Rowan looked back once, his silver eyes finding mine across the distance. A lifetime of words and a promise of love passed in that single glance. Then he turned, his shoulders squaring for war.
“Sy!” Barbie’s voice snapped me back to the present. She jogged over in full armor inscribed with runes, her golden curls braided tight against her skull, war paint slashing across her cheeks. She looked every inch a goddess of war.
“Tits up, Barbie,” I called.
“Fuck tits,” she shot back ungratefully, grabbing my arm. Her grip was iron. “You. Will. Stay. Behind.”
“You’re not the boss of me,” I said, lifting my chin. “Not anymore.”
“For once in your life,listen,” she snapped, her eyes blazing. “If you die, all hope for Mist of Cinder dies with you. This realm falls. The mortal world will become a wasteland too without the magic realm to tether it. Everythingends. Do you copy?”
“I donotroger!” I protested. “I can help. My light can shield?—”
“Not this shit again.” She shook me so hard my teeth rattled, and I shoved her off. “I’m going to war in seconds. You will vow to stay behind the Veil with the healers. You won’t be useless. You’ll use your magic to heal the wounded. But if we lose, you retreat to Underhill.”
The weight of her command crashed over me. My knees buckled. If we lost, it meant a future without Barbie and Rowan. They would never retreat. This was their last stand.
It was our last stand.
But how could I go on without them?
“I hate this, Little Bob,” I whispered, the words thick with unshed tears.
“We can’t all get what we want,” she replied, her voice stripped of its usual fire. “And don’t call me Bob. Just stay. Behind.”
With that, Barbie turned and rushed toward the Veil where the heirs were gathering.
Flags snapped in the harsh wind.
“Form up!” Silas roared.
“March!” Cade bellowed.
And with those commands, the heirs and kings led their army through the shimmering barrier of the Veil, out of the academy grounds and into the mortal world.
I stood frozen, watching them go. My sister. My mate. My new found family.
Less than two thousand against two hundred thousand.
Chapter
Twenty-Four
Barbie
Two miles from the Veil, our army carved defensive positions into the rocky terrain. The morning sun painted the grey stones in hues of pink and gold, a moment of beauty before the horror.
We formed a U-shape with military precision: the heirs led the blade-wielders on the left flank, magical users were lined up behind me on the right, and Killian held the center in his terrifying half-dragon form.
The heirs looked like they’d just stepped out of legend. Rowan made the ground pulse with each breath. Silas’s wolf-human warrior form rippled with violence, his amber eyes tracking the horizon. Louis had gone full vampire, fangs extended, movements unnaturally fluid and unmistakably lethal. Cade’s armor shone like liquid metal. Each carried a blood blade, saving their elemental magic for when I would need to channel it.
I tapped my foot restlessly. Hundreds of our strongest magic users were arranged in rotating groups behind me. The plan was simple: they would channel their power through me in waves, I would devastate the Shrieker ranks, and then our bladed forces would clean up the remnants.
Cassius and Rock flanked me, serving as my bodyguards whether I wanted them or not.
Killian commanded the center. Instead of a blood blade, he wielded the starlight sword I’d once considered stealing from his bedroom. It hummed with otherworldly power in his clawed grasp.
The horizon went dark.
