Tiny pinpricks of black appeared through the gloom, winging their way toward us.
Demons.
A few had peeled off from their patrols and were headed straight for us.
Somewhere up ahead, one of the lieutenants barked a command, and rowan arrows sliced through the sky.
The demons’ shrieks of pain rang in my ears, stirring my hunter blood. Despite my terror, my whole body hummed at the prospect of cutting down every monster that stood between me and Semphrys.
This was what I’d been born to do.
My stomach pitched as Kaden canted his wings, soaring over the rim of the volcano toward the gleaming obsidian palace. The polished black surface reflected the orangish glow of the lava below, giving the impression that the entire fortress was on fire. A wing still lay in ruins, and demons circled like birds of prey as they waited for us to attack.
To my amazement, the fae split off into half a dozen formations, moving with precision as they loosed more arrows. Demons fell from the sky like rocks — their shrieks of pain and rage the only indication that they were still alive as they plummeted toward the gurgling pool of lava below.
A swarm of Drathen soldiers covered me and Kaden as we landed on the battlements. A second later, Adriel and Sorsha appeared as more fae touched down on the gleaming obsidian walkway below.
According to Kaden, his father now resided in the north wing of the palace since the south had been destroyed. Thesoldiers were to divert the attention of Semphrys’s army while we made our way to the king’s private quarters.
But the moment Kaden set me on my feet, demons swarmed the tower. Some had horns and fangs and multiple heads, while others looked almost human. Nearly all of them had huge, batlike wings and those eerie black eyes.
Kaden didn’t hesitate. He threw himself toward the nearest one, his sword cutting through the air with lethal precision. My stomach lurched as the demon’s head thudded onto the polished obsidian, rolling into my foot.
Semphrys’s soldiers quickly engulfed us, blocking Sorsha and Adriel from view.
With a mundane dagger in one hand and my witchwood blade in the other, I turned on the nearest demon, driving my enchanted weapon toward its chest.
The demon vanished in a cloud of noxious black smoke, and I wheeled to face another. It was a deadly dance I knew all too well, but I was distracted by the sound of screams.
Chancing a glance down to the battle raging below, I saw a Drathen soldier pitch off the walkway and plummet to his death. Another shrieked in agony as two demons hauled him up by his wings, shredding the beautiful iridescent membrane as if he were no more than a butterfly.
My stomach twisted.
Down on the walkway, the other fae magicked away their wings, slinging steel and fury as they fought Semphrys’s army. The aerial Drathens were shooting rowan-wood arrows into the fray, but there were simply too many demons, and Drathen-made weapons were no match for the beasts.
All around me, the demons Kaden and the others had cut down were dragging themselves across the tower, waiting for their bodies to repair themselves so they could fight again.
I was the only one who could truly slay a demon, and I wasn’t killing them fast enough.
With a roar of fury, I doubled my pace, oily black blood splattering my face as my daggers sang their vicious song of destruction. But before I could clear a path across the tower to get inside the palace, a howl of pain sounded close by.
My heart stuttered, and I turned to see Adriel clutching a hand to his abdomen, where a river of red was pouring out of him. He’d been fighting a demon with long, scythe-like claws and fearsome horns protruding from his head.
The royal guard stumbled, then fell to one knee, and time seemed to slow.
No.
Panic engulfed me, and I slashed at the nearest demon, trying to reach my wounded friend. But two more of the monsters replaced the one I’d felled, and the wretched demon who’d wounded him was advancing.
Adriel looked up, his face a mask of fury and pain.
I wasn’t going to make it.
That was the thought that rang in my head as my muscles screamed and sweat poured down my back. Every time I managed to bring down a demon, another took its place.
But then a whirl of shimmering blue caught my eye, and I turned to see Sorsha arrowing toward the royal guard, her face splattered with blood. Her boot connected with the horned demon’s head, sending him sprawling onto the polished obsidian.
She landed, blades drawn, and thrust her sword through the abdomen of one demon as she kicked a third in the chest. Her braid whipped behind her with every graceful slash of her blade as she sent blood spewing across the slick floor of the tower and demon heads rolling.
