My voice scraped through the air like broken glass. The scream wrenched from my lips, and my breath came out in short huffs. My urgency and panic slammed into the Nivis Bellator in a hurried desperation, calling her to me.He has to be okay.
I ran my hands over his coppery feathers, searching for the wound, when the crack of tumbling rocks drew my attention. Selvina rushed toward us, her blue power swirling around her in little wisps of sparkles and settling on an arm she cradled.
A plea hung on my lips as she tripped over the rubble, finally reaching us. Her white brows tilted up as she scanned the giant hawk. A dark shadow flew overhead, Selvina’s caeluma cutting through the smoky crater and landing on the other side of Aquila’s form. White feathers ruffled as Nishanth splayed her wings, a wave of concern pushing over me from the snowy hawk.
Selvina and Nishanth locked eyes as they held some private conversation, and my breathing stopped.
“Step back,” Selvina commanded.
I scurried back, my hands clenched together as Nishanth flared her snowy white wings to the side. Selvina held her hands out before her, a brightness lining her form as white as her hawk caeluma, their power rallying.
Crystal blue light danced from the tips of her fingers and lingered with the matching power streaming from Nishanth’s feathers. Their power twisted together before landing on top of Aquila’s form.
A wave of fear, of pain, reached me as Aquila’s consciousness reared, and I clenched my hands to keep from sprinting to him. I sent my own comfort back … Safety, love, and relief.
The blue, glowing Ramadiel power settled into his feathers as Selvina and Nishanth cut off their power. I resisted the urge toslam my body against his, to wrap my arms around his soft neck and bury my face in his feathers.
Instead, I straightened, my shoulders relaxing as I turned to Selvina.
“Thank—”
But she’d turned, her cloak swishing as she stepped away from Aquila’s healed form and climbing out of the debris. Nishanth followed, rising into the air and letting out a heart-wrenching screech, the notes floating through the air in an agonizing cry.
I pivoted, scanning the bodies around us. Bright blood glowed against several large mounds of bear carcasses. Elven bodies littered the ground beside them, but Selvina strode right past them.
Dead then.
Emotions threatened to rise at the realization, at the fallen soldiers.
My soldiers.
A crushing weight pressed against my chest, and I struggled to fully inhale. I’d failed again. And this time, I hadn’t just let creatures through…I’d let the goddesses in. They were in the Realm of Vael, and they were coming for Lyvia. They were after the Transcindiel power, and if Tynan was to be believed, they’d come for the rest of us.
How could I let this happen? How the hell were we going to?—
A spine-splitting scream tore across the air as the smoke began to settle. Aquila lifted himself into the air and scanned the demolished crater. His eyes opened behind my own as he cast his sight to me.
The crater was eerily still, and Aquila tracked the slow movements of Selvina as she strode through the wreckage to where Kresida knelt over a small body…
Oh gods.
I ripped my consciousness back and sprinted across the crater, hurtling over demolished rock as Kresida’s pained wail rose through the smoke. She hunched over a small, unmoving form. Her dark skin peeked through the rips in her leathers as her back rose and fell in shaky breaths.
Cracked spectacles rested just beyond the tips of the dead elf’s thin fingers, and an unyielding vice gripped my chest. I slowed, and a numbness crawled over my body as I took the last steps to reach her.
I crumpled to the ground, my knees barking in pain as they hit the sharp stone, and I dragged my hand to Carina’s.
“Sobraen,” I moaned, a surge of pain clogging my throat as I looked upon the lifeless face of my cousin.
Kresida’s sob broke through the silence that stretched, and an intense burning hit me behind the eyes.
How could I have let this happen?
The question punched forward in challenge, an icy blow against my inner flames. A lifetime of regret hovered over the memories that lunged. I’d hated her for the longest time. I’d hated her for simply having the wrong mother. I’d met her cautious glances with sneers and threats, and I’d only had the last few months to make up for it.
Even then, I had failed. Had I ever welcomed her into my life? My nature toward her had merely morphed from vicious to indifferent. She was so smart, so fierce, so strong. She’d risen from meek, ignored princess to a leader of the Vael. To someone I’d follow, to someone I’d bend a knee for.
Carina’s Ravindra green eyes were dull against the hazy sky. Her brown hair was caked in blood, and a long smear of it plastered against her cheek. Liquid formed on my lower lids, and I blinked, a large drop plopping down on the limp, filthy hand I held.
