New threads of lava shot towards him when I thrust my glowing hands in his direction, but he vanished into green fog before they could reach him. The lava splashed against the stone, sizzling, and sliding down the wall.
Coward.
As the rampant waves returned to Aqua’s essence behind us, leaving lifeless bodies in their aftermath, I turned my attention to Evanna and rushed towards her.
Using my Dragon strength, I lifted Star’s neck off her leg and set her free. “It’s okay, Baby. I’m here.”
Evie’s hands cupped my cheeks, her eyes trying to decipher if I was real. “When I couldn’t find you, I thought you were go—”
My stolen kiss swallowed her sob, erasing the fear that gripped her after not seeing me anymore during the fight, and giving her relief.
“I thought I was gone too,” I confessed, gripping her hands in mine, “but I’m here. And I found my four Dragons.”
Her gaze followed mine to the sky. “TheSky Gods!” she gasped, trying to turn her body for a better look, but a cry erupted from her when the pain flared with her movement.
“Shhh. You are okay,” I promised, placing my hand on her leg, and sending my healing energy into her. Evie claimed my lips again, needing to feel me as much as I needed her.
“Star,” she whispered once it was done, tears gleaming in her eyes, but even from where I knelt, I could see Star’s chest tremble with her shallow breathing.
She wasn’t gone. Not yet.
Planting both hands on her neck, I began our energy exchange, giving Star as much as possible without hindering myself. I still had a Warlock to find. “She’s alive and well on her way to healing, but I can’t give her everything now. I’ll come back to her.”
“I know,” Evanna whispered, standing. Placing a kiss on her soulmate’s neck, she caressed her soothingly. “We’ll be back for you, girl. You are not alone.” When Evie’s eyes returned to mine, her pain awakened in my chest. “So many of ours are dead, Brax.”
Pulling her into my embrace, I held her fiercely, feeling her arms wrap around my neck. For a moment, we clung to each other, sharing the loss while Ignis’ embers began to set the sidelines and the sentries’ drowned bodies on fire, cleansing the land.
“I’m so sorry they are gone… But I swear to you, their deaths will not be in vain.” Pulling away I looked into her eyes. “We will free Caelisium for them. And for everyone else who gave their lives to get us here.”
The type of courage that was only born from true pain vanished the torment capturing her features, and Evie nodded. “We will win for them.”
Hands intertwining, I glanced towards the curtain wall and the ward that still blocked the palace from us. “Let’s go, we can’t let Raithian escape.”
I transported us to the moat, where the survivors of our army were gathering, along with Harrison and the land riders. Mercifully, about three hundred warriors stood there, ready to fight whatever was on the other side of the curtain wall, and free the rest of the slaves kept in the caves.
“Brother, you are alive!” Harrison pulled me to him the moment I arrived. Blood, cuts, and bruises covered his form, but he was still with us.
“I’m glad you are too,” I confessed, pulling away. “Where is Asher?”
A jarring silence captured everyone around me, and Harrison shook his head, the muscles of his jaw tensing. “He died with honor.”
Horror captured my being while I stared at him, frozen. Every inch of me became aflame with pain and cruel understanding. I had lost him. Asher was the brother I never had, my best friend… and now he was gone. Another good man lost to a war that should have never happened. The flames arose inside me, burning my throat, my soul, making it harder than I thought to set aside the pain of his loss.
Brief images of us together inundated my mind, laughing, training, even him ripping into me when I unknowingly accepted Lachlan’s life or death challenge. Asher had been there for me even through learning my Devenish magic. When I feared my own power, he’d believed in me. Those were memories that would haunt me for the rest of my life, but I fought them with everything I had.
Chest rising with a steeling breath, I shut my eyes tightly, clinging to the promise I’d made Evanna. Their deaths would not be in vain.
There was no other choice, we had to keep going.
Letting out the breath slowly, my eyes opened again to find the same fight visibly going on inside Harrison. With a hand on his shoulder, I sent healing energy into him, erasing his injuries. “Let’s rescue the rest of our people and end this.”
I stepped back and lifted my arms to the ward that swayed before us. My golden energy flowed out of me once more, expanding over the ward until the green magic submitted to me, becoming part of my being. As soon as it was done, I shot a fire blast towards the opening mechanism among the stone and steel wall, blowing it up. The drawbridge collapsed onto our side with a loud bang, finally giving our warriors a way inside the courtyard.
The last of the sentries rushed towards us, but Harrison, Finn, and Islay, trotted forwards on their horses, slicing off heads, arms, and torsos with their spears while our army rushed in behind them. It was only then that I noticed Hanna and Fletcher were also missing. They might not be dead, just incapacitated, but I couldn’t focus on that right now.
Pushing everything else aside until all of this was over, I glanced up at Raithian’s tower. “I can get us into the throne room. Hold on tightly.”
Wrapping an arm around Evie, I envisioned the room to its every detail. Sure, I’d only been there in the mindscape, not in person, but I had to at least try. The golden fog spread along my legs, encompassing Evanna too, but every attempt I made to transport us there took us right back to the moat.
