Page 91 of Fate of Draga

Thirty hounds surrounded him, but his queen’s will would be done. Even if he had no bloody clue why she was so insistent on bringing their people behind the line she’d drawn on the map before this all had started. At this point Asher didn’t have the luxury of questioning her. He could only obey.

Which included somehow not dying.

He roared as he fought off two at once and then suddenly…they were obliterated.

Asher blinked in confusion, but then more plasma fire from his fighter hit the hounds, scattering them and sending them to the sky in pieces.

Veri was awake.

Grinning, Asher climbed up into the fighter while she took out hound after hound with a fierce look on her face. Before she could say anything he grabbed her and kissed her hard – needing the reminder she was alive and well—that they weren’t dead yet.

“You have the most perfect timing, as always,” Asher murmured, watching her take out more with that irresistible smile on her face.

“It’s part of why you love me,” she agreed. “Now can you help me out and get us a ride off of this rock? I want to be in the skies with our queen when she unleashes herself on the horde.”

Asher keyed in another request – commanding his ship to drop what they were doingnowand fetch them. “What makes you say that?” he asked.

Veri grimaced and took out the last two hounds. She released the steering and leaned back, sweat beading on her forehead. Asher checked her wound again and sent off another message to send a med team to greet them as well.

“Because,” Veri said, rolling her head to the side to stare into his eyes. “She’s been holding back. And Giselle’s death was the key to those locks. Whatever she has planned – she’s not going to be gentle about it.”

ARosaneratransport descended, landing nearby. The med team ran to them and Asher helped Veri stand. “I hope you’re right, my love,” he said, carefully handing her off to one of the physicians. “It would be no less than they deserve.”

Giselle had regained her honor with her death – but losing her could not go unpunished.

And Asher couldn’t wait to see what the true Queen of Draga had come up with to punish them for ripping their family to pieces.

SIRUS

Push their enemy outside the Kepri border – as many of them as they could. Sirus didn’t understand why when the queen had given them that order, but he’d obeyed. Now he relayed her instructions to hold that border and anyone on the other side to retreat – to the Scyrian Army. And William did the same with the rest of the fleet.

They all turned around, left the rest to be dealt with later – and pushed as many warships to the border as they could. They rounded them up and sent them fleeing if they did not destroy them altogether.

It had been hours – half the day?

Time was strange during a battle and Sirus had lost all sense of it the moment they crossed into the Khara System.

The king was dead.

Those words rippled through their forces over the channels – repeating it over and over. The vid footage would be watched later, but their queen had killed the king and given his final death blow to the Corinthian royals.

Whoever had been there had started whispering the details over the transmissions and it had spread like wildfire. It reignited the hope and determination in their fighters. Sirus could see it in the way the fighters became bolder – taking more risks but coming out the victor rather than perishing for getting tired and sloppy.

The young warrior was out there, and per his console he was still alive. Sirus tried not to think too much about it – about the kindness he’d done him when he’d started slipping.

All the gods…he missed Joslynn.

His army kept pushing, getting right up to the border and then stopping. Sirus repeated the order for any forces outside the line to pull back – get behind theWarrior’s Curse. Instantly they obeyed. But some were slow on the return.

As he watched, Sirus remembered the way Joslynn smelled. How her red hair looked splayed out on a pillow. The taste of her lips. The sharp-tongued sass that drove him up the wall—that teased him.

For her – for her he would make sure Pedranus was safe. The horde would not make it past that line. Even if he knew the weapons they were powering up would shatter every ship in his army – and all the warships behind him.

It didn’t matter as long as it gave Joslynn a safe home and a future.

“Shields up and weapons at the ready,” Sirus ordered.

Even with what they’d scavenged from the Neprijat – their range couldn’t reach the horde. They would be in the horde’s range long before they could ever get a shot off.

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