Page 32 of Flight of Fate

“On my signal.” Recienne draws his sword with one hand, taking Kaira’s with the other. “The two of us site-hop in. The rest of you fly in. Make sure you don’t get hit by arrows or fire.”

It’s a useless order when neither of us intends to come anywhere near enemy missiles, magical or otherwise. But it shows how much Recienne cares even when all emotions have been wiped from his face, leaving behind the cold and deadly Fairy King, who will sacrifice anything to protect his realm and his mate.

“Be careful,”I whisper before he disappears, taking my sister with him into harm’s way, and much as I hate it, I know she is in good hands with him, as safe as anyone could be on a battlefield.

Herinor doesn’t seem to be as confident in the Fairy King’s skills because he’s already soaring after them to the edge of the battle where Recienne and Kaira have popped up, taking down soldiers with arrows.

Silas and Royad follow suit, only Myron waiting for me to take off. The moment I’m airborne, he’s at my side, powerful wings beating air which now tastes of blood and death.

Herinor is already shifting back into his fae form, silver light flooding the seam of the battle, taking down a row of soldiers in its wake.

Something loosens in my chest at this proof that not all of the soldiers are wearing serum-coated armor, even if they all are dressed in the same, dull gray, leather headpieces covering all but their features. As we approach the northern rim of the battlefield, I can see Tori’s forces across the river, their magic spearing for Erina’s army and not doing much damage. Thesame is true for Tata’s side in the south where all soldiers have resorted to fighting with their blades while they duck around assaults of fire magic. So they do have Flames in their ranks.

That will make things difficult, even with Tori’s men sending assaults of water into the battle, dousing the fires where they sear into our lines.

Myron banks right, to the northwestern side of the enemy army. We’re high enough to be out of the arrows’ reach, but not for much longer. On the ground, fairy blood is soaking the soil red on Tata’s line, and if we want to aid her troops, we’ll need to push through the army.

Below, Recienne and Herinor are striking with their magic, taking down soldier after soldier while Kaira is already setting a trap. Silas and Royad are slicing into soldier after soldier, a silver shield glowing around both of them that keeps out arrows and magic—for now.

Already, soldiers are shouting forthe weapon. Already, formations are changing, bringing the fighters unprotected by the magic-nullifying armor closer to the center so a band of those who are wearing it meet the Crows first. My chest tightens as Myron joins them on the ground, shifting as he lands with easy grace, death in his eyes and silver and black mingling at his fingertips as he hurls his power at the enemy.

Not at the front lines but right at those who are now hiding at the center of the army. They fall like cut wheat stalks.

A chance—we’ve got a chance at ending this quickly if we follow his lead, go for the ones who are hiding behind the protective lines of better-equipped soldiers. Recienne immediately picks up on Myron’s tactic, sending a dark wind into the enemy army like a comb, severing heads where his power isn’t dulled by drug-coated leathers.

“Ready?”Kaira draws my attention while I circle back here where arrows still can’t reach, and where she’s drawing out twoof the soldiers, siphoning the fire they are sending her way and throwing it into a shield of flame they easily walk through. But that’s what she wants them to do. To feel confident they have the upper hand, that the part-Flame is oblivious to the advantage they have with that cursed armor of theirs … so we can strike right when they are certain she’ll be easily picked off.

Herinor shifts into the space behind the soldiers on instinct, cutting them off from their army, making himself useful in a way we hadn’t anticipated. Not to help me, of course, but to protect Kaira from more assailants than she can handle at once.

Noiselessly, I dart from the skies, right for one of the soldier’s eyes, ripping them out with an efficient tear of my claws while Kaira cuts the other soldier’s throat with a swing of her dagger. The male goes down with a gurgle of blood while my victim is screaming at the top of his lungs, blindly batting at me with his slender silver blade.

I’m back in the air before any arrows can find their mark, and Kaira’s shield holds as they rain upon her—perhaps the silver layer Herinor has thrown up and which is now sizzling against Kaira’s wall of fire helps. I don’t dare glance back to confirm. Kaira is already looping the fire around the next soldier, teasing him away from the bulk of the battle while Herinor makes way for the poor lad whose eyes I’ll take next. Royad and Silas are standing back-to-back, their swords and hatchet gleaming crimson in the light of the setting sun spilling across the field like a river of blood itself.

Tori’s units are still sending splashes of water into the steaming battle wherever flames dance among the soldiers, and I consider it a small mercy that their powers don’t reach far enough to take out Kaira’s intercepted fire.

A wide grin spreads on the face of the next man stepping through the burning curtain of magic, gaze sliding up and down Kaira’s form with surprised delight, lingering on her chest, herhips, for a moment too long to be merely assessing an opponent. I don’t give him time to speak his vile thoughts before I spear for his face, wishing I could go for the artery at the side of his neck instead so he could see who is taking his life, but I’m careful not to get too close to the leather lest it be coated in the drug. I have no idea what contact with the magic-nullifying serum would do to me when I already don’t have access to my power, but I’d rather not test it during battle.

“Cut his throat, will you?”I tell Kaira as I claw my way into the sockets of his eyes, digging deep before I rip them out.

The man’s scream ends abruptly as not Kaira’s blade but Herinor’s severs the man’s neck, almost shoving me along with the force of it.

Shouting a caw at him, I rise back into the sky, out of the reach of drug-coated arrows. Herinor wipes a bunch of them from the air like a swarm of annoying insects before he turns back to the battle.

“Always making sure you’re not helping me, aren’t you?”I growl after him, but he ignores my remark. There’s no need to when it’s clear that that extra shove was to abide by the bargain he made by hindering me rather than aiding me in his taking down the enemy.

From up here, I can make out the mass of dead soldiers at the center of the battlefield, the ring of magically equipped ones fighting around them in thinning lines.

We’re winning. And despite the losses on Tata’s end, the Crows on this side haven’t even broken a sweat. This will be over in no time.

Hope blooms in my chest as I dive for the next soldier Kaira separates for us, careful to avoid the arrows flying for me. By now, Erina’s men have figured out that the danger isn’t merely coming from the ground and the other side of the river but that I’m a danger, too. A small one, but any enemy taken down is awin, right? So they are coming for Kaira and me, and her firewall won’t hold for long when they start pushing.

Twenty

Myron

Bringing allthese forces north might have been a vast miscalculation on our end, I think as I fell another group of soldiers behind the front lines, my power easily sneaking past them as long as I’m careful not to touch their armor, avoiding to make contact with the serum potentially coating them which might weaken my magic. How it knows which soldiers to attack and which ones to stay away from is a question to ponder later, when we’re back at the palace and Ayna can explain how exactly she plans to turn immortal. Because, while this battle was terrifying me before she spoke that promise, now it’s her words that won’t let my heart slow from fear that the ancient magic holding us to our bargains and promises will come for her if she fails.

If—because I can’t allow myself to think her failure is a given. I wouldn’t survive it. Literally.

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