And that was exactly what made Ellie so dangerous. She didn’t care. It was just as Talon and Rion had feared. She had no plans to walk off this battlefield.
“Ellie,” Rion roared above the chaos. She couldn’t keep running at Vairik with blind rage. She needed a plan, not brute strength. If she kept going like this—Rion stepped, but Vairik’s magic shoved him back to his knees. He fought. Raged. No one knew she was here. If she fell—
“Ellie,” Rion cried out again.
The clouds above crashed together, lightning flashed, then a torrential downpour soaked them in seconds. Ice and water swirled together in a storm just as furious as the ones Rion had witnessed Avalon summon. A flash of lightning, then Ellie was gone, disappearing through drops suspended in the air.
Vairik growled at the young female, swinging his blade in a wide arc. She crossed her blades to block. It sent Ellie flying backward. She flipped to her feet and lunged again.
Again.
Again.
Rion’s heart lodged in his throat. He was helpless as he watched Ellie, his friend, this once bright, happy, young femalewho’d had her world ripped apart. She’d given him so much encouragement. She’d been a soul untainted by their harsh world, able to look above and beyond any slight.
Today she was nothing but wrath and pain.
It was impossible to tell whether Vairik was just toying with her, or if Ellie was actually putting the male on edge. He was injured. Vairik was injured. Rion could smell his blood all over the field.
They had a chance.
Ellie roared again, her magic rising in a wave. Blood leaked from the corner of her mouth. She stood, panting, the armor over her torso barely hanging by a thread. She tore it from her chest, letting it slosh in the mud at her feet. She didn’t balk from the pain of her injuries, though nothing likely compared to what she had already suffered inside her own head.
Ellie lunged again.
Vairik’s expression shifted the moment Ellie’s blade caught him on the side of the face, leaving behind a single trail of red.
Fear surged through Rion’s body and he yanked at his invisible restraints again, desperation clawing through him. He couldn’t watch Ellie fall. He couldn’t bear to see the light fade from her eyes. She had so many more years ahead. So many moments left to heal from her grief and grow into a strong leader.
Arianna needed her.
Heneeded her.
Ellie rolled through the mud again. Her body was slowing, even if her mind didn’t want to accept it. A gust of wind spiraled rapidly around Vairik’s sword.
Ellie growled, meeting Vairik’s fury with her own.
“Such a waste.”
Rion yanked at his restraints again. Ellie lunged. Vairik sliced his blade through the air, sending that blast of magic speeding straight for the future High Lady of Móirín.
His muscles threatened to tear. He was trapped. Rion screamed something unintelligible, then a body slammed into Ellie’s, shoving her to the side so violently that her head snapped to one side.
Magic pulsed from the male responsible.
Too late.
Vairik’s magic struck.
The male screamed as that magic sliced into his upper arm and severed the entire limb from his body.
The arm slammed into the mud, then that male stood. Stood, despite blood pouring from the area where an entire limb was now missing. He positioned himself before Ellie, anger coating his features in a way Rion had never seen.
Vairik snarled, and Gavin, the normally docile male that Rion had rarely even seen fight, snarled right back.
Vairik began laughing, slowly at first until it became a hysterical roar that had chills rolling down Rion’s back. “The bond is what it took to finally make you grow a backbone? If I’d known that, I might have used her for such purposes sooner. How poetic that my own flesh and blood would choose the enemy over family.”
“You’re no family of mine.”
