Page 89 of From Frost to Flame

Chapter Twenty-One

Silas

It took everythingin Silas to leave Lex’s tight embrace and make his way to the frontline, backed by over a thousand soldiers. He led them down the middle of their city streets. With the aid of Mora and Julian, they evacuated every home and shop in record time.

Compared to Dionysus’s shadowy, narrow streets, Orion’s roads were wide and bright. A majority of the homes were crafted out of white stone with cerulean roofs. Lush green mountains sprayed with white wildflowers flanked the back half of the castle, and the only way into their kingdom was through silver gates on the opposite side of their borders. Tonight, they were bolted shut. Their kingdom’s beauty and grandeur was a tribute to the blood spilled—past and present.

The werewolves stood at the ready. Some waited at the castle’s ramparts. Others sat on rooftops with catapults, harpoons, and other weapons. A warrior kingdom meant every building had the potential to be turned into a warring station at a moment’s notice.

Silas's eyes darted to every shadow cast by the full moon and the burning stars above. The air crackled with electricity, and he knew she was somewhere close. Somewhere watching.

He raised his hand and his troops halted. “She’s close.” As if responding to him, coal gray storm clouds spawned in the distant sky and began rolling in unnaturally fast. “Eyes up and brace yourselves!”

The storm consumed the skies, blocking out every star. Castor on his left and Vega on his right shivered as the air turned frigid.

Once the kingdom was cloaked in darkness, the clouds erupted. Buckets of freezing rain fell from the sky, and countless lightning bolts shot out. The streaks of electricity shattered windows and set the buildings ablaze.

“Ready!” He gripped the hilt of his sword, ready to slice at her icy tentacles when they descended from the clouds. Instead, a crescendo of wings came from the bowels of the storm.

“We have fae!” Silas called. Seconds later, glowing purple arrows rained down mercilessly. “Break off, start the maneuvers we planned, and avoid The Ravenous One at all costs. She’s mine. Now, for the seven clans, and for Orion!”

There were cheers, howls, and growls as they charged headfirst into battle.

The fae hid behind their invisibility, but the wolves had home advantage. Vega’s voice rang out, guiding catapults. A powder made from Orion’s mystical bioluminescent plants sprayed the skies. It caked the Fae in yellow dust, turning them into bright targets against the storm clouds. Wolves pounced from rooftops and brought the marked down to the earth to die. The fae weren’t made for close combat, but werewolves were bred for it. The sharp and sour scent of fae blood filled the air as Orion’s pristine streets ran red.

Silas pushed onward toward his mother, but as he watched the sky for airborne threats, he paused.

Something isn’t right.

The fae’s deadly precision was entirely lost. Instead, they dipped and jerked like drunken mosquitoes. Even when their wings were ripped off, they tried to fly as if they were unaware. A fae landed in front of him with a sword drawn. Silas met its eyes and dread spilled over him. It was Arden.

Silas could smell the death on him. The gash in his neck had festered and his eyes were leached of color. He watched as Arden’s face contorted into an arrogant sneer he recognized. His mother was hidden behind the flesh of the once proud fae prince.

I’m sorry,Arden. Even you deserved to rest. “Are they all dead?”

“Some are, some aren’t,” she replied. Her voice blended with the hollow voice of Arden’s.

“Silas? What do you want to do?” Vega called from a rooftop, clearly realizing they were fighting the possessed.

“We do what we must,” he called back, staring at his mother. “She won’t let them live either way.”

The words tasted heartless in his mouth as he said them, but he knew her. She was going to make his army slaughter the innocent. A bloody punishment for his disobedience. “Just kill them quick.”

She let out a wicked laugh and lunged for him. In a flash, he swung his sword straight through Arden’s neck, finishing what Lex had started. Beheaded, Arden fell to the earth with a sickening thud.

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