Page 68 of Once Written in Gilded Blood

The fighting continues beyond them, knights aware of the dragons around them but locked in sword fights with the others.

I spot the kings, their blades striking loudly. King Achill is the strongest of the demons, and Borlin the same for the demigods. Their battle reminds me of how much energy came off each blow Kalel and I had against one another. Each strike is lethal.

“They won’t hear us!” I cry and look to Kalel.

He shifts his grave stare to the black dragon beside him, and the beast lets out a mortifying roar, many of the knights around us dropping their weapons to clasp their hands over their ears.

“Now, come on, Alira, move!” Kalel grabs my hand, and we charge through the masses while they are recoiling from the dragons. More of them begin to roar and garner more attention from below.

A few knights aren’t thwarted by the fear that evolves as screams and shouts grow from the imminent threat above. Kalel lifts his arm just in time as a sword swings toward us. It scrapes his forearm armor, but my husband seems unfazed and continues to pull me along behind him.

The dragons keep close, growling and traversing the ground quickly behind us and making it easier to get through the horde until we finally come up to the quarreling kings.

King Borlin sits on the back of the tallest onyx stallion I’ve ever seen, golden armor plates adorned on its head and chest while King Achill’s cream-colored one is cloaked in maroon plates.

“Enough!” I shout, and at the same time a bolt of lightning strikes not far off to the right field, setting a tree on fire. Both kings freeze, bloodied and mangled.

They take in the two of us before them and the dragons behind us, who continue to growl and blow smoke at the knights, who seem to be angling to get attacks in where they can.

“You foolish demigod.” King Achill’s voice travels from somewhere to my right.

A look of utter betrayal consumes King Borlin’s face. “Alira, you would dare to betray your own kingdom? The gods are on our side. We have the demons against a wall. Why are you doing this?” His face is red with fury. If I were standing right in front of him, I have no doubt that he would cut me down himself.

“Because it’s wrong, because we can exist together,” I challenge him.

King Borlin points his swords straight at me. “We never could before. We can’t now.”

“I used to think as you do, but we can learn to live in peace just as Kalel and I have.” I take a few steps closer to the kings, very much aware of the mixed blood on the ground as I walk past knights gripping their weapons and the motionless bodies scattered beneath them.

King Achill laughs, a cruel sound that cuts right through me.

“And you thought we’d what? Listen to you because you have dragons? You expect us to believe that you would use dragons to kill knights on both sides even though you claim you want peace? You are a very stupid girl,” he lashes out, words cutting me like knives.

“I don’t want them to hurt any of you, but if the few must suffer for the many, then I will. If all the knights must die, at least civilians will be free.” My words must strike a chord with both of them because they give each other uneasy looks before returning their attention to me.

“You’re forgetting one thing,” King Borlin says in a low tone.

Kalel takes a step forward, giving me a worried look and staying close to my side. The black dragon behind us shifts as if he can feel something building in the air.

“Jupiter has heard our prayers. He doesn’t want one last demon walking on Faultore.” King Borlin’s voice is sharp.

That’s right. Not just Jupiter either; Neptune is a threat too if the building storm is any indication.

The strange energy in the air makes my eyes shoot up to the sky. Horror fills every vein in my body as I watch darker storm clouds than I’ve ever seen collect and clump together, electricity static between them.

I turn to Kalel, trying to tell him to get the dragons to go before Jupiter can cast down any of his lightning, but it’s too late. A shock wave of lightning bursts from the sky and strikes the flying pack of dragons. Painful cries shriek through the sky, and a handful of them fall to their doom. The ground quakes with the force of their bodies, and knights from both sides get smashed beneath them. Screaming and war cries start back up. Clashing swords resume. The remaining dragons are all spread out, chaos ensuing.

A few dragons let loose their fire, burning hundreds of knights from both sides. A cold, numb feeling creeps into my spine as I watch the horrors of war unfold before me. I’m no stranger to its grasp.

“There, you see?” King Borlin sneers at me. “The gods have made their intentions very clear. It’s time you listened. Or face the same fate they do. It doesn’t matter to me.” But he should have been paying attention to his rival.

King Achill’s sword is an ebony god killer, just like the one Kalel used against me. One that will end my king as it would any demigod. The demon king shoves it straight through King Borlin’s throat and nearly decapitates him in one fell swoop.

King Borlin opens his mouth and makes a bloody gurgle, the only sound that he manages before he falls from his horse. His eyes roll to the back of his head as his golden blood spills into the earth.

Shock ripples through me. How do things change so fast? This isn’t what was supposed to happen. Why do things never turn out the way we want them to? It’s never easy. It’s never the path we thought we chose.

“Alira, we have to go!” Kalel shouts as he pulls on my arm. The fighting between the demigods and demons continues, ignorant or unmindful of their king’s death. Their swords clash with each other, and the brutality is stronger than ever.