Stryker pulled me into a standing position and the captain faced us both. “It was a pleasure to serve you, my lord.” He saluted Stryker and my stomach clenched.
This was it. After all that, Stryker would wake only to see his men be slaughtered.
“And you. Go be with your family,” Stryker said. Then he turned to every man on the wall. “Retreat! Go be with your families in these final moments,” he announced.
It was like a punch to the gut. He was giving up?
But even as he said it, I peered down to see thousands of rebels climbing the walls, about to breech the city.
We were done. This was the end.
“Did you send ravens to my brothers?” Stryker asked me.
I just nodded. “They did not respond. I’m sorry.”
The hurt in his face gutted me.
He pulled me into his arms then and held me. When I peered back at him, he looked devastated. “I wanted so much more time to love you, Aribella. I didn’t get enough time.”
I nodded, blinking back tears and then our lips met in a frantic kiss.
This was the end. The end of my mission to save my people, the end of this battle, the end of my time with Stryker, the end of it all. In minutes I would be wiped from this realm and sucked into blackness forever.
I was so glad I gave the Shadow Heart to Dawn for safekeeping. I could only hope Isolde, the Winter princess, would succeed where I failed. For Faerieandfor Ethereum. The curse had gone on for too long. Seelie and unseelie in both realms deserved to live free from it.
The wall we stood on shook, as Stryker held onto me tightly and the sounds of screaming men filled my ears. They were ravenous, absolutely deafening in their cries to war. I tried to push more of my magic outward to them but was overwhelmed with a wave of dizziness, there were just too many of them now.
“Defend Easteria!” The cry reached our ears and both Stryker and I snapped our heads to the battlefield.
Oh my stars.
They came.
Fanned out across the entire horizon were three sets of new troops, each holding a flag that represented the Northern, Southern, and Western Kingdoms. Thousands upon thousands of these new men and women chanted, beat at their breast plates, and pushed the rebels toward the castle so that they had to make a choice. Flee east into the sea, west back to the Midlands, or try to enter our city only to be dead within minutes when this new army arrived.
A wall of black shadows ripped through the crowd throwing soldiers left and right and I smiled when I recognized Adrien sitting atop a white mare and controlling it all.
My gaze scanned further and I noticed Zander among the warriors holding the Northern flag and then it wasn’t hard to pick out who must be the final brother. Zane was a tall man with broad shoulders who was currently cutting down rebels with a sword in each hand. He was the spitting image of Stryker but with lighter hair that was short on the sides and not quite as long as his on top. And of course his face was free of any scars.
“They came.” Stryker staggered beside me, clearly in shock, and I couldn’t help but grin.
I slipped my hand into his and squeezed. It felt like some deep wound had been created years ago when these brothers did not come to his aide and I was watching now as that wound healed.
“They did,” I agreed.
We just stood there, watching the glory unfold as Stryker’s brothers crushed the rebel army, pushing a quarter of them to their deaths in the sea and sending the rest fleeing to the Midlands. Our door to the city as well as our walls still stood strong.
We survived and not only that, we’d won.
Chants of joy went up as the men cheered and hoisted their fists and weapons into the air.
I glanced over at Stryker and I smiled when I saw Captain Greylocke walk over and bow to his knee before him.
“My lady. You have won this battle and my allegiance.”
My lady?
Stryker stepped to the side and I realized that the captain was bowing tome. One by one every single man on the wall took to one knee and bowed their head.
