Page 35 of Bonded to the Fallen Shadow King

“Get up,” Thalira shouted from inside our platform. “You need to take cover. Get in here now!”

Blood almost frozen, I howled in agony and determination. The bugs faltered, and I climbed on all four legs once again.

More manticores soared down in spirals, claws extended, tails cocked. They hammered against the shields surrounding each circle. Kaylen’s shield rippled and flickered, the force making the glow stutter. Beetles the size of dogs clawed up the glass-like barrier. The swarm had grown teeth, legs, wings—and now it had mass.

Thalira lashed a manticore out of the air with one crack of her water whip, slamming it into the stone below. The impact sent a tremor through the floor. Aelir kept her arms out, wind screaming past her in burst after burst, while Myantha drove stone wedges upward like blunt knives to carve through the approaching waves of creatures.

Shadow tendrils burst from the darkness, surging past us and strangling a manticore mid-swoop. Its body jerked and flailed, wings twitching erratically before it dropped from the air with a sickening crunch. Rhielle didn’t move from her place, her face blank, but the magic curling from her fingers was anything but calm.

Raising her uninjured arm, Velessa shoved wind toward them with a cry, the funnel lopsided and wild. It caught the edge of another manticore and sent it tumbling over, its claws gouging long grooves into the floor as it spun.

My chest expanded with warmth and hope. This was how we all should survive—by working together.

Yuki lured the wounded manticore she had baited, guiding it with tremors and cracking rock toward Deallan’s circle. It slammed full force into the side, sending a ripple through their shield. The fae within scattered, screams piercing the chaos as their lights flickered. The shield held, but cracks spread like frost under pressure.

“Let’s go.” Quen grabbed my foreleg and tugged me through the small clearing Aelir was making with the wind.

I drove forward with all four legs, ignoring how heavy each felt to lift. I wasn’t sure how much longer I’d be able to move, so I had to get to safety. The other two fae ran almost as fast as me, proving how slow I was now.

Just as wings flapped in our direction again, we reached our platform. I leapt forward, paws catching the edge. The shield gave way for me, and I passed through and landed hard inside. Behind me, Yuki slammed against the outside, the barrier holding her back. Quen hit next to her, both of them shouting.

Holy crap. I didn’t just do all that for them not to be able to get in here. I refused to accept that. I prepared myself to launch outside again despite the bugs closing around us again when Rhielle turned from the swarm.

“Press your crystals into the shield. That’s how it knows you!” she screamed.

Quen and Yuki didn’t hesitate. The second the pieces met the barrier, light snapped out and pulled them inside. For one brief moment, it felt like we might be safe.

A horrible crack echoed from across the arena, sharp and splintering. Velessa pointed at the circle farthest away. “It’s breaking open!”

The shield of the circle near the sea serpents and even the platform itself shuddered under the onslaught. Three manticores slammed against it in unison, and the dome fractured. A second crack followed like a snapping bone. Light vanished. The shield dissolved. The women inside screamed.

Then the swarm poured in.

Beetles, spiders, and snakes rushed the fallen shield. The women’s pleas turned to shrieks. One woman tried to run, but a scorpion tail slammed her down. Another raised her hands in defense, and snakes circled them, hissing and biting.

My rage burned through the coldness, and I prepared to go help them when Rhielle stepped in front of me and looked in my eyes. “I respect you and agree with your philosophy, but if you leave youwilldie before reaching them. We need you here.”

I whimpered, hating that she was right. Quen, Yuki, and I hadbarelygotten here.

Still, each scream fractured my heart further, and I lifted my head, howling in mourning. I’d witnessed so much death, and it only got harder.

Quen and Yuki pressed their crystals into place. The hum deepened, and the shield over us surged. The circle’s glow brightened, rich purple swallowing the dark teal. A low hum reverberated beneath my paws. A hard shimmer formed at the base, the barrier thickening and stabilizing.

Still the swarm didn’t stop.

Insects clung to the shield, their bodies pressed so thickly against it that I could barely see through. Most of the creatures were now wolf-size. Their legs scratched the glass, sounding worse than nails on a chalkboard. Pinchers and stingers scraped and tapped, and their jaws snapped at the barrier.

Acid hissed in long, weeping trails where slime struck the shield. The manticores above dove again, hammering the dome. Quills bounced off—until one didn’t.

The impact rang like a bell, sharp and metallic. A jagged line split outward from the right side of the shield. The quill stuck straight through, and the fracture spider-webbed outward.

Creepy crawlies poured through the gap.

My stomach dropped, and I snapped at them, trying to force them back.

Rhielle’s shadows surged. Aelir spun, throwing small wind blades. Myantha slammed her feet down, and jagged stone punched up from the ground outside our shield.

I lunged into the mass, teeth and claws raking whatever I could reach, and ignored the awful bites that engulfed me.

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