Page 62 of Taken By the Shadow Prince

I smash it into the back of his head, and Benji crumbles. Thank fuck.

I don’t have time for him right now.

And... and I can’tkillhim. He’s still breathing, still moving, trying to get up. “Ellis,” I say, “Please.”

He nods. “Go. I got him.”

Oh, I’d bet he does. I toss him one of my sheathes of knives, watch as he pulls one from it with ease, and then I run.

Chapter 34

Mavey

the losing team

Auley and I are as close to the front lines as we’ve been able to push our way through.

I don’t think about all the blood. All the Aligrian lives that are wasted here today.

We don’t have a choice.

We didn’t want this.

Theydid.

But the rebels aren’t the only ones dying. More and more of our own witches, our own fae, are falling, too, and Auley and I are slowly getting closer tobeingthe front lines.

I don’t know how to stop it. Is it evenpossibleto stop it? I cry out as my current opponent, a woman with dark blue eyes and ginger hair, flicks a thorny vine that’s nothing more than an extension of her hand, at my side. It’s like a barbed whip.

Kudos to her for finding a way to make her magic useful in this situation.

But my knife is far more effective than those thorns.

I realize, as the onslaught of rebel fae before us doesn’t let up, and only seems to extend further and further with each line we cut back, that there are too many of them.

Even with the demon witches—who can only do so much at once.

We’re fucking losing.

And I can’t do anything about it. Not unless—

Unless.

“Auley,” I say, “I have an idea.”

“Better be fucking brilliant,” he grits out, one of his swords burying into a burly man’s stomach. “I’ll cover you. Go.”

I don’t hesitate as I turn, sprinting through the crowds. It’s just as hard pushing through them now, especially since some of themarerebel fae, and I have to help cut them down as I go to keep myself from being one of the ones dead on the ground, to save the life of someone brave enough to fight for us.

The breath of relief that escapes me when I see that no one’s made it inside the castle yet is enough to knock a fucking house down as I race for the stairs.

This is my best bet.

It’s all of our best bets.

I pass Ellis on my way up the stairs. His face is cut up and his arms are rippled with charred, burnt skin. I almost scream, but sound evades me.

Ellis just grins. “Fucker’s a better fighter than I thought, I’ll hand it to him. Also had a fire specialty—which he was all too happy to use on me before I could come at him with water.”

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