Page 108 of A Trial of War
Good riddance. These creatures were an abomination.
Zola whipped her hand outward, sending a ribbon of shadows to wrap around another’s throat, cutting off its airway and snapping its neck. But the final beast was closing in fast, and Zola was in the wrong position to evade its strike.
My paws struck the ground in a spray of dirt as I leaped again. My spine jolted, and my skull rattled as I collided with the male harpy. We hit the ground with a sickening thud, my vision blurring from the force of the impact.
The unmistakable zip of thrown daggers echoed through the space above me, along with a spew of arrows from our archers hiding in the trees. Shadows curled around me in a protective embrace as the alan’s scream turned silent.
I released my shifter magic to catch my breath, trying to balance myself as the world came into focus. Tilting my gaze up, Zola’s face was streaked with dust and blood. Her eyes softened as she raced toward me.
“Thank the gods above,” she breathed, reaching out. “You came just in time.”
“You meanIcame just in time.”
A whirl of red hair came into view, and I smiled, laughing to myself at the audacity of my fearless friend standing with a bow clutched in her hands.
“Thanks, Rhea,” I said.
I sat up and pressed my forehead to Zola. She closed her eyes, shuddering against me in a moment of relief. In the next breath, another explosion sounded behind us, and our eyes snapped open.
“We’re not done,” Rhea said, granting me a smile only she could muster. “Now, get your ass up and get back out there. Or else I’m telling your brother a bird was able to slay the kitty.”
I shook my head. “Gods above, Rhea.”
She winked before recalling the archers and disappearing back into the cover of the trees.
I turned to my mate, lowering my voice so only she could hear, “Try not to wander off this time.”
“No promises, shifter.”
I huffed a pained laugh as I reached for my magic and shifted back into my panther, ready to leap backinto the fight.
Chapter Forty-Four
Castor Aegaeon
“Move!” Daxton roared as Valencia swiped through the air, but I was already tucked into a roll, sending my blade through the skull of one human soldier before spinning and finding the next.
Gods, these humans were like roaches. You killed one, and then another ten took the fallen one’s place. Gravely outnumbered was the understatement of the century.
A premonition flashed, and my sight blackened. Time always moved differently when my gifted sight pulled me under. I could witness a scene unfold over minutes or even hours, when reality took less than a second to pass outside the confines of my magic.
Seeing our deaths at the teeth of a garmr, I spun on my heels and threw an ice spear into the beast’s neck. The creature skidded to a stop at our feet before its body hit the ground. Its legs were splayed out as its haunting sets of red eyes locked in a lifeless stare, midnight blood drenching the earth at my feet.
“Well done,” Daxton said.
A rhythmic rush of air pulsed the tips of my sensitive ears. Powerful thumps rippled like a living heartbeat through the wind as my eyes darted toward the clouded sky. Mybreath caught in my chest as a massive horde of harpies gathered like a dark storm cloud.
“Daxton, look,” I said, pointing toward the southern peak along the valley.
“I see them.” To his credit, my brother’s expression remained unchanged as his silver eyes turned to the skies.
I, on the other hand, had to force my jaw to close. There were hundreds of them…
“Where is Adoh—” I didn’t have time to finish the thought as the neighs and wingbeats of our own aerial forces sounded in the skies.
Adohan and Idris surged forward astride their pegasi, the thunder of beating wings shuddering through the air as heat shimmered off fire-wreathed swords and spears. Behind Adohan, Skylar wheeled in her phoenix form, her blazing feathers shedding embers that crackled against the wind.
I should have sighed in relief at seeing Adohan’s inferno cutting a blazing path through the sky, but the moment the pegasi took flight, another tremor slithered down my spine. My gifts took control and pulled me under once more.
