Then he sent out what he called Corrosive Bursts that delivered shockwaves, which melted and destabilized theprotective fields a bunch of the others had around them, as they fired upon us.
Evira let out a stream of her Cryogenic Frostfire, her ice dragon breath in a concentrated blast that cleared a third of the battlefield, hostiles thrown into the air as the ice hit, driving upward and forming land iceberg thingies all over that forced many of them to jump back to avoid being hit. Then she swept a flood of it over the battlefield. I could see her struggling to ensure it didn’t result in kills, though. Especially when the magic-wielders started streaming against her, trying to hold off the ice and frost flooding toward them.
I blasted several wolves who went to leap at her, claws out and shimmering with magic that they must’ve been gifted by these fuckers—no doubt so they could penetrate her dragon hide.
But more kept coming.
Then the vampires joined in the same task.
Vax backed me up, but it wasn’t enough.
A dragon roar came from Evira, rumbling through the battlefield.
And then she abruptly shifted back, clothing herself in her go-to gray jeans, bustier, and big winter coat, just a second before she thrust her palms forward and her glacial magic shot out, forming a massive wall between us and the hostiles.
“Holy shit,” I exclaimed as I took in the shimmering, super thick ice wall, like sparkling crystal with light blue flecks dancing all over it.
My dick jerked at the sight of her looking so fucking strong and fierce, and it was hot as fuck. Getting turned on by her in the heat of battle—yeah, with the adrenaline, using my Ifrit flame so much, and me being me, that tracked. Hard. I blinked and looked away at Vax who’d come up on my right facing thewall. And there he was spinning those daggers like a sexy fucking beast.
Jeez.
Movement breaking from the battlefield caught my attention, and the three of us watched at the ready as two hostiles strode up to the wall.
A guy with long curly brown hair stepped forward, built like a tank in all black—jeans, a denim jacket with a hood and a tee that barely stretched across his broad chest. He was a sorcerer, and I’d heard from calls and commands throughout the battle that his name was Hale. A vampire in tactical gear similar to mine, except it was white, stepped up beside him and cocked her head at us with narrowed eyes, her blonde ponytail jerking like the lash of a whip. I’d determined her name as well. Raquel. The two of them were leaders of Temperance. They had a bunch, apparently.
Hale eyed Evira. “That’s immense power you’re using to hold that. What a shame it is that you’re on the wrong side of this, stunning princess.”
Evira’s eyes narrowed.
Vax hissed and I growled, the two of us not liking his come-on, kind of predatory tone with her.
He smirked at us, then Raquel stepped forward and spoke, “It’s public knowledge at this point that Winter Nox is in love with the three of you. This will interrupt his work with that True Celestial horror show. He will have to break from hiding out with that abomination, knowing you’re in danger. He’ll come for you, step out from his greater domination plans just long enough for us to snatch him, then do what needs to be done.”
“You’re misinformed,” Vax rumbled. “Winter isn’t hiding. Nor is he working with Ruxnoth. He’s being harmed and violated by him.”
“Held against his fucking will!” I yelled.
“He’s a victim here,” Evira added. “Just like all of you are afraid of becoming. He’s not your enemy. He never was.”
“You’re incredibly biased where he’s concerned,” Raquel returned.
“Bias doesn’t refute statements of actual fact,” Vax bit back.
“Sure. Let’s go with that, then,” Hale spoke. “Actual fact is also that Winter Nox is an unkillable abomination capable of invoking Risen Reckoning at his will—at his fucking fancy. Anytime. Anywhere. Upon anyone. His threat is eternal, which is bad enough. A threat to everyone, even those wearing rose-colored glasses. Now, let’s say we believe you, and he’s been abducted and held against his will by this Ruxnoth megalomaniac—now we have a youngling under the influence of a centuries-old experienced, highly-powerful being who was resourceful, calculated, and genius enough to find a way to escape the Severanceandto create his own fucking metaphysical plane. So now this already volatile True fucking Celestial being has a magical nuke he can wield to his liking—a magical nuke that has the means to bring about an apocalyptic event.”
“Your assessment rests on the basis that Winter has no agency,” Vax pointed out.
“A fear-based argument that’s twisting everything,” Evira said. “And completely discounting the positive force that Winter is,andthe fact that he’s needed to take out this immediate threat in Ruxnoth. If we operate from the viewpoint that somebody at their worst could maybe do something horrific, that won’t just stay at Winter. It will go on and on, encompassing so many powerful beings. It's a fear spiral. We understand where it’s rooted, but what you’re not recognizing is that Winter is the farthest thing from Morien Morgrave. You trust in Sylas—”
“We trust in Sylas because he can be stopped, even eliminated, if it came down to it,” Hale clarified. “In fact, he andWinter’s other parents will likely take extreme measures to spare their boy. At that point, when Sylas is suitably weakened, we’ll use him to forcibly annihilate the threat that Winter is.”
I jolted—at so much of that.
They didn’t know Sylas was dead. It had been kept under wraps really fucking well. So far, anyway. Who knew how long something that major could last without word getting out. Then a whole other wave of mass panic would hit the supernatural world. People were even freaked out that with Ruxnoth having that transmutation ability and twisted Celestial power, even Ariana Martel wouldn’t be able to put Ruxnoth down.
“How could Sylas do that?” Evira asked.
Raquel told us, “We’ve studied Winter Nox more than any other being alive, in greater detail than even his parents and close allies. There is a means through their bloodline connection to bring that about. And once we have Sylas, we’ll ensure he provides those details.”
