Page 100 of The Dryad Storm

My weakened power doesn’t budge.

A remembrance lights—Dryad power requiresDryadinspells andlivingbranches. Spitting out an epithet, I drop the dead branch and hurl myself to the side.

The scorpio barreling toward me collides with the charred trunk with so much force that its head cracks in two, black ichor spraying everywhere. But my victory is short-lived. My dread surges as a swarm of multi-eyed wraith bats and Mages on dragonback appear through the smoke above me while Yvan’s and Soleiya’s violet and gold explosions continue to detonate at my sides. The incoming Mages raise wands as they soar near and blast Shadow vines toward me.

I cry out as the vines slam into me and encircle my form. Blinding pain streaks through my broken arm and leg as my limbs are cinched to my body, a strangled scream torn from my throat as the Mages land, brutal triumph in their glowing gray eyes, my fear amplified by the wraith bats touching down all around.

What occurs next happens so fast I can barely process it.

A bolt of vermillion fire streaks in from the churning gloom above and blows up the Mages while streaks of blue and white lightning take out the wraith bats in flashes of bright light, their screams and shrieks overpowered by the roaring, multihued explosions.

A constellation of shock whooshing through me, I look up to find a huge onyx dragon with Vothe’s white-lightning eyes and Raz’zor soaring in through the Shadow storm, my brother Trystan carried on Vothe’s back, his wand raised.

Dryad Witch!comes Raz’zor’s ferocious growl.

My heart leaps into my throat as Ariel, her small raven, and three of the giant eagles fly in, my family members astride the giant saffron-hued birds.

Trystan, Vothe, Raz’zor, and Ariel immediately set about blasting away incoming Mages and Shadow creatures with great bolts of blue-and-white lightning and gold-and-red fire, their forms swallowed by the roiling gray storm as they dart into it to battle back Vogel’s forces.

Diana and Rafe leap from one of the eagles’ backs, Jarod and Aislinn off another, all of them launching themselves at incoming Mages and Shadow creatures while my spider-tattooed uncle Wrenfir, on eagleback, levels his wand and takes out another incoming Mage and his dragon with impaling bolts of thick, black vine.

Diana lets out a chilling growl, and I turn to her just as she leaps at a Mage in a blur and tears the head clear off his body before ripping the head off the Mage’sShadow dragon. Rafe punches his fist through another Mage’s chest in a spray of blood while Jarod claws the neck of the Mage’s Shadow dragon.

And Aislinn... I watch, awed, as my previously timid friend leaps at one incoming Mage after another, her dark claws out, shredding through Shadow soldiers while large explosions of Yvan’s violet fire blast through the whipping Shadow storm to my left.

A pair of gold-burning eyes appear through the roiling gray, Yvan’s mother sprinting toward me, her hand raised.

“Stop! No!”I cry as Soleiya bolts fire toward me with enough force to break bone.

A bright white stream of Vothe’s wind power jets in from the side and blasts Soleiya’s flame away. Pain throbs through my broken leg and arm like rhythmic knife strikes as Trystan knocks down Yvan’s mother with vine magic and tethers her, binding her palms to the ground.

Trystan leaps off Vothe’s back, and Vothe swiftly morphs to his human form. The two of them rush to me and drop to my level as pain sends stars through my vision.

“We meet again, Black Witch,” Vothe says, and I meet his white-lightning gaze, his mouth lifting into a wry smile as he slashes through my bindings with his extended claws.

A dome filled with Yvan’s and Raz’zor’s combined Wyvernfire blasts into being around us, pushing back both the Shadow storm and the attacking forces and revealing Yvan alongside Raz’zor’s huge, white dragon form, the two of them steadily burning fire into their shield, Wrenfir and Ariel, her raven on her shoulder, swiftly adding their own power to the shield’s fiery might.

Dropping his hands, Yvan turns and rushes toward me in a blur, passionate urgency burning in his eyes and coursing through our bond. He drops to one knee beside me, his fire aura embracing mine as his hands come to my arm and my leg. “I can sense your injuries through our bond,” he says.

“My leg and arm are broken,” I rasp, wincing from the pain as Yvan extends his claws and expeditiously slashes away my tunic’s sleeve before encircling my arm with his warm hands.

Pain spikes through me as Yvan closes his eyes, his brow knotted with concentration. A rush of his heat flows into my arm and I shiver, the pain instantly halving.

“Let mego!” Yvan’s bound mother rages at Trystan, giving him a blisteringdeath-stare as repeated explosions ignite against our shield and Raz’zor, Ariel, and others continue to blaze power into it.

“What madness is this?” Diana growls at Soleiya as my Lupine sister drops the multi-eyed dragon head she’s effortlessly gripping in her fist and levels a blood-covered finger at Yvan’s mother. “Who are you?” Diana demands, her eyes swinging toward Yvan. “I scent her as your kin!”

“She’s mymother,” Yvan bites out, enough angry fire to melt planets searing through him as he rips an opening in the side of my pants and slides his hot hands around my broken leg. My teeth clenching, I hiss against the flare of pain.

“Do not heal that Demon Witch!” Soleiya snarls at Yvan.

A growl erupts from Diana’s throat. “Silence, Lasair! You speak of mysister!”

Soleiya’s fiery gaze darts to Diana with an expression of sheer incredulity.“What?”

“Pleased to meet you, Yvan’s mother,” Trystan calmly states as he levels his wand at Soleiya, his words dangerously clipped, “but maybe, justmaybe, we could all turn our attention to killingVogel’s forcesinstead of mysister.”

Ariel tosses me a sharp-toothed grin. “This is unexpectedly entertaining.”

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