fumes now. And Jessina is getting farther ahead.
With a bellowing roar, Draven tries to clear the sky as he chases after Jessina. But in her half-shift form, she is able to slip effortlessly through the mass of battling dragons while Draven’s massive form is blocked by our two fighting armies.
“You need to shift too!”I yell into his mind.
“If I shift, you will fall off my back,”he growls.
“It’s worth the risk! You need to catch her before she can slip away. If we lose her now, we will never get this kind of chance again. She’s panicked and scared and without her shield. We need to kill her now. So transform into your half-shift form and chase her. I’ll try to grab a different dragon on the way down.”
“If you think I’m going to risk your life in that way, you don’t know me at all. I would rather lose this war than lose you.”
I snarl in frustration and shove my magic towards Jessina. But the violet flame of pain I’m aiming for isn’t there. And if I target her fear or panic, it will just make her flee faster.
Desperation surges through me. I need another minute before my energy has recovered enough for me to create an emotion out of nothing. But we don’t have a fucking minute. Jessina is getting farther and farther away with every second.
Black storm clouds explode around us as Draven throws them across the battlefield, enveloping friend and foe alike. He roars, and our allies speed out of the way as he hurtles towards Jessina. But the red and silver and white dragons just surge forward.
“Kill him!” Jessina screams as she zigzags between their bodies. “All of you, kill Draven Ryat!”
Blinding light explodes through the sky as the leader of the White Clan sends his magic pulsing through Draven’s storm clouds. Draven growls and draws them tighter around us, but I can tell that he’s squinting as he speeds after Jessina.
Waves of water crash into the enemies on our left as Ejnare attacks the leader of the White Clan. The light around us dims enough for me to blink my vision back into focus.
Panic crackles through my spine at what I find.
Jessina has turned in the air and is trying to speed past underneath us while all the rest of her soldiers barrel straight for Draven. Ice flames shoot towards him. He breathes fire back at them in a desperate attempt to defend himself while throwing storm winds to shove the others’ ice attacks off course.
A glittering silver dress flashes below.
The mass of dragons crashes into Draven.
And it’s with terrifying clarity that I realize that we are going to lose her. Claws rip at Draven’s sides. Pain spikes through my ribs as well when the agony is mirrored by the union bond. Draven roars, trying to rip himself free from the cluster of pale dragons that try to trap him from all sides.
Jessina flies past underneath him.
I make a split-second decision and leap up onto Draven’s spine.
This is it. Draven won’t be able to get himself free in time. Jessina will disappear into the throng and then we will be right back where we started. And everyone will have died for nothing. Trevor. Kevlin. Grey. My parents. Orion will have lost his eye for nothing. Isera will have suffered for nothing. Jessina will return to Frostfell and kill all the humans who worked so hard to reclaim their city. Both the Unseelie Court and the Seelie Court will remain trapped inside the wards, too afraid to go outside.
We will all have suffered for nothing. If we lose Jessina now, she will be able to rally her forces and then the war will just start all over again. I can’t let it happen. This ends. Now.
“What are you doing?”Draven screams into my mind as I sprint down his spine and towards his tail.
