Page 191 of Gift from the Source
“Again, how much time until dawn?” Aurora asks, drawing the attention back to her.
“One hour,” Neil says.
“Then make that hour count. Get ready, stationed, and spend a moment with your families. Your objective is not to protect this palace. It is only a building and can be rebuilt. You are to protect one another and defeat our enemies no matter what. I can’t thank you all enough for what you’re about to sacrifice for this realm. May Elementra bless us all…” She trails off, taking a deep breath and turning toward us.
My eyes burn as her face softens on Corentin, Cas, myself, Draken, and then Tillman. The battle between being a ruler, an aunt, a mother, and a sister contorts her features.
“Tillme…” she says softly, “give your orders.”
His shoulders sag and I run my hand across his back as he surprisingly steps around me to swallow her in a hug. I purposely ignore the gentle words he’s murmuring to her but just imagining them makes my heart crack open for him.
He holds her shoulders as he steps back from her, sharing one last sweet, healing moment between them. When he faces the crowd in front of us, his leader mask is back in place, and we step up beside him.
“Formation, outside.”
And just like that, the first order of war has been declared.
My Nexus will be the one leading the charge.
Twenty-Two
Willow
My breath hitches as we’re the last to walk out of the Central wing and I get my first glimpse of the army outside.
It doesn’t matter which way I turn my head. There’re E.F. members everywhere, lined up. Waiting.
We don’t have to maneuver around the central for me to know they are covering every square inch of the palace grounds. Their collective anticipation vibrates through the earth and into me.
The large gap of grass and gardens that creates the central’s entrance between the north and west wing is completely covered with people.
I’m in such shock, I barely make out Tillman assigning everyone their roles and what it is they’re supposed to be doing. I try my hardest to focus, but the tree line in the distance continues to suck in my attention. Especially the E.F. members that are almost within the trees.
The guy’s game.
There’s no room for all of us out here.
We’re going to be playing the deadliest game of hide and seek.
“Don’t lose that train of thought, little warrior. Talk it out,” Tillman says and all the guys turn to me.
“The trees provide too much coverage. All around us,” I murmur.
All four of them look in the directions of the four different forests surrounding the palace. The woods they’ve played, practiced, and trained in their whole lives.
If we were to take to the sky and fly to the left, we’d reach the mansion. The right, Rebel Castle. Behind us, the academy. All warded with the force of the Ruling Nexus and them.
In front of us, the face of the central wing, is still warded, but not as layered as the other directions because traveling forward would lead you to the heart of the Central territory.
The towns, the farms, the homes, the people.
That’s where he’s going to come in.
“He’s going to attack from the front,” Cas and Draken say at the same time.
“We need more space. We need to see them coming in. The forest has to come down. The others need to be trimmed,” Corentin declares.
“We’ll do it,” Aurora says quietly from beside me and I squeeze my eyes shut. There’s such sadness in her voice.
