“Sounds like a plan.” Gunnar slammed the butt of his axe against his shield. “I’ll take everything else.”
He charged, and gods… no matter how often I fought beside him, the sight of him in battle was otherworldly. Even wounded, limping, and bleeding, Gunnar moved like the earth itself had risen to fight. His axe carved through the head of the first enemy, its body falling limp to the grass. His shield caught a human soldier’s spear, twisting hard enough to snap the shaft, before his follow-through sent the man sprawling.
I dove into the fray at his left, blades dancing as if they were extensions of my own limbs. A fallen cloaked monster attacked, and I swept low, a shard of ice forming at the tip ofmy sword as I severed its head from its shoulders. It collapsed, and I stood over the corpse, ready to hold the line.
Gunnar and I fought, back-to-back, step-by-step, refusing to yield our ground. But they kept coming, more of them appearing through magical portals inside those gods-forsaken towers.
Where the fuck was that false queen hiding?
Since her twin, Istar, was killed by the shifter we all thought betrayed us, Minaeve hadn’t been seen on the battlefield.
I was still shocked that Skylar was able to keep that a secret for as long as she did.
“We’re getting boxed in!” Gunnar roared as he sent one of his axes flying into the chest of a charging soldier. “There are too many of them, Castor!”
“Oh, really? I hadn’t noticed. I thought it would be a good time to take a nap!”
Before Gunnar could muster a reply, another wave of enemies slammed into us. A fallen leaped over my head to attack Gunnar, but thankfully, he caught it with his shield, pulled another axe from his belt, and smashed the blade into its spine. But there was no gloating, no laughter at his latest kill. I turned and instantly understood why Gunnar was deathly silent.
We were surrounded.
Human soldiers closed the final gap behind us, shields raised and blades angled at our throats. Fallen creatures crept from the smoke of Skylar’s dying flames on all sides, whilegarmr’s gnarly claws scraped stone, sets of reddened eyes fixed on us.
Gunnar positioned himself in front of me without hesitation, shield braced, body tense. “Stay behind me, Cas.”
“Really? And let you have all the glory?”
He shifted, and his face came into view. His mouth was set in a faint, easy line, eyes fixed and untroubled. He leaned to the right, keeping most of his weight off the injured leg. “Let me fulfill my duty, my prince.”
My stomach dropped as a premonition swallowed my sight, turning my world black.
There was blood, so much blood, and Gunnar—
“It won’t be you,” Gunnar said as I blinked my eyes free of magic. “I’ll be your shield. And I’ll see you later, at the crossing, my friend.”
“No!” I hurled the word into the world, into fate, to the forsaken gods who believed they could take him from me.
My magic roared to life as a frost surged across the ground, racing outward in jagged, crystalline veins. Fallen shrieked, and humans cried as ice crawled over them, freezing them in place. Human soldiers stumbled as the ground slicked beneath them, ice crawling up their limbs like a phantom entity as it sank into their chests and froze their hearts where they stood.
Gunnar turned in shock. “Castor!”
But I could barely hear him, my limbs shaking as I fought to stay upright.
“Here!” Before I could think, a small vial was pressed to my lips. “Drink the rest of this, you fool, or else we will both be dining at the crossing.”
Immediately my limbs regained their strength, and my vision cleared.
A loud shriek sounded through the rising smoke as a giant roc swooped low, talons outstretched as it tore the frozen figures of our enemies to pieces. Followed by multiple bears and snarling wolves eager to spill blood.
“Good.” Gunnar stepped forward on his bad leg and stumbled. “Shit. I was worried that would be a problem.”
I hooked my arm under Gunnar to help support his weight. “It’s time to move!”
Gods, he was built like solid stone.
Gritting my teeth, I forced my legs to move as Gilen continued with his annihilation of the enemies surrounding us. A stronghold of human allies led by Princess Réalta helped to clear the way.
Gunnar’s grip slipped from me as I carried him across the field. His breaths became ragged as his heart slowed to a dangerous crawl as we neared the forest where our healers were waiting.
