The War of Two Queens (Blood and Ash 4)

“Incoming!” Naill shouted, grabbing Rune’s scruff and dragging him back as a shadow broke through the clouds overhead, falling over us.

A stream of silvery fire cut across the Temple floor, turning the realm silver as Aurelia swooped down, striking the creatures. Twin funnels of luminous flame pummeled the ground as Nithe and Thad arrived.

“Protect your King!” Isbeth shouted from the altar, head lifted, and cheeks streaked with black liner.

A shout rose from where the army of Revenants waited. They charged, a sea of crimson flooding the sides of the Temple. Nithe landed near the soldiers and then Thad as I caught sight of Malik fighting Callum.

“Shit!” Casteel spun, kicking a dakkai back. He leapt over the crack, grabbing me by the waist as he pulled me behind the pillar.

Casteel’s body pressed mine into the pillar as a volley of arrows rained down on the Temple floor and the grounds. For the briefest second, there was only him and his scent, and then that second ended. I flinched as burning pain scalded my senses, followed by screams.

“From the Rise.” Casteel’s breath hit my cheek. “Can you take them out?”

I peered around the pillar, getting an idea of how many were there as another barrage of arrows came. I jerked—

“Shut it down.” He palmed my cheek. “Shut it down, my Queen.”

Sucking in a sharp breath, I nodded. I shut it down as best I could.

“You got this?”

I met his stare. “Yes.”

Casteel stepped back, turning to plunge his sword into a dakkai, and I stepped out from behind the pillar. I focused on the Rise, and the essence responded at once. The archers’ bows slipped from their hands as their necks cracked. They fell, and while I knew more would arrive, we had a reprieve.

Turning, I cursed as a horde of dakkais rushed the Temple. The eather arced out from me in a wave of fire, turning them to ash. Across from me, several dakkais spun, howling as they abandoned their attack on Naill and Emil. Their heads rose, and then they charged as Kieran joined Casteel. The essence whirled through me as I lifted my hands to those racing up the steps and the others leaping across the Temple. Fire not too different than what came from the draken manifested, erupting from my palms and slamming into the creatures. They went down, twitching and smoldering. We didn’t have time to mess with them. “Get to Malec,” I told Kieran and Casteel. “And get that dagger out.”

“On it.” Casteel caught my chin in his palm and kissed my cheek before rushing forward.

In my mind, I saw the essence traveling out around me, around the Temple, where it recoiled from the Revenants but flowed over the dakkais. My entire vision turned silver as that taste gathered in the back of my throat. The cold place in me throbbed. I breathed through it as dozens and dozens of streams of light arced out from me, racing across the Temple and the ground below.

When I pulled the eather back, I saw no living, faceless creature among those battling at the foot of the Temple. Smiling tightly, I reached out to Sage through the notam as I turned, and…

I felt nothing.

My breath caught as my eyes locked on Isbeth’s. Her hands were flat on Malec’s chest, moving up and down in shallow breaths.

“There’s more!” Emil shouted.

I whipped around, my heart lodging in my throat as I saw the dakkais. They came from the fissures, but this time, there were hundreds of them, climbing over one another, their blade-like claws scoring soil and stone. And they—

Good gods, they swarmed the armies and the wolven in a wave of screams and yelps. Blood sprayed the air. Aurelia took flight but not quickly enough. The creatures launched onto her back and wings, clawing and biting.

“No!” I shouted, summoning the eather as I willed the draken to take flight. Thad lifted, shaking the dakkais from him as several Atlantian soldiers fired arrows at the ones climbing Aurelia. The essence stretched out from me as dakkais flooded the steps, growling and snapping.

A dark shadow fell over me with a gust of wind that blew the braid across my face. Reaver landed, shaking the entire Temple as he swept his wings back and stretched out his neck, sending a stream of fire at the dakkais on the Temple and then to those on the steps. The flames were so bright, they blinded me momentarily, so I didn’t see Reaver until he shifted into his mortal form.

“Do not use the essence. It’s drawing the dakkais to you. You won’t be able to fight all of them off,” Reaver told me from where he crouched, nude, beside me. “You must stop whatever it is they did to unleash them. That is all you must do.”

My breath caught as my gaze flew to Callum. That damn smirk. He knew.