Kellan’s lips slowed, and he gently lowered me to the ground, slipping his hands to the sides of my face. My eyes had pinched shut, and my mouth followed his lead until he paused, finally breaking our connection and resting his forehead against mine.
“To Hell and back, Bonscaíh.”
My throat bobbed, and I blinked as I looked up at him. A fierce wave of protectiveness washed over me, and I nodded.
“To Hell and back,” I breathed.
We wouldn’t lose each other, not after everything.
It’s time, Tiberius said softly.
I glanced at where he stood at the edge of the Eye of the Wood. His head was still angled toward the large elven lake.
Kellan’s dark eyes scanned my own, and he nodded, somehow always knowing when Tiberius spoke to me.
“I’m with you,” he said, his voice rough. “You’re not alone.”
He swallowed, and I reined in the intense wave of emotion that followed as I recalled what created our initial connection. Honor warmed at my waist, and the thick scar on my neck tingled.
“I’ll always be with you.”
He pressed a quick kiss against my forehead as Tiberius clomped to where we stood.
Pyracantha, Ti explained.They want you inside and me outside. They set up a rubelline perimeter.
My stomach clenched at the thought of returning to Lotrennia’s lethal prison of vines and thorns and the notion of us separating, but I nodded as I explained the plan to Kellan.
“They think the Embodied will split up, going after each of you for the Transcindiel,” he murmured. “It’s not a bad plan.”
We need to keep our powers locked down until we’re in position, Ti continued.We need to fly dark.
I nodded.
“Let’s go.”
Kellan’s armswere hard and steady as they reached around my waist and gripped Tiberius’s thick mane. The three of us soared through the black night hanging above the Land of Light and Life. His chest pressed against Enya’s sheathed blade along my back, and the distant echo of battle rippled through the wind buffeting my ears.
Dark shapes materialized above the city of Ayla, and adrenaline surged as the silvery wings of large pixies came into view before a blast of brilliant white light erupted in the distance.
Aquila.
The hawk circled above, his flames raining down on the transformed pixies as they dove for the elven soldiers fighting on the ground. Screams were lost in the rush of the waterfalls pouring from the base of the Gilded Fortress.
A line of archers crouched on the upper battlement, constructed of vines and the thick branches of the birch and golden trees that made up the elven castle. White flashed, and my heart squeezed as I caught sight of Vulcan on the back of the white, winged horse. He nocked an arrow, its tip poised at aflurry of silver shadows in the distance. His face lifted, and the line of War Slayer paint shone against the limited light of the first crescent moon to rise on this dark evening.
The dark point of Vulcan’s arrow drew a quick arc across the sky, following the wild flight of the pixie, before he let it fly. A slight wail caught in the pixie’s throat before it stilled midair and fell.
Vulcan and his mount disappeared as we rounded the Gilded Castle, and my stomach lurched in my throat as the battle unfolded in the center of the city square. Even with my elven eyes, I could just barely discern the pixies from the fighters on the ground.
Blasts of magic illuminated the chaos below. The thumping of wind barriers and crashes of air-bound boulders clashed amongst the shrieks of the pixies and cries of soldiers. A line of blue light ripped through the space as Selvina’s white braid flew across her face, sending a line of pain at the approaching horde. My heart lurched in my throat as she threw her arm in front of Aeriden’s back. My brother sliced through the pixie in front of him with our father’s blade.
The soft sparks of gathering power pricked the air in the distance, and a wave of power rippled across the sky. The kind only felt in the presence of mystics. My brows pinched as I made out the three elves standing in a line before the Living Library. Khato, Queen Antares, and Isla stood side-by-side, their hands pressed against its massive trunk. My breath caught in my throat as the branches of the enormous tree began to lift and twist through the air, slashing through the bodies of the nearest pixies.
Two dark figures broke from the flock as they caught sight of us, their silvery wings flapping wildly. My body tensed at the unwanted attention, and I leashed the Obscura threatening to break free of its tether. Kellan’s curved blade gave off a softwhine as he slipped it from its sheath, and I felt him put space between us.
Tiberius banked hard, and I tightened my grip on his mane, pinning Kellan’s free arm to my waist. He twisted behind me, angling his blade toward the approaching pixies when a loudsnapcracked in the sky.
Tiberius faltered for just a moment, his entire body jolting at Drystan’s sudden appearance. My friend’s bright blue eyes sparked against the dim light of the moons as he appeared on the back of the nearest pixie. His face twisted in disgust as he wrapped his long arms around the pixie’s neck and ripped his dagger across its throat.
