I draw my sword, Spero, and face the Druid. He draws his own blade, a thing of black steel wreathed in flame. I charge.
Our blades meet.
And Spero shatters. Breaks in half. The force of Oren's blow knocks me down to the ground, near the balcony's edge.
He walks up to me, his body in flames. "Now you are mine."
I can feel the heat emanating from him. It is my nightmares made real.
He chuckles. "The princes have lost. We have taken Stonehill, and soon we will destroy the demons. You should have sided with your people, when my sister gave you the chance. Perhaps she would proposition you even now, but I am not so forgiving." He holds his sword to my neck, burning my skin. "Your beast hurt my spirit. You owe me blood and pain, and I have come to collect."
Chapter 17
WILL WE ALLOW IT
Fenris Vane
"There is too much temptation to touch her, to hold her, and having her so close but not quite close enough is a sweet kind of torture I am unused to."
—Fenris Vane
Our armies move slowly, so my brothers and I take our best soldiers and run ahead, using all our speed and strength to get back to Stonehill.
I feel the omen of death in my gut.
I made the worst mistake of my very long life, and now the person I love most is in danger.
Baron howls as he runs. He knows Ari's in trouble. He knows we have to reach her before they do.
But I know it's already too late.
By the time we arrive at Stonehill, green Fae banners hang from the walls. Fae soldiers guard the perimeter. When we approach, they raise their spears and swords. But they do not attack.
"At last you have joined us," booms a voice atop the wall. A man. Huge and bulging with muscle. Red tattoos cover his bald head. Ash covers his hands. The Fire Druid. He's been waiting for me, and now that he has an audience, he performs.
He points his black sword to the figure beside him. A woman tied to a chair, her mouth stuffed with cloth. Ari.
"Let her go," I demand. "She is not what you came for."
The sword bursts into flames, and Ari screams through her gag. I can smell her flesh burning, and every muscle in my body tenses.
"Surrender!" The Druid's voice carries far and wide, full of rage and blame. "Surrender, or I will torture this pathetic creature."
"You won't kill her," I shout. "You need her." I realize I'm giving too much away. My brothers, most of them at any rate, don't know who she is, or why she's important. But I do. Asher does. I lean over to my brother and whisper in his ear. "She is High Fae. They can't hurt her, can they?"
"They won't kill her. It will send the Druid's back into slumber. But that doesn't mean he won't make her wish she was dead," Asher says, frowning.
I growl.
The Druid slices Ari's arm.
She screams.
Baron howls in misery.
I must decide. Arianna, or my people.
I will never sacrifice her.
But surrendering won't save anyone. The Fire Druid seems mad with power and vengeance. He will not release her, no matter what we do.
I leap up onto a boulder and shout to all who might hear. To the vampires held captive. To those soldiers on their way. To the Fae and Shade who have lived with us these many years. My voice carries throughout my realm. "These are the Fae who killed our families. Who took our homes. Who burned our crops and burned our forests. And now they have Princess Arianna. They torture her. This woman who has shown us all nothing but kindness. Who has fought for equality and justice for the vampires, Fae and Shade of our land. Who has helped all of you in one way or another. Will we allow them to hurt her? To torture her? To use her as a pawn in their games against us?"
The people roar. The armies roar. They are ready to fight. And we charge forward, bloodlust in our hearts.
We will save our princess.
Chapter 18
MIDNIGHT STAR
"He has more names than the others. One you may have heard… the Midnight Star."
—Madrid
Oren stands over me, gloating, his sword ablaze as he cuts into my arm again and again. I try not to cry out, but I can't hold it in.
The pain. The scent of my own burning flesh. My nightmares are made real. Both my arms are lined with the red ribbons of flame from his torture, and I can see in his eyes he takes pleasure from this. How did Madrid ever love this monster?
Another cut tears into me.
The pain consumes me. It is all I know or will ever know again. Pain. Burning.
I slump in the chair I'm tied to, the fight in me dying as my body weakens.
Oren speaks to the crowd gathering below. To the vampires. To Fen.
When I hear Fen's voice, something in me awakens once more.
I cannot give up.
I cannot let Fen surrender to this monster.
Fen delivers a speech, but I can't make out the words through the pain. Still, the cadence of his voice caresses me, bringing me a kind of peace in my darkness. And then the armies cheer. And I hear them charge.