Page 108 of Fae Reckoning

Despite the chaos that clanged and screamed all around us, I heard the gold clatter against upended glass. It bounced to ding a serpent, who arced around in a whip of strength, hissing at she who’d once been its master.

For a few brief moments I just sat, catching my breath, staring at her body—her very killable-looking body.

Deep like a steady, flowing river, Einar spoke into my mind.

The sapphire-blue she-dragon, as ancient-feeling as time itself, said,

Their words merged to echo inside me, growing steadily fainter.

Like macabre hail, the former queen’s many disembodied spies—eyes, ears, and even some mouths—became suddenly visible to everyone, before plummeting all at once. With squelching splats and dull thumps, they smacked people, creatures, and the floor. Startled cries rang out in horrified offense.

the she-dragon said.

I whipped my head up to find her towering over Talisa’s prone form. The dragon smiled at me until her every sharp tooth was on display. Saliva slid along them.

Einar chuffed.

33.ALL OF EXISTENCE IS A REFLECTION OF OUR BELIEFS

ELOWYN

Once my great surge of power ebbed, evidence of the ongoing battle all around us slammed into me like an assault of its own. It was loud, grating, and absolutely terrifying in a way no imagining had prepared me for.

The lives of so many good fae were at stake. All it would take was one moment of distraction: losing balance on the uneven floor, a surprise swipe from behind, an arrow shot from across the room…

In the enclosed hall, the barrage of savage grunts and cries, the smacking of bodies and weapons, and the utterly unnerving beastly snarls and accompanying rending flesh were almost deafening. And the smells … by bitter, blistering sunshine,the smells. I easily recognized the unmistakable tang of blood, but there was also something more, worse and far fouler: the scent of intestines ripped from bodies? Bowels loosing with brutal deaths? I’d never expected war to be pretty or gentle, but neither had I understoodhow viscerally my entire body would react to the signs of pain coming from so many directions at once.

It needed to end. It needed to endnow.

I flicked a look behind me and glimpsed Rush taking on three guards, Xeno’s silver-gray dragon ripping into a pygmy ogre, and West, Ryder, Hiroshi, and Roan standing back-to-back against a stream of oversized feethles, their fur smeared with blood.

Without a chance to check on any of the others, I reminded myself sharply of what Zako would say:Fear is a distraction you cannot afford. It is the fastest way to lose all you hold dear. Steel your will, little cub! Focus only on the next strike of your blade. Kill your opponent before they can kill you. That is how you save yourself and your fellow protectors.

There was no opponent more dangerous than Talisa—and she now appeared mortal and magnificently fragile.

I craned my neck to better scrutinize the she-dragon who stood on the other side of Talisa’s limp body. The dragon dwarfed the woman, dwarfed me.

I projected my question to Einar as well, wherever he currently was.

the she-dragon pronounced in a slow, low, melodic rumble.

I jerked my stare from her to Talisa and back up.Talisa hadn’t moved except to curl in on herself, as if to make her body as small as possible.

I asked.

Or was it thelightanddarknessthat had battled it out?

My brow furrowed, I turned toward Talisa but startled when Rush dove toward me. He rolled, pushed off an upturned slab of glass, jumped to his feet, and fended off a sneakle, who with its glowing red eyes and monstrous size no longer resembled a domesticated cat. The sneakle was five times larger than any I’d ever seen before at the palace. From my other side, a wall of silver-slate-gray scales revealed Xeno was also protecting me.

I crouched next to Talisa so I could see her face beneath her cascading sheet of hair. She was still naked, still shaking … only now she was whimpering—good. Sobs racked her frame, making her shoulders curl inward as she tried to pull her knees more tightly to her chest. An expanding pool of blood—not hers—spread to wet the ends of her hair, a dark nimbus around her head.

My brows drew lower.

the she-dragon responded somberly.

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