Page 107 of Calling of the Crown

Her eyes narrowed. “I’ll be—” She gasped as a new foe landed in front of us. My mother did a double take. “Angus?”

The traitorous general stared at my mother, speechless for once.

My mother looked him over again. “You really joined the other side?”

Still, he said nothing. He just stared at her.

She slowly shook her head. “What happened to you?”

Finally, he spoke. “You did.”

My gaze darted between Mom and Angus. Tension gathered between them, and I fought to gather what it stemmed from. A history unbeknownst to me seemed to bubble up between them, and honestly, it left me feeling like I was listening in on something I shouldn’t be.

Her brow plummeted. “Me? After all this time, Angus?”

Angus held his ice sword up between the two of them as he shouted, “I refuse to follow orders from her. From Khal’s daughter.”

Her bewilderment suddenly morphed to acrimony as she bared her teeth. “You did this, betrayed your Kingdom, because of that? Because you hate Khal?”

Angus’s face turned red, and his hands tightened around his sword until they turned white. “She would’ve been my daughter if you’d chosen me! But she is Khal’s, so now I’ll destroy her legacy. I’ll destroy Khal’s legacy!”

Angus rushed forward with a bitter roar, and my mom met him with the same ferocity. The two were a mess of swings, swipes, and missed hits. Part of me desperately wanted to stay to make sure my mom was okay, but there were countless fights happening around me. I needed to stay focused, and I needed to resume my task.

Searching for Elias.

I spotted Dallas and Rune deep in combat with Fae. Gathering up water in each hand, I ran up to them, shooting the geysers at their opponents. They knocked the Land Fae back into the sea of battle.

“Have you guys seen Elias?” I asked when they turned to me.

“He was still on the other side of the lake from what I saw,” Dallas reported.

“A lot of his forces are,” Rune added, his tone darkening. “I think he’s trying to draw people over there, and from the few glances I’ve gotten, he’s keeping his strongest fighters over there.”

“Great,” Dallas huffed, surveying those still in full fighting mode on this side of the lake.

While some of our army had made it across, there were still far more gold-and-green standing over there. The ones clad in silver-and-blue on that side were … down, unmoving, and silent.

Nausea rolled through me, but I swallowed it down as Dallas finished, “He’s trying to tire us out before we make it over there. We’ll be weaker and easier to take down.”

“Avoid fighting with anyone then,” I ordered. “Let’s get across the lake and deal with Elias.”

The three of us raced across the field toward the lake. We swatted opponents and avoided putting too much energy into dealing with them. We yelled at those we passed to follow us across, and soon, silver-and-blue clad Fae were rushing toward the lake and opposing side.

I looked at Rune as we ran and held my hand out for him. “Hold on!”

He gripped my hand tightly, and as soon as we reached the shore, we didn’t stop moving. With a sweep of my hand, the water rose up like a wave and headed for Rune and me, rocketing us across the lake like a torpedo on the surface of the water. We leapt off when we reached the other side with Dallas right beside us, and Akira flying overhead

The Raven swooped down and pointed toward the thickest part of the fight that was breaking open as Fae attacked Fae. “I spotted Elias. He’s in that large group, looking very at ease, I might add.”

The knowledge that Elias wasn’t even phased by this made red hot anger boil inside me. People were dying. His people. But he didn’t give two shits.

Narrowing my eyes, I said, “Then let’s give him something to shake things up.”

Akira grinned and pumped his fist into the air. “For Ambrolia.”

I couldn’t fight my smile, because Akira was right. He was always right. We could and would do this. “For Ambrolia!”

Akira took back to the air, and Dallas, Rune, and I ran into the thick of the fight. I saw more and more of Elias’s army wielding weapons over here, and the black gunk coating them made my stomach pitch forward. One little cut, one measly drop of that getting into a wound, and we’d become as fragile as humans. Easy kill for the Fae around us.

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