“You’re going nowhere, soldier!” the head healer barked. “Not until you’ve rested for an hour.”
“We don’t have an hour!”
The ground heaved from a massive shockwave on the other side of the Veil. For a heart-stopping second, the Veil flickered, and I caught a terrifying glimpse of the raging carnage. Fire and shadow wrestled for dominion in the sky. My eyes desperately sought out Rowan and Barbie.
I found Rowan.
A flash of silver hair, and then smoke swallowed everything. My heart hammered against my ribs, a frantic drumbeat demanding I run to him, I stand and fight beside our warriors.
The Veil flickered once more and solidified, cutting off the view. In its place, a fresh wave of wounded soldiers stumbledthrough. I had a job to do. Only I could heal those clinging to the edge of life. As long as a spark of life remained, I would pull them back.
A witch was laid before me, her chest caved in so deeply I could see her spine through the front. I pressed my hands to her wound, my light weaving flesh and bone back together. The other healers fell to their knees, calling me a blessed goddess. They thought this power was a gift from Barbie. No one but the heirs knew my true nature.
I worked faster, glowing with light and healing everyone I touched.
Beside me, Pucker trembled, his form flickering violently.
“Something is wrong!” he cried out. “My mistress has never been this distressed. I have to aid her!”
“Pucker!” I yelled after him.
He turned, his ghostly eyes pleading. “You. Stay!” Then he vanished toward the Veil.
Seconds later, he rematerialized, screaming at the top of his lungs. “Move the wounded! Get them over the hills,now!”
“Pucker? What is it?” I shouted back, my blood running cold.
“The enemy dead!” he shouted, his form wavering with terror. “They’re coming back to life!”
Chapter
Twenty-Six
Barbie
Iwatched a vampire warrior drive her blade through a Shrieker’s third eye, a textbook kill. The creature dropped, twitched once, then clambered back to its feet. On its second death, it adapted, matching her speed. On its third resurrection, it anticipated her move and tore out her throat.
We were no longer just fighting. We were teaching them how to kill us more efficiently.
For every Shrieker we destroyed, two more took its place. The dead kept getting up. My father’s laughter carried across the battlefield, chilling my soul. Our warriors shuddered, an instinctive reaction at recognizing the undefeatable evil among us.
Our defensive line buckled.
A wall of resurrected Shriekers, impossible to hold back, smashed through our center.
“Form the line!” Cade’s voice boomed across the chaos, the mage heir fighting to inject order into the rising panic. “Hold them!”
“Hold!” Silas roared, his voice a bastion against the tide. “We are the last defense!”
How did you defend against enemies that wouldn’t stay dead?
Retreat was not an option. The Veil was now a porous curtain, and my father would paint this realm in blood if we fell. And we were falling.
The battle was lost—had been lost the moment Ruin revealed he could resurrect his army infinitely.
There was no other path. I’d always known it, yet I kept running from it like a coward. Watching our forces crumble, hearing screams rise as blood blades bounced off enemies that wore death like a second skin, I finally accepted the one way out.
The Oracle’s words echoed in my head:You’ll know what to do when the time comes.
