The storm fae smiled, revealing rows of sharpened teeth. “You truly think you can get away from me? You’re mortal.”
I reached for the sword at my side, but I was too slow. The storm fae moved as quickly as lightning across the sky, and then he was there. He grabbed my throat and shoved me against a tree. The scent of death gagged me.
“Don’t you know what I am?” he hissed into my ear. “I am storm fae, and I move like the wind.”
My heart pounded, and his fingers dug into my skin. The tree’s rough bark scraped the back of my head, sending bolts of pain through my skull. I couldn’t breathe. I could barely think. And through the bond, Kalen’s terror churned my own fear, whipping it with a chaotic frenzy.
The enemy had been tasked with bringing me back, but whatever the gods had done to him had twisted him beyond repair. He was not going to let me live. And even if he did, I would not arrive in that war camp unharmed.
The way a hidden light gleamed in his hooded eyes reminded me of Oberon. Those sharp teeth, that unchecked cruelty. The strength of his hands when they closed around me. It was all him. For years, that cruelty had drowned me. No more.
Through the bond, I felt Kalen’s worry, but I felt something else, too. Strands of his power reaching out to me. His magic hummed, sparking to life somewhere in the depths of him. As the storm fae choked me against the tree, I reached out through the bond and gave Kalen’s power a gentle tug.
Life and death consumed me. A shower of sparks stormed my veins, stealing whatever remaining breath I held in my lungs. My skin burning, my eyes running, my ears ringing, I shuddered against the force of all that power and the awesome strength of it.
I lifted a shaking hand. The storm fae barely noticed. He continued to shove me against the tree with a deranged, wicked smile on his face.
And so I pressed a finger against his cheek and choked out, “Death.”
The storm fae jolted back, releasing his grip on my neck. Instantly, sweet breath filled my lungs and chased the darkness away from my vision. I leaned forward, grasping my knees as I drank in the air, but I kept my eyes locked on the enemy’s face.
He’d gone pale. Gasping, he collapsed to the ground. A tremor went through him as his eyes rolled back into his head. For a moment, nothing else happened. With a thundering heart, I stared down at the storm fae, horrified by what I’d done. He’d stopped moving. No more breath filled his lungs.
And then dust swarmed across his skin.Ash. Just like the Mortal Dagger had done. I watched as the dust consumed him from the inside out. The harsh breeze of the storm lands caught the flecks and blew them away until there was nothing left of him at all.
He was dead.
I’d done it. I’d actually done it.
I didn’t know whether to sob from the horror of it all or celebrate that I’d survived. Maybe both.
But for now, I needed to find Kalen.
I raced through the trees. Branches and brush scraped against my fighting leathers, but I continued on, following the sound of singing swords. Through the bond, Kalen called to me. It was as if he knew I was free and searching for him now. I ran and ran and ran, trying not to focus on just how loud the fighting was. We were so close to that war camp. Anyone in it would have heard the chaos by now.
At long last, dancing shadows rose before me. Kalen was in close combat with two storm fae. Sweat and blood drenched his face, and for a moment, a new terror screamed through me. By calling on his power through the bond, had I weakened him? Could he heal?
“Kalen.” I stumbled toward him with my heart in my throat. If I could just get close enough, I could help. All I needed was to press my finger against their skin and—
As if my voice had powered him, he spun through the air a shade faster. His sword sliced through the nearest storm fae’s neck, and then punched through the leather armor of the next. Right through his heart. It was enough to kill them both instantly.
Heaving, he turned toward me and started to run with his arms open wide to catch me. But then a not-too-distant roar cut through the night, a sound that was blood-chillingly familiar.
The shadowfiends had heard us. And they were coming.
“Run,” I whispered.
“Not without you.” He started running toward me again, holding out his hand.
I shoved my gloves back on before he could touch my skin. When he reached me, I wound my fingers around his, and then we took off through the trees. We ran faster than I’d ever moved before. The world was nothing but a blur of darkness and of mist. Through the bond, his fear still reached me, but relief was wound around it like a thread of hope. If only we could make it back to the base of the mountain, we could leave this kingdom behind for the safety of Dubnos.
But then a horrified thought occurred to me. The shadowfiends—they’d always been able to scale the chasm walls. The only thing that had kept them from swarming Teine had been Oberon’s barrier. There was no barrier here. So even if we reached the mountain and started to climb, they could follow us.
We wouldn’t get away.
Burning tears filled my eyes, both from the mist and the new realization crashing over me. What were we going to do? How would we ever get out of this alive?
But more importantly, if we started the climb now and the shadowfiends followed, would they head on straight to Dubnos after they’d killed us? Would we be bringing death and destruction to an unprepared city before word could reach them about what was coming? They had no idea the gods had gathered an army of beasts.
