Page 269 of Lady of Starfire

A phoenix with flames like the one he was bonded to.

A silver hawk who could command the winds.

A red stag of the earth.

A horse of water.

An eagle of the wild and untamed.

A wolf of the moon.

“Holy gods,” she heard Sorin murmur, and when she opened her eyes, she could only stare as the spirit animals entered the battle. She suddenly understood exactly why Saylah had gone to get them to fight in the war for this realm. She understood what Cethin had meant when he said they’d been preparing.

If bonded, they’d appeared next to those they were bonded to, amplifying their gifts. Azrael was astride Rinji, the two of them creating giant crevices in the earth while Maliq was herding and forcing soldiers into them before Azrael buried them alive. Briar and Abrax had a cyclone of water stretching to the sky where Nasima was forcing seraphs into it with mighty gusts from her wings. Ranvir was soaring with Tybalt and Razik in their dragon forms. Shirina mauled and tore apart soldier and seraph alike while Amaré flew close, setting them all on fire.

Scarlett twisted to look up at Sorin. “Our turn.”

His mouth crushed to hers for the briefest of moments before he was diving back to the ground, clutching her close. Their feet hadn’t even touched the ground yet when his flames flared out in a wide radius around them. Shadows poured out of her, merging with them to create shadowfire. They let it devour. Tendrils of it reached into the sky, snagging low-flying seraphs and pulling them down, never to rise again.

She and Sorin kept moving the entire time, trying to find Rayner and Callan. Until they finally spotted them. Callan was even bloodier, and Rayner—

Well, the Reaper had definitely come to fight as he moved around Callan faster than Scarlett could track. There were piles of ash around them. But now that they had found Callan, she needed to get to Drake and her sisters. She sent a message off amid a swirl of shadows.

“Stay with Rayner and Callan,” she yelled to Sorin.

“How are your reserves?” Sorin demanded, yanking on the shadowfire to block a group of advancing soldiers.

“Fine. Once we have Drake, I think I can end this.”

“Do you need them filled?”

She shook her head, stretching her hand into the air. “I’ve been conserving. Kind of.”

It was partially true. There was a reason she hadn’t been in the sky with her shadow dragon, and she’d been trying to make use of her blades more than her magic. Just like there was a reason she had sent a message to Cassius, who was currently swooping low and grabbing her arm to swing her up to him. She looped her arms around his neck as she was once again hauled into the sky.

“Do you know where they are?” she asked Cassius when he banked hard to avoid a torrent of water that had been sent their way. But the number of seraphs in the sky was greatly diminished. Between the dragons and the newly arrived spirit animals, they were making headway.

“Yes,” Cassius answered, rolling to avoid a dagger of fire as he sent dragon fire at the seraph who had hurled it at them. “Shirina and Amaré were making their way to them.”

She spotted them a moment later, and Scarlett couldn’t help but smile, watching her sisters fight alongside the spirit animals.

Then she saw where they were trying to get to and realized the dragons weren’t the only reason there weren’t as many seraphs in the sky. Nuri hadn’t been exaggerating. There were at least a hundred soldiers—seraph, Fae, and mortal—surrounding Drake, who was unconscious in the center of them. She knew he wasn’t dead because of his connection to the Maraan Lords, and while Nuri and Juliette couldn’t get to Drake, the opposing forces also couldn’t get him out. Scarlett’s own forces surrounded them.

“What’s the plan, Scarlett?” Cassius asked, giving her a moment to survey everything from the sky.

“It’s more of a theory,” she answered as she watched the spirit animals each move with their own grace and speed.

“Can this theory be put into effect now? Even with the spirit animals, we’re being overrun. We simply don’t have enough forces here. Maybe we retreat while we can,” Cassius said.

“No,” Scarlett argued, pieces of a plan falling into place. An insanely risky plan, but they were out of safe options. “This is our only chance with the spirit animals. They will be too drained after this. We use every advantage they can give us. If the Fae and Avonleyans can help shield the mortals, and the spirit animals spread out to help me control the Chaos, I think I can end this.”

“End this? The entire battle? There are still several hundred of Alaric’s forces down there, Scarlett.”

But the Chaos inside her was already vibrating at the thought, and whether from the Chaos or because she was their queen, the spirit animals were already following her plan. She could see them disappearing and reappearing in soft flashes of light in areas throughout the carnage below.

Sorin! Tell the others to shield as many of our forces and the mortals as we can.

Scarlett—

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