Page 123 of The Blood Crown

Silence blanketed the pines once more as a single glowing orb arced over the battlement, illuminating the night.

Three pairs of green eyes tracked its path down, down, down until it hovered only inches above the princes. Maloch moved to swat away the distraction, the slash of his mouth tugging up as the sphere descended toward him. And branches of lightning ripped through the night, exploding above the princes and tearing through the darkness.

Aurelia hadn’t understood Lanthius’ application of her magick until now. And hope flared in her chest as dozens more of the flares were lobbed into the air. The balls of light beautifuland deadly as they shattered, exploding with the pieces of black tourmaline that had been packed into their centers.

Shrieks and howls carried through the pines as demons were turned to ash, dozens of them disintegrating in an instant. The sound was deafening as the spellmasters bombarded the edge of the valley. Golden light bleached the forest white, the echo of her power ringing through the air like a current as lightning tore through their numbers.

And as the haze cleared, hundreds of charred husks littered the ground in the wake of the destruction. Piles of ash smoldered and burned. But shadows moved from deeper within the forest, crawling over the frozen ground. Hundreds of demons shambling forward to replaced the ones just killed. These creatures did not know fear—they only knew their masters' commands.

The ash shifted and moved between the scores of demons, and the debris fell away as Maloch rose to his full height, his two brothers standing beside him.

“Light my pyre and sing a lament for me,” Karro uttered, but there was no grim smile on his face. None of his usual bravado.

“You do not die this night, brother,” Seth replied, a chill spreading across Aurelia's shoulders at his words.

The prince swiped a finger along his ebony cheekbone, charred black where her magick had burned him. Irritation flashed across his green eyes as they landed on Lanthius. His voice echoed through the pines, creeping across the ground and slithering up the walls of the fortress.

There will be no mercy for any of you.

Maloch grasped the heavy scythe at his side, raising it above his head with a triumphant grin that vulgarly pulled at the stitches across his mouth.

And he let it fall.

The resounding boom thundered through the Shades, rattling the stones of the wall beneath them as panicked wails rose through the palace. The ground split at Maloch’s feet, a crack severing the forest floor, traveling the distance between the valley’s edge and the palace wall.

It spread like a poisonous vine, splitting the mortar between the stones and sending a spiderweb of cracks up the thick walls.

He lifted his scythe again, and on the second thunderous blow—the wall split, severing the white line of salt.

Chapter 64

Agius called out orders to his archers, loosing arrows at will as demons rushed the walls of the palace.

Blue cloaks held the gates shut, but they were no match against the undying strength of the drugar. Wraiths collided with them, the spellmasters casting protections to delay the inevitable as more orbs of Aurelia’s contained magick spilled over the walls, blasts of amber and silver piercing the black veil of night.

Thunder rumbled overhead as Aurelia called to her power. Streaks of white and gold branched across the sky as she threw blast after blast of her magick. Power seared her fingertips as it left her veins, sending dozens of demons scattering in the wind, only to be replaced by more. So many more.

Ven stood beside her, black flame erupting from his hands, setting the hides of the demons ablaze as whips of shadow cut others in two.

Whatever fear of the immortals the blue cloaks had was gone now as they fought back to back with the Allokin and the Blood Folk. Agius and some of his men jumped from the wall, joiningthe blue cloaks on the ground of the courtyard, attempting to cut off the demons that poured through the crack.

A shadow the size of a grizzly stood at the gates, helping the humans hold back the flood of demons. Hathos had one mighty shoulder heaved against the splintering wood, a heavy blade in his other hand as he growled with the effort of keeping the doors shut. The other smiths had taken up swords as well, fighting in the midst of the spellmasters and the blue cloaks.

Nira and a handful of Wraiths held back a horde of demons from one of the palace doorways, the only thing standing between the women and children inside and death. The flame of the Allokin prince’s red hair cut through the bodies as Agius took up the place beside her. His silver cloak whipping like a storm as his blade sliced through the air with brutal precision.

It was survival now.

“Asher!” Aurelia shouted over the clamor.

Her brother twisted around to face her, the grime of battle smeared across his brow, darkening the copper strands of his hair.

She clenched her jaw, hating the nod that she gave him—the despair that washed over his green eyes for only a moment before he was moving again.

And she thanked the Unnamed he didn’t question it. Didn’t hesitate.

Wraiths and humans and Allokin fell as the wall of demons crashed over them, but Aurelia didn’t tear her eyes away from her brother until his red hair disappeared from view, dread clenching like a fist around her as she whipped her head toward the courtyard.

To the massive silhouette that loomed at its center.

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