“You all need to leave,” I told them calmly. “This place will burn, and you will go up in flames with it if you stay.”
Erik blinked at me, staring at me in confusion. His gaze was dazed, just like the eyes of the other humans, but he seemed to be slightly more lucid than the rest.
“Where will we go?” he asked.
Mia touched his arm.
“I’ll show you.” She gestured at the exit from the cave.
The fae with the kettle snarled, lunching after her, but she avoided his grabbing hands, running to the exit with the other two humans.
Erik remained in place, however, staring at me. No, I realized, he wasn’t looking at me, but at Elaine in my arms.
“She’s mine.” I cuddled her to my chest like the treasure she was.
I lowered my body as far as my wings would allow while supporting me in flight, then brought my face to Erik’s.
“Run,” I uttered softly.
Smoke curled out of my mouth with that word. Sparks crackled. Heat blew Erik’s tangled light-brown locks from his face.
He took an unsteady step back, then ran after the other humans.
I soared into the air, twisted around, and sent a blast of fire toward the back of the cave. All curtains caught ablaze, those on the floor and the few still hanging. The flames engulfed the blankets and pallets on the floor, churning in a fiery tornado around me.
I turned away, shielding my woman from the inferno I’d unleashed, then flew out, letting it all burn behind me.
The flames roared, spreading through the tunnel and chasing me. I caught up with the humans at the exit into the tavern.
“Faster!” I urged as the fire raged behind me, heating my back and scorching my tail. Once the flames were unleashed, I lost control over them.
The fire caught up with us and shot past me. It wouldn’t harm me, but it would burn the humans faster than the curtains in the cave behind us. Folding my wings around Elaine, I rolled across the tavern’s floor. Knocking the humans off their feet, I shoved them in front of me out of the cave and onto the beach.
Safely out of the fire, they climbed to their feet, looking around in bewilderment.
Pale morning light filtered through the dark clouds of the growing storm. The heat of the battle was dying out, and the dead bodies littering the black sand had already begun to smolder with the shadows of afterlife.
Survivors were captured, their tendrils clipped, their hands and feet shackled. A group of them huddled in the middle of the beach, trapped between the burning Wall and the stormy ocean. Prince Rha’s warriors guarded them.
I unfurled my wings, taking Elaine up into the air with me.
The beach seemed much wider than normal today. The ocean receded way past the tidal line, leaving behind a wide stretch ofwet sand that glistened with the remnants of broken coral and shells.
“The Big Wave is coming,” one of the captives said, his eyes open wide in horror.
A panicked murmur rolled through the groups of the captured Ashgate dwellers. From above them, I could see the gray water of the ocean rising in a high swell on the horizon.
“Take the humans back to the desert, keep them safe,” I said to the warriors, then flew along the beach in search of the prince.
I found him at the other end of the beach, leading the fight that was still ongoing.
“The ocean is rushing in,” I warned him. “It’ll flood the beach and the caves. You’ll need to leave and take the humans and warriors to safety.”
“Did you find Elaine?” He glanced at my woman pressed to my chest.
“I did. And I’m not losing her again.”
The Big Wave was on its way to flood Ashgate. It’d extinguish the fire. Maybe it was the mercy of the gods that spared Ashgate from complete annihilation. But I wasn’t going to change its fate now. With Elaine in my arms again, my rage at the city was extinguished too.
