Avery wordlessly accepted the brew and took a sip. The taste wasn’t horrible, if she’d appreciated the flavor of mud. What she really wished for was her first aid kit with her last Ibuprofen instead.
The pounding in her head lessened, but the bone-tired weakness was still there. Avery needed rest to cure that. At least she wasn’t in agony any longer. As she rested, injured Latian warriors began arriving in the grove of trees. Hyacinth popped up and got to work healing the other folk who needed her help. Susan stayed close, never leaving Avery’s side.
Avery took a deep breath. She was in safe hands, with Rue and Weston on guard and Susan’s ministrations. She let her eyes slide closed, and her senses focused on the roar of Savine’s war cry. The entire valley filled with the sounds of Latian warriors, returning his cry.
Then the sky was teeming with the sound of horns blasting and flapping wings. These wings had to be coming from huge creatures. She looked at Weston, who looked at her with stunned disbelief.
“The Nepheli,” Weston whispered. His face lost all color, and his eyes widened. “We must run! We must get you out of view!” Weston shouted.
Rue and Susan both protested at once. “We aren’t taking her anywhere. We’ll be like sitting ducks if we leave the safety of the trees,” Rue argued.
“Besides, Savine knows Avery is here. He’ll be coming this way as soon as he sees Rylo,” Susan said.
The others grimaced at Susan’s words, and Avery understood why. This was Rylo, the King of Nephel. The same man who locked Savine away, torturing him for years. Avery shook all over. Now that she knew more details of what led to his imprisonment, she feared what would happen if Savine encountered this man. It had left such a lasting scar on his soul, Avery didn’t want to know what this king would do toSavine. After all, Savine had escaped Rylo’s prison. He hadn’t been set free.
But they weren’t flying towards the battle. Instead, these winged warriors were flying straight for their grove of trees.
There seemed to be only one reason for this man to be flying directly towards her. To take Avery from Savine.
“If he gets his hands on you, you will be gone with the wind. And I will be killed,” Weston shouted.
“Who would kill you? Rylo?” Avery asked.
Other injured fae rushed for the protection of the forest. Rylo must be a terror. Getting a group of Latian warriors fleeing the fight was no small matter.
Weston looked panicked. “If I survive Rylo, Savine will kill me himself for allowing them to capture you.”
“Savine? Kill you? Never! You are helping her!” Susan argued as he reached down and scooped Avery into his arms.
Rue shook her head. “He has a point. But Weston, running isn’t the answer. We fight. We won’t let them take her!”
“He will kill us if they take her. I would kill myself before I let him torture and kill me for letting another fae have you, Avery,” Weston replied in a whisper.
Avery was left reeling by Weston’s extreme reaction. Savine seemed set on protecting her, but she doubted that he would kill one of his own warriors for letting her be taken by anyone.
Susan tugged Avery up from the ground. The wingbeat overhead had ceased, and the soft thud of fae footsteps hit the forest floor. She couldn’t make out where they came from, but a scream of terror let her know they were uphill from her and her friends. The surrounding trees began shaking, and she heard the horrific sound of flesh being torn.
More hurried voices approached. Another spine-tingling rip of flesh. Her heart beat in her throat. Her hands were so wet with perspiration she feared she may lose her grip on her iron axe.
“Avery, climb this tree!” Rue suggested. Her voice was little more than a wisp of wind.
“Brilliant plan, since they fly,” Weston spat.
Avery was too weak to argue. She couldn’t climb a tree, even now when her life may depend on it. Exhaustion caressed her like a long-lost friend, beckoning her to sleep.
Please. Please let Savine get here.
But she had no such luck. A small group of winged fae forced their way through the battling trees, blasting their essence at the trees as they ran through. They had massive feathered wings, and their skin seemed to shimmer ever so slightly in the filtered forest light. One fae male was as golden as the sun. Apollo reincarnated. It was he who made eye contact with Avery through the spruce boughs that guarded her.
Avery squeaked in panic. Her heart pounded like a mouse caught in the talons of an eagle.Hell no,she thought to herself. She would not be the little mouse for another second. She let that fear sink deep into her heart and replaced it with concentrating on her dwindling magic. It was nothing but a tiny ember deep inside her. Nothing like what had roiled through her earlier. Its response to her tug was slow, and she didn’t know if her magic would do any good now.
As soon as the golden godlike fae saw her, he was slicing and hacking through the trees to get to her. Rays of yellow light streamed through him, like a flare from the sun itself. The spruce was in flames in a matter of seconds.
Avery tugged on her magic, pulling forth the last remaining strands within her. She blasted the man with a coiling green light that torethrough the spruce’s needles and struck him square in the chest. The golden man fell to the ground with a crack.Surelyshe’d killed the golden fae.
Immediately, three other fae were there, ready to attack. Susan unleashed a tidal flood of water, unlike anything Avery could have believed possible. The water put out the spruce’s flames, and the three Nepheli sank deep in the wave’s depth, resurfacing far down the mountainside.
They were up and airborne within seconds, sending a curse from Susan’s lips.
