Page 138 of The Shadow Fae Rhapsody
“Did anyone else see what happened to me just now?” I ask instead.
Shade blinks at the question. “Your hair was burning and you wiped out five orkan mages from the face of the earth. Yes, I think people noticed.”
I inhale and bottle my breath. It’s fine… calm down.
Victorious cheers resound from around us and I heave myself upright with Shade’s help. The soldiers are cleaning through the broken enemy lines, picking them up one by one. Everything has worked out as well as I’d hoped. The remaining orcs descend into panic, turning and fleeing towards the trees.
My eyes quickly move to Darstan. Relief shudders through me when I see three Hlaryan elves surrounding my knight. They’re healing the cauterized wound on his back.
I look for my uncle, but I don’t see him or his Grimsbanes. Instead, I see one of the Valorians launching himself on the back of a retreating orc. They’re attacking our enemies who yielded, abandoning all rules of warfare.
“You can’t do that…” I croak through a parched throat. I don’t have the energy and the voice to stop them.
“No more! Stand down!” Wesley steps forward to control our batallion, his armor painted in blood and dirt like the rest of us. Thank the gods he’s here to control the situation.
“Don’t look immediately, but the fae rider is staring at us,” Shade whispers in a low voice. “He’s been watching us this entire time.”
Not us Shade.
Me.
The Shadow Fae is watching me.
He’s assessing Aelfheim’s strength. I don’t know what he will make of what he saw earlier. But Landon is not focusing on me anymore. His gaze is set upon the ashes and smoke erupting from the fortress before us.
A hurricane of shadow is moving along the barricade, swallowing everything in its path.
Pure terror washes over me at the horrific sight.
It’s my Svenn…
Chapter 23 Rhianelle
The sun arches high in the sky but its light could not penetrate the darkness enveloping the fortress. Pillars of smoke rise from the structure—no, not smoke.
Shadows.
Heavens above…
I just know that the shadow belongs to Svenn.
My husband. My mate.
What is happening over there? I’m almost too scared to find out.
A whistling sound snatches me from my thoughts. My eyes meet Shade’s smoky, weary ones. He is dragging Briallen behind him. The assassin steadies my steed by the reins.
“You need to go to him, don’t you?” he asks me, as if he can read my mind.
I nod.
“Then go.”
I desperately climb on the horse, my pulse hammering like crazy. The brave stallion treads through the chaos and havoc of the battlefield steadily. I take several deep breaths to calm my racing heart. The thick smell of blood permeates the air the closer we get to the keep.
“Faster, Briallen,” I urge the warhorse as we cross the battlement gates.
The bloodbath in this fortress is far worse than the battlefield. It is a complete slaughter. I look at the bodies on the ground, their flesh peeled from the bones. None of these creatures stood a chance.
