As quickly as they had come, the demons who had materialized from the original creature vanish, sinking into the ground without a trace. Called back to the underworld.
Gideon is gone, and there isn’t a soul alive to restore the wards if we fail.
His words ring in my mind. “Defeat is something you allow.”
I cannot allow his death to slow me down. Grief must wait.
When the dust has settled on the battle, I take stock of the death we’ve left behind. So many wasted lives.
The trolls collect their wounded and the bodies of those they lost, and carry them back toward camp.
By some cruel joke, Eryk has managed to survive the carnage, and I find him with his hands deep in the side of a troll. The soldier does his best not to react to the stench and gummy sensation of the troll’s innards as he holds pressure.
“Leave this to another,” I tell him with one hand on his back. “Our fight isn't over.” And the pull to get back to my mate and ensure Invidia hasn’t sent more of these monsters out after my people is impossible to ignore.
A few other trolls slide in to take his place, and I have to pull the male back. He stares at his blood-covered hands without blinking. Stunned by the purple stains left behind.
Arina
“You’re back so soon! What happened?” I run to meet Raiden as he walks through the front gate of my mother’s home. I’m inspecting him for injuries, but none of the carnage covering his leathers seems to belong to him.
He still hasn’t responded, and I can’t help but notice he’s alone. “Where is Eryk?”
“He stayed there. He’s alive, and he has a plan.” He shrugs, and I stand in the front doorway with my hands on my hips.
“I promise, he’s alive, Arina.” His tone is stern, and I relent, wrapping him in a hug the moment he reaches for me.
Baltas finds us there. “There’s still more battles to fight, you two.” We release each other simultaneously at the sound of his voice. “What of the armada? And the trolls?”
Raiden shakes his head, his eyes darkening. “We were ambushed. The god of the underworld sent a shadow demon. It was like nothing I’d ever seen. Like a fucking nightmare. It shed shadows that morphed into small demons. Gideon warded it, and I was able to vanquish it, but …” He pauses and breathes in through his nose. His eyes drift up the stairs where Lavinia stands, waiting. “King Gideon is gone.”
My friend covers her mouth with one hand and holds her stomach with the other as if she’s been punched. She shakes her head, and Raiden flies up the stairs to her.
Something dark in me stirs, but I push it away. She’s lost her father, and he’s only comforting her. But the thing settles when Anyx reaches her first, coming out from somewhere upstairs.
He wraps his arms around her, and we all watch in deafening silence as she leans into him. She pulls away, the floorboards creaking beneath her as her weight shifts, and whispers, “I need a moment. Please,” before disappearing into my room.
“Everyone is gathering at the tavern. We should go,” Baltas says, though his lips form a worried line as he rocks on his heels.
Anyx is the only one to speak, “I’m staying here with her. We’ll meet up with you on your way back through.”
The tavern is packed. There’s barely standing room, and we have to push our way to Phil. Raiden hoists himself up onto the wooden surface of the bar. He stomps and claps his hands, yelling to get everyone to quiet down so he can speak.
Members of the Rhiza, soldiers from Lukasia, and villagers alike listen to the full recount of the battle from Raiden. By the end, our entire party is fired up.
“We march on the false queen tonight, and we will not stop until she's dead!” someone yells, and the entire tavern is in a deafening uproar. Bodies slam into each other, all eager to reach the castle.
We move as one unit. We don’t know what we will face when we reach the castle. Maybe not everyone will need to fight. But knowing we have the support of so many behind us is invigorating. They believe in us.
When we reach my house, Lavinia and Anyx are waiting at the gate. Even she looks prepared for a fight, though she doesn’t speak a word to me as we make our way to the castle. Determination is written all over her face.
There isn’t a soul to be found when we reach the field where I’d had my final challenge, the soldiers who should have been guarding it are marching alongside us thanks to Invidia’s temper. I half expect to find a shadow creature like what Raiden had encountered, and I release the breath that had been sitting deep in my chest.
The drawbridge is pulled shut, however, and I would bet Invidia has holed herself up within the castle somewhere. Hiding like the scum she is.
“We’ll have to scale the walls,” Raiden says, and my heart drops to my ass.
“You can’t just blur me in?” I half-joke, though I’d prefer to never scale the castle walls again in this lifetime.
