“Find Chess,” Byn instructed Matea, only taking his gaze off mine for a few seconds.
Without arguing or objecting, I felt more than saw Matea dissipate into shadow anddeparttoward the forest.
Once we were alone, Byn brought his forehead tomine,his expression still etched in worry.
“What were you thinking?” he asked.
“I couldn’t let them gain the upper hand—especially not before the navy arrived,” I said slowly, my breathing still heavy.
“You’re going to be the death of me,” he murmured, pressing a gentle kiss to my forehead as I felt Matea quickly approaching with another energy.
Matea and Chess slipped out of thedarkness,thetrokavnot at all affected as Laurence had been by traveling through the shadows. Byn shifted to be at my side asChessdid a quick examination of me, checking things like my heartbeat, my eyes, my breathing, and my limbs for any major causes of concern. When hedidn’tfind anythingimmediatelywrong, but still saw my weakened state, he started piecing things together.
“Thisisn’tphysical. She used up atonof herzirilium, didn’t she?” Chess began sifting through his different pouches attached to his belt and on a strap across his chest, obviously looking for something.
“To put it simply, yes,” Byn answered for me.
“To put itnotso simply, she’s the reason the storm ceased during the battle,” Matea added. “The Battle of No Rain.”
“That wasViva?” Chess asked, obviously shocked.
“I’m right here, you know,” I said, trying to put a sarcastic tone to it, though itseemed to fallshort.
After another moment ofChessdouble checking his pouches, he finally yanked a tiny vial out of one on his hip. “Found it!”heexclaimed, then popped off the top and held it out towardByn and me. “Here, have her take this.It’llrestore most of the energy she used to hold back the storm.”
As my husband brought the open vial to my lips, I nearly cringed away from the smell—then fully cringed at the taste as the liquid coated my tongue. It tasted like somebody had tried to make mud pies into a real thing—in liquid form.
Nonetheless, I’d taken worse elixirs in my lifetime, so I forced myself to swallow every last drop.
I could feel the liquid settling in my stomach,almost instantlygetting to work. The elixir quickly began tofill inthat spot deep within myself whereI’dclawed out the energy I needed to hold on to the storm and bend it to my will. But not only did it seem to re-energize myzirilium, itseemed to soothemy aching body to a degree, too. My musclesdidn’tfeel as thoughthey’dbeen shredded any longer.
Inhaling deeply, I felt like I had finally caught my breath.
I looked at Chess in awe, placing a hand on his arm.“Thank you.”
“Happy to help.” Chess smiled and dipped his head.
With Byn’s attentiveassistance, I carefully got to my own two feet again. I stretched my limbs, then my wings, grounding myself in the feeling of my body. As I was pulling my wings back in, I felt through the earth below a large creature sprinting toward us from the direction of the battlefield.
Within seconds,Lychencame bounding out from the edges of the ruined wall, passing by countless Southerners and navy members celebrating our victory. Though it hadfelt to me like the battle lasted for some agonizing days, to my surprise, it was only late in the morning.
WhenLychengrew near, Teagan slid off the wolf’s back, followed by Quinn. And out of Lychen’s shadow appeared Rayven and Laurence.
Almost the entire Valwain was present—all except for Ezra.
I could see the panic creeping onto Quinn’s features, though Chess seemed to notice first.
“He’s helping mytrokavswrap and bind any wounds that are still bleeding,” he explained, motioning toward the forest behind us where thetrokavshad been set up.
Relief washed over her expression, and she nodded once in thanks before getting down to business.
“We have minimal casualties—due to how short the battle was, and due to them not having the storm on their side,” Quinn reported. “I’dimagine the same sort of news on the North’s side. It was more so theprisonersthat took the brunt of it all. Though, once the North retreated, they finally got brave enough to tell us why—the lives of the females and children were on the line. The prisoners that died did so with honor.”
“Did they find—” Byn began asking, only for Quinn to finish his sentence.
“The females and children? Yes, they had been taken up into the mountain where they, along with the males, have been forced to mine foralychiteand other minerals each day, dawn to dusk.”
Byn nodded, though his expression shifted from reassured to concernedwithina few seconds. “This doesn’t end here,Valwain.”He looked around at each of us. “Dimitri will only become more determined, more dangerous. If we ever want to truly end this war,we’llhave togettwo steps ahead of him. We need to think wisely about our next moves.”
