And now I had to face it.
"Together," Daemon said, positioning himself at my side. Not in front. Beside. As if we were equals instead of weapon and wielder.
Lyralei raised her hands. Kane and Kael readied weapons. Zephyr's wind began to howl.
The soldiers charged.
And Vaelthorne burned.
CHAPTER 17
SERIS
Another explosion shook the ground.
I stumbled, catching myself against the trunk of the great tree. Through the clearing ahead, I saw them. Not the mercenaries that were slaughtering civilians, but soldiers in crimson and black.
Hundreds of them.
"To the eastern passage!" Lyralei’s voices rose in panic. Mothers grabbed children; artisans abandoned their work. A potter's wheel spun forgotten as its owner fled, wet clay collapsing in on itself.
Fire bloomed across the dining hall's roof. The structure that had welcomed me weeks ago, that had fed me and made me feel human again, dissolved into flame. The heat reached us even from here, carrying the stench of burning.
Lyralei's hand closed around my wrist. "Listen to me, "
A civilian ran past, child clutched to her chest. Behind her, a soldier raised his sword.
My magic surged before I could think. The air between them rippled, distance compressing, and the soldier's blade met empty space as mother and child flickered ten feet ahead,stumbling but alive. Daemon’s shadow took him out before the soldier could react.
"I said listen." Lyralei's grip turned iron-hard. Her other hand rose, tracing patterns in the air. Light fractured around them. It wasn’t the gentle shimmer I had grown accustomed to, but hard geometric shapes that pulsed with intention.
The fleeing civilians vanished. Not destroyed, but transported. I felt the magic's echo, sensed them reappearing somewhere far from here, somewhere out of reach.
"You must understand," Lyralei said, still casting, evacuating groups as quickly as she could focus. "This is what we were protecting them from. Why we hid. Why we, "
"Fight!" The cry came from Vaelthorne's western edge. Fathers had organized a defense and come to our aid, some armed with actual weapons, others with shovels and kitchen knives. They moved with desperate coordination, forming a barrier between the civilians and the advancing soldiers.
Despite the valiant defense, there were too many of them.
Another Fae fell while cutting down anyone who came near his family, an arrow lodged in his throat. My mind raced too fast to think.
"No!" I lunged forward.
Lyralei hauled me back. "You cannot. There are too many. You're not ready, "
"Then make me ready!" I rounded on her, tears hot on my face. "You said I was going to save these people. You said this was my responsibility, "
"And you will fulfill it." Lyralei's composure cracked, ancient grief bleeding through. "But not today. Not like this."
She pushed me toward the southern path. "Run."
I opened my mouth to argue.
“Daemon!” she called out.
Daemon freed his dagger from a mercenary. His shadows coiled around me as I fought, screaming and flailing to stay and fight.
“We have to go!”
