Page 128 of A Sun Scorched Bloom

Two of the sick, Sierra and Tiff, began to run forward, but Lea ordered them to stop, flashing lightning to catch their attention. "Stay where you are!" she ordered as the wind abruptly picked up. A strong gust threw her words across the field, and they paused.

Lea shot a thick stream of black fire into the grass. It spread like a spider web, branching out and twisting around her fellow soldiers while wrapping around her enemies. Their swords melted and their skin dissolved from their bones as her molten fire encased them, destroying them completely. Their screams of pain fueled her fury, as if her darkness fed off of the torment and suffering of the wicked.

But, unlike the last time Lea had witnessed battle, she felt no remorse.

Back to back with Gray, they fought in tandem, flames and fire, swords and shadows and smoke circling around them in a lethal waltz. Lea’s weapon guided her movements as wave after wave soldiers were cut down, with only a few of Alaric’s men breaking through their lines.

Their casualties had been minimal so far, at least that Lea had seen, and she sent up a quick prayer that Emma’s plans were working. She raised her sword, preparing to incinerate a man in red approaching a young female soldier fighting valiantly with only a small dagger, when the man stopped in his tracks. It was as if the goddess of the moon had finally heard her. Red exploded from his chest, blood spurting as he fell to his knees.

It worked.Lea almost sobbed as another enemy soldier near her fell to the ground, holding his neck as blood bubbled from a clean slice across his throat. Emma had done it. The dead were with them.

Lea let the pain of the loss of their own soldiers and the memory of losing her mother fill her chest, spurring her anger and fueling her darkness as another tug nagged at her mind. She threw up a shield to answer the call of her magic, following the tether to a view of a mountain stream where the red backs of soldiers retreated in the distance.

They’re retreating. I don’t know why, but they’re heading your way.Lea pulled back and quickly flashed through her other connections to see the same thing again and again—soldiers turning around and heading toward the middle of town.

Alaric’s here somewhere,Lea thought, searching for him. He was commanding them. He had to be. Why else would they retreat?

More soldiers are coming.Lea resumed fighting.

Got it.Gray replied through their connection as he leapt through the air and sliced the hand off a soldier about to stab a rebel from behind before doing the same to his head. He turned to her, fury in his eyes, blood splattered across his face.

Find him,Gray commanded as the storm clouds darkened overhead. Thunder boomed, shaking the earth.I’ll cover you.As Gray shrouded her in shadows and stepped in front of her, he forced a long tendril of darkness into the chest of an approaching soldier, his red uniform turning even darker as blood ran from his hollow chest. Gray threw his body to the side, summoning his lightning and striking a group of nearby royal soldiers as a fire wielding rebel melted their weapons.

Lea searched through Bearswillow, probed every possible avenue for Alaric. Hehadto be here, but she couldn’t see him through Vincent’s eyes as he picked off soldiers staggering through the woods, nor through Thomas’s as he watched over Emma. He wasn’t around where Erik fought at the edge of the field, staying close to where Janelle hid within an enchanted pocket of the woods to focus on what her magic was telling her.

Lea hadalmostgiven up and returned to fighting when she felt a pull of her magic—no, a yank. It screamed of danger and desperation, and Lea dove toward the tether, following it until she finally saw what she was looking for—the worst case scenario.

He’s here. He’s walking toward your house right now.Through Noah’s eyes, Lea saw Alaric, dressed in a crisp, stark white uniform trimmed in gold and striding confidently up the side of the hill she knew so well. His blond hair was unmistakable, as was the arrogant posture in which he carried himself. Green eyes scanned his surroundings, full of fire and malice.What is he doing?Lea wondered. There was no way he knew that Emma was there. The soldiers hadn’t been told the details of their plan. Only that if they died, to make sure they did so holding their sword.

Her vision began to move as Noah stood and looked down at his shaking hands. He pulled his sword from its sheath, a prayer falling from his lips.

"Don’t!" Lea screamed. "Stop! We’re coming!" Lea’s heart stopped, her lungs seizing as panic filled every inch of her body. Dammit! She should have worked harder to make the magic tether work both ways. She needed to warn Noah, had to stop him.

Gray’s voice was suddenly in her head.What's happening?

Alaric is here. He’s walking toward my house, and Noah is going to fight him.Lea dug deep inside her chest, pulling and molding her powers into a molten ball waiting to detonate.

He’ll be killed.Gray’s panic was evident in his voice.

Lea threw a dark, soot-filled flame into the sky, and Erik’s head snapped up, meeting Lea’s eyes. His jaw clenched as he sprinted into the woods, emerging seconds later holding Janelle in his arms.

"Lea!" Gray roared, pulling her attention back to him. "I’ll go after him. I’ll save them.Please, just stay here. Help our soldiers. I’ll call a storm when Alaric is dead, and you can join me and plant the seeds—"

"I willneverleave you to fight alone again.Never!" Lea grabbed Gray’s arms and shook, but his strong frame was immovable.

The moment Erik and Janelle reached their side, Lea plunged into her darkness. She felt like she was burning from the inside out, but she didn’t care. There were too many royal soldiers to kill, and so many of Alaric’s men were still running through the streets to join the battle.

With a scream of determination, Lea stomped her foot, throwing her arms out and her head back. Black flames erupted in front of them, dividing the majority of what remained of Alaric’s forces from the rebels in the back with a wall of fire. She reached for the ends of the flames and grabbed them in her mind, forcing them to encircle the town square completely.

Behind them, a few rebels still fought against Alaric’s men, but with them separated from new attacks, and with the help of the fallen, they at least had a better chance of survival.

Lea pulled Erik and Janelle close, then encased them all in a shield of shadows. For just a second she parted her flames, pulling Gray and the others with her to the edge of the woods before closing the gap and sealing off the rebels once again. With an order to run, they darted through the dense forest, avoiding the town square as they circled around the village to get to Lea’s house. Why had they decided to place Emma so damned far away?

Sensing her urgency, Gray lifted Lea to his chest, increasing their speed and sprinting toward her old home. They flew across the ground, behind the courthouse, and past the Coughlin’s until her cottage appeared on a hill in the distance, the sun just beginning to sink below the horizon behind it.

Lea screamed for Noah to stop as he emerged from behind the maple tree near her now overgrown garden, close enough to hear her, but too far away for her to intervene. Alaric’s head snapped up, a sneer smearing across his face as his eyes met hers, then shifted to Noah.

The young boy who had never killed anyone, who had helped her with her fire and told her a hard truth when she’d most needed to hear it, who had shown his loyalty and bravery again and again, looked like a warrior as he ran with his chin high and his sword raised.

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