Page 80 of The Blood Rites

“Little rabbit,” he says, voice so low it barely clears the wind. “I’ve been looking for you. You look like shit.”

I can’t help it: I laugh, raw and breathless. “I can’t say the same.”

He crosses to me in long, graceful strides, closing the gap with ease. I expect him to gut me there and then, to rip me apart with his shadows and be done with it; instead he just stares, pupils blown wide enough to swallow the gold in his irises.

“You’re hurt,” he says, touching a cut on my cheek.

“It’s nothing,” I whisper, but my heart is slamming against my ribs.

He catches one of my hands before I can pull away, brushing a thumb across the patchwork of cuts across my palm.

His jaw tightens. "Careless."

Behind Kael, Nyxen and Vaelis scan the plateau, every muscle alert, as though they expect an attack at any second. They ignore the Waterborn; their attention fixed on the horizon instead.

Kael’s eyes flick to Marissa.

"Still doing this?" he asks.

I don’t answer. I can’t. He sees the answer in my eyes regardless and laughs, sharp and joyless.

The moment shatters as a spray of flame erupts above us from the next ridge. Atheron and his pawns appear, outlined in fire. The sun glints off Atheron’s hair, his lips already curled into a sneer.

Kael looks up, expression darkening.

“Here we go,” he says. To Nyxen he shouts: “Fan left, push them back. Vaelis, get behind them.”

Vaelis nods and vanishes into the shadow cast by a stone pillar, while Nyxen steps forward, arms crossed.

“They’re too high,” he murmurs. “We’re sitting ducks out—”

Kael cuts him off.

“We hold this position and push them back from the edge. Do not give them the opportunity to fire on us.” He looks at me again, his voice nearly a whisper. “Stay here, Luceris. Do not try to be the hero.”

“I’m not trying to be anything,” I say.

He grins, all teeth, and for a moment he is beautiful and terrifying in equal measure.

The Fireborn make their move. Atheron raises his arms, and a wave of flame whips out, arcing towards the plateau.

Kael pushes me down, shielding my body with his own; the fire passes overhead, torching the air. The Waterborn don’t so much as flinch.

Atheron’s voice booms down. “I see you’ve defied the odds. Not the first to die after all.”

I ignore him, looking around for Marissa instead.

“Not so brave outside of the Embrace, are we? I told you, Prince, I’m going to burn you all, starting with your little pet.”

Kael’s only answer is a snarl. He stands and gestures to Nyxen, who makes a flicking motion with his wrist. Shadows bulge at the edge of the ridge. They twist into writhing spikes and spear upwards, stretching impossibly far towards the Fireborn.

They leap aside, but Maleiros isn’t fast enough—he goes down screaming as the shadows skewer him through the calf.

Kael’s attention never leaves Atheron. “Still paying people to die for you Visconti?” he shouts. “Aren’t you tired of hiding, you fucking coward?”

Atheron laughs. “Coming from you, Prince?” He gestures to Nyxen. “Hypocrite.”

He launches another fireball, this time at the Waterborn. It’s deliberately slow. Threatening, probing for weakness.