Page 116 of An Honored Vow

Riven chucked a pillow through the portal and stood to change clothes. Dynara turned around but didn’t leave, hiding her giggles behind a cough.

Gerarda’s lip curled back in annoyance at my sleepy pace. “The Dead Wood is on fire.”

I yanked my leathers on in a fit of panic. “Next time,” I said to them, pulling on my boot, “you lead with that.”

Riven grabbed a tunic from his closet and handed it to me.

“Don’t need it.” I shook my head, pulling on my leather vest. “I want Damien to see my scars when I kill him.”

Gerarda flipped her blade in her hand, the smell of smoke drifting through the portal. “We have a lot of soldiers to get through first.”

I stepped through the portal trying to braid my hair, but it was too short. Gerarda pulled half of it back and secured it into a small knot. “That should hold well enough.” She nodded at the end of the tent. “Syrra and El already took the troops to the wall.”

Gwyn cleared her throat.

“With the help of Ring,” Gerarda added.

I turned to Gwyn. “You need to conserve your energy. The march wasn’t that far and we were supposed to wait until dawn.”

“There won’t be a dawn,” Gwyn said darkly as she pulled open the tent. “The suns rose an hour ago.”

The sky was black. Not a ray of sunlight or star could be seen through the thick purple smoke that rose as high as the tallest clouds and cast the new morning into never-ending shadow. Theshirakcircled the Order and Koratha with no signs of leaving. Their wide wings made wind so strong I could feel it along the tree line. My nostrils burned and my mouth dried at the taste of ashen wood and death.

Tears welled in my eyes as I saw the Dead Wood. The forest that had sprung back to life was once again black and burnt. The entire wood was alit with violet flame. I gritted my teeth. Damien’s purple fire shielded theshirakfrom the sun, losing us our advantage.

My stomach churned as I tried to quell the flames, but all I managed was to drain my power. I sent a gust, trying to push through the thick clouds of smoke, but whatever magic Damien had tainted the fire with made it almost impossible.

“Enough,diizra.” Riven grabbed my arm. “Lash died fighting Damien’s violet flames.”

I sighed and took in the sight below. The white wall of Koratha was lined with soldiers, two dozen thick at least. They held torches in their shield hands; it was the only reason I could count their number at all. Tiny little matches in the darkness. Dynara opened another portal and brought us to the tents behind our army. It was not nearly as big as what Damien had amassed. I doubted we had more than a quarter of his men.

But we had more than a dozen Fae who would not be taken by surprise like our foremothers had been. We were here to fight.

“Should we light the faebeads?” Syrra asked in way of greeting.

I looked out at our ranks. Every soldier was standing tall, holding weapons that had only been smithed the day before. Some wore dark ink along their faces like Syrra did, and others decorated their brows with thin strands of gold that were pinned to the backs of their braids.

“Do it.” I nodded at Syrra, and she gave the command in Elvish, lifting her golden sword as our side of the battle was lit with faelight. Theshirakscreeched into the darkness at the light. Some perched along the back walls, craning their necks as they screamed while others circled the palace. We had their attention now, and they were not pleased with the intrusion.

Riven grabbed my hand. “I will be with Rheih.” I pulled him into a tight embrace, feeling the warmth of thediizrahe was keeping for me under his leather chest plate. I reveled in his scent, the warm birchwood that was the closest thing to home I knew mixed with parchment and ink. His hand caressed my back as we held each other, all our secrets told. At least if we died today, we would die as true to ourselves as we could be.

Riven cleared his throat, tears stinging his eyes. “If this is farewell—”

I pressed my lips to his. “No farewells. No last words.” I stood on the tips of my toes and pressed my forehead against his. “I will find you when the smoke clears and we have won.”

Riven’s stare hardened as his eyes traced over every line of my face like a painter, committing it to memory by force. He pressed a kiss to my neck so no one else would hear his words but me.

“Go fulfill your promise,diizra.” He pressed his hand to his chest, holding Brenna with all the gentleness he saved for me. “And then return so we can fulfill ours together.” My throat tightened, too much to say anything back to him. Instead, I laced our fingers and pressed a kiss to his palm. Then Dynara opened a portal and Riven was gone.

The gates opened. I braced myself for even more soldiers to be let into the field, but it was clear these were not soldiers at all.

They were Halflings.

Hundreds of Halflings.

Damien was pushing them out of the city to tame our attack. The threat was clear. Use our full strength, and he would send down a hell storm ofwaateyshirakon the innocent Halflings we were trying to save. He’d just turned this into a rescue mission as well as a battle. I could almost feel his hand on my back, moving me like a pawn on a chessboard, delighting in the feel of my scars and the panicked heartbeat in my chest.

Syrra stepped beside me. “He believes he has us pinned.”

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