And just like that, the fist of fear melts, because nothing is keeping me away from my Leela. “Yeah, I’m in. Let’s do this.”
Chapter 35
HOW MUCH MORE WILL HE TAKE?
LEELA
Icouldn’t breathe. I couldn’t fucking breathe.
C’ael pulled me into his arms, making circles on my back. “It’s okay. In through your nose, hold for a beat or two, and out through your mouth. Slow and easy. It’s all right. It will be all right.”
I did the breathing, focusing on each one until the tight fist around my lungs eased its grip. Then I addressed his lie. “It isnotgoing to be okay. They’re dead. Ravi, Kalani, Yudh and Dhoona, and any allies they brought with them. Gone. Unmade.”
“We don’t know that for sure,” Chandra said. “Maybe they hadn’t reached the camp yet.”
“That’s unlikely,” Zarael said. “Bearing in mind the amount of time that has passed since we parted ways.”
Chandra shot her a quelling glance, but I was glad for her blunt, honest assessment. I just needed a moment.
I pulled away from the group and crossed the ship, striding past stunned faces until I reached the bow.
I blinked back the hot tears. I needed to pull my shit together.
I closed my eyes and exhaled.
The turmoil inside me eased, and I wiped my eyes, looking up at the orange skies. We’d be at the vortex soon.
My stomach tightened, a soft burn lighting up behind my sternum, the feeling at odds with my inner monologue.
Something shifted far below us, hidden beneath the clouds. My stomach twisted as the clouds erupted, spitting out a thunderbird with golden wings and silver head feathers.
Ilara?
Her eyes glowed crimson.
The primordial evil locked gazes with me over her head, his lips curling in a cruelly satisfied smile. “There you are, little queen. Finally in the flesh.” Thewhoomp, whoompof wings filled the air as several Asura rose out of the clouds below to surround the ship. Eyes like blood, their intent clear. “And now it’s time to die.”
One moment Ilarawas swooping toward me, the next I was shattering and reassimilating on the other side of the ship beneath the awning that housed the ship’s wheel.
Chandra hugged me tightly. “We have to do it now,” he said, his gaze flitting over my head. I followed it to find C’ael standing, jaw tight, body thrumming with the need for action. “Mizikiel will be circling back for another chance to grab you. We need to get him off the bird and onto the deck.”
Around us, the djinn fought the Asura, channeling water from the air and smashing it into the winged gods as they swooped and slashed with glowing blades. They had astra. The divine weapons would decimate our regular ones. Fuck.
A glowing arrow arched toward the deck, splitting into three, each finding its mark in a djinn. Their bodies exploded to ash.
Someone screamed. A whirlwind of air and water slammed into the Asura with the bow, but he exploded out of it, shooting another arrow.
The djinn dove or teleported to avoid being hit, and the deck shook as the arrows smashed into it.
Zarael shot into the sky, her body surrounded by lightning. Jaantor joined her, storm laced with flames swirling around his form. Together they held the ship. Reformed it. Steadied it.
But Asura landed, astra blades cutting down my comrades.
I spotted Ramashi and Bhartina fighting back-to-back, a dome of air and water moving around them like a shield as they parried using glowing silver blades, but each connection with a golden astra sent a ripple through their defenses.
“The djinn should be able to fight off the Asura,” Chandra said. “Astras aren’t meant to be this powerful against them.”
But the rules had changed.
