Page 132 of Fallen Heirs

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~Talon~

The ground reverberated beneath our feet like violent aftershocks after one hell of an earthquake. And although it wasn’t actually splitting, the arched gateway over in the distance emanating Ore’s purple magic sure was.

If that hadn’t been enough to cut into our training session, it had gotten worse moments later, drawing the attention of the several hundred troops up toward the purple-hued sky of the dimension that had been created by Ore. Thunder had begun to rumble, then the fake sky had begun blinking rapidly, straining to hold its form.

I spun from being surrounded by the members of theObsidianarmy to see the foundations of some of the troop housing buildings cracking, walls even crumbling to pieces.

“Holy shit,” I breathed.

Gasps, shouts, and a whole lot of shocked chatter erupted into a deafening cacophony all around me.

Before chaos could take hold, Marlowe, Xavier, and Alena started directing everyone, getting them to take their battle stations, ready their shields, their weapons.

Through it all, though, I could only think of one thing.

Orpheus.

I went to call on my senses to locate him when a cloud of silver smoke erupted and there he was just outside the central quarters being held steady by his father.

I unfurled my wings and I was there before them in the next second.

“What’s happened?” I demanded, my urgency unchecked as I took in his unsteadiness and the pain all over him.

“It’s Lenora. She’s breaking through my magic forming the pocket dimension,” he told me.

“Shit, no. This wasn’t supposed to go down yet. Not until Elliot has his magic back and we can put down Constantine, plan it out where we catch her off guard in a sneak attack and then—”

“It’s happening, Tal,” he told me, laying his hand on my shoulder. “It’s happening right now either way.”

“Stop resisting her attack,” Saryan instructed him.

“He’s right, it’s hurting you, Ore.”

He looked between us. “If I give in, this entire place will be destroyed.”

“I’m aware,” Saryan said. “With celestial magic at her behest, she’ll succeed in breaking through either way. Holding out is futile and it will only serve to weaken you when your army needs you to lead them.”

Ore looked out at his army taking position in front of the gates, standing tall in spite of everything crumbling around them. Even one of the buildings finally lost its structural integrity and collapsed in a thunderous crash of stone and metal, until it was nothing but mere rubble.

He gritted his teeth, then I saw his eyes flame with his telltale purple, a moment before a huge sigh of relief escaped him. “It’s done,” he told us, easing away from Saryan’s support, no longer needing it now he’d let go, and he stood tall, squaring his shoulders.

“Go, Father,” he said. “Perform the spell for Elliot. We need him back at full power for this. Alena needs him as an anchor before we can open the portal.”

I saw his hesitation to leave his son right on the brink of battle, but being a tried and tested leader, he was also able to think in big-picture terms, and it had him giving a nod, then teleporting away to do what needed to be done.

Ore grabbed my arm and teleported me down toObsidianwith him.

We rematerialized right by Alena and Xavier, while Marlowe was on the frontlines guiding the soldiers into position, the werewolves in one unit, vampires in another, the Light Fae recruits with the magic-wielders. The latter he positioned at the front like he and Ore had agreed upon when they’d been strategizing our assault that was supposed to happen in the next few days, on our terms.

But now there was this.

This shit-show and chaos that Lenora had brought about.

“Reinforce Constantine’s cell,” Ore told Alena. “An additional ward around Tal’s phoenix fire. The building itself will fall, but we need to keep the cell itself intact.”

“Got it,” she said, teleporting away to take care of it.

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