Page 102 of Feathers and Thorns

They spun and parried, and blocked and sliced, until Rook was covered in a layer of sweat and struggling to breathe. He fell to a knee, heaving, but looked to where Soren was tying a strip of fabric around her leg and forced himself to stand. He needed to win this fight for her. For them. For the future of Entheas. For this world she had taught him to love. He could do this. He would do this.

“Come on, Father,” Rook spat the word out, as though it were poison on his tongue. “You can do better than that.”

Rook knew his father’s ego was incalculable and continued to spit insults as he took his time defending each swipe of Adriel’s blade. He then saw Baz and Enara helping Soren in his peripheral.

Baz took out a few of the straggling warriors from Xian-Dao as Enara helped Soren to her feet. The blade of the dagger was embedded to the hilt, and they dared not remove it for fear of her bleeding out.

Baz stood at the ready, waiting for a moment to jump in to assist Rook, when he heard the final insult that sent Adriel spiraling.

“She never loved you!” Rook bellowed.

“Ah!” Adriel roared. Those words were the final crack in the god’s armor, and his composure fell. His face became a grotesque mask of twisted hatred, his eyes blackening into those of an unhinged beast.

It was too late when Rook realized his mistake.

As he watched his father’s face change, he had let his guard fall and was unprepared to defend himself from Adriel’s next blow.

His father’s sword pierced through his armor, straight into his chest. Rook’s eyes bulged, and he choked on his own blood as he fell to the ground.

As he lay gurgling in a crimson pool, his eyes found Soren’s. He could see her fighting against Enara’s grasp to get to him.

A chill settled over him, and as his eyelids fell, he could hear Soren’s voice drift across the battlegrounds.

“I love you,” it whispered.

The words were like a cocoon, enveloping him in warmth as his soul left his body and drifted toward the after.

* * *

Soren scratched and tore at Enara’s arms, trying to get to Rook. She watched on in horror as Adriel lifted his body and tore the armor from his back, revealing the large stab wound.

“Look what we have here,” Adriel cooed. In his hands, he the held the reason for all the bloodshed—the Oculus. Rook had tucked it into a metal cavity between his armor and back plate, not wanting it to be out of arm’s reach.

Adriel lifted up the object, the metal eye seeming to mock them from across the field.

“I’ll kill you!” Soren screamed and sobbed into Enara’s arms, her body weak from the dagger protruding from her thigh.

Adriel laughed as though she had told a joke, which only infuriated her more. This man, this beast, had taken everything from her. He’d hurt her mother, he was the reason her father was dead, and now he had killed his own son on his hunt for revenge. Revenge he wanted for losing the love of her mother.

When she looked at him now, she was no longer scared, for she saw him for what he truly was—pathetic.

“You’re a monster,” she continued, and he laughed again.

“Stupid girl. Monsters are beasts that stem from nightmares. I am a god.”

“You may be a god,” Jai’s voice boomed, causing Adriel to spin, “but I am a king.”

Jai swung his sword down like an axe, severing Adriel’s arm from his shoulder. The appendage and the Oculus fell to the ground.

The sound that came from Adriel’s mouth could have crumbled mountains into sand as he spun on the tracker. His arm stump had already healed over to an angry pink socket, the skin still so thin that Soren could make out the veins below. Veins that ran black.

Adriel swung wildly, and Baz took the opportunity to run in and assist him. His arm would take a few minutes to grow back, so this would be their last chance to take him out.

Enara looked to Soren, and they didn’t need to exchange words for Soren to let Enara assist her to Rook’s side.

“I’m sorry, brother,” Enara said over Rook’s body before she ran toward where Adriel, Jai, and Baz were battling it out. She circled the three fighters, clearing the space around them, and waited for an opening to strike.

Soren watched on, helpless. Tears fell silently down her cheeks, the clear liquid adding to the crimson pool beneath her.

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