“Someone said my name—a woman. Did you hear her?”
Face covered in soot, he shakes his head. “I heard no one after the screaming stopped.”
Turning back toward the destruction, I narrow my gaze, scanning the smoke for what I know should not have been possible.
A trick of exhaustion.
Of stress. That is all.
So I wait, standing on the edge of the horror as I await the smoke to clear.
* * *
Moving through the rubble,I am angrier than I’ve ever been. Honestly, I don’t believe there to be a word apt enough to describe the combination of rage and grief within me. Charred bodies are strewn all over the ground, some partially beneath rubble while others lie in the middle of the street.
These people were slaughtered. Brutally and without warning.
It seems barbaric even for Taranus, but there’s no possibility anyone else would have had the strength to take on an entire fae village and leave no survivors.
A soldier off to the right retrieves a small shoe and sniffles. When he sees me watching, he tries to hide his emotion.
“There is no need to shield your pain,” I tell him loud enough for the others to hear. “We should all feel agony while looking upon this slaughter.”
“What will we do?” the man questions.
The reply is easy enough, though the action we take shall be anything but. “We will continue fighting. Pushing back against a king who would allow such an atrocity to take place. This will not stand,” I growl. “You have my word.”
Overhead, a shrill cry draws our attention, spurring my adrenaline once again. We all retrieve our swords and turn our faces to the sky. Then, I glance over at the three fae closest to me and nod, giving them the order to find out just what we’re facing.
Wings spread, and they take off to the sky.
Less than a moment later, though, a body slams into the ground in front of me.
“Get ready!” I bellow as another hits. And then, the final. All three fae.
The gashes on the men’s chests allude to some type of bird, but the size—I’ve never seen anything like it.
And then the thing hits the ground.
“What the bloody hell is that?”
“I’ve no idea,” I tell Tommie as I size up the monstrous beast before us.
It shakes, golden feathers shimmering beneath the sun, as taloned claws dig into the soft dirt. The creature is larger than most houses with a body of an eagle. Its huge, feathery head whips toward me, its beady red eyes narrowing on me.
“Where did it come from? I’ve never seen anything like it!” The soldiers take cautious steps back.
“You want to interrogate the damned thing or fight?” I bellow, swinging my blade out.
“Wait! Rafferty! You do not know it’s weakness!”
But I ignore Tommie, because all that matters is this beast’s blood sliding down my blade.
Adrenaline fueling my fight, I swing out—but the thing is faster. Its huge beak clamps down on my shoulder and tears. Flesh burns as it’s ripped from my body when the thing flings me to the side. I hit the ground with a heavy thud, my ears ringing.
My soldiers attack the creature, swarming it from the sky and the ground.
It rips the head clean off the man who’d been crying over the shoe.