I froze, taking shallow, too-short breaths.Breathe in.Someone shouted. The clang of sword against sword echoed strangely in the thick darkness.Hold. The sound of flesh giving way to stone and metal and claws followed. Yells. Screams—
A tidal wave of bodies slammed into me, pushing and forcing me back. I didn’t know if they were our people, the Cimmerian, or the dakkais. I could barely keep a hold of thesword, and then it was knocked from my grasp. Hands pushed into me. Elbows hit my sides, my back. I couldn’t hold my ground. The rise and fall of bodies swept me up, the stench of fear, falling weapons, and darkness—darkness streaked with bursts of eather and gold—swallowed me.Breathe in. I caught glimpses of shimmery gold in the darkness. Gold clothing. Gold hair. I choked.
The wall stopped the flow of bodies without warning.
I hit the cold stone hard. Air punched out of my lungs as pain exploded down my back. My legs went out from under me, and I ended up on the ground—on gravel. I twisted to my side, curling in on myself as the bodies met the wall, too, some falling, some making it out. I tensed as knees connected with my shoulder and head as the sound of thunder shook the ground. Was it more dakkais? Horses? Our armies?
Our people?
Our people.
I lifted my head, staring into the mass of eather-lit shadows smothering the courtyard. Swords and bodies still clashed as I searched for Ash.Breathe in.
I needed to find him.
Then we needed to find a place that would be safe and secure for long enough that he could take the embers. It had to happen now before more died. Before this became the war he’d hoped to prevent.
The war it already felt it was.
Hold.I rose, pushing off the wall. The embers were still silent in my chest as I shuffled forward, tripping over bodies littering the ground. A dakkai growled nearby. I kept going, catching glimpses of those fighting. Flashes of gold that made my heart race. A roar rumbled in the sky I couldn’t see, and I hoped it was one of our draken as I found a sword.
Ash would find me. I knew he would. He would sense me, just as he had all the other times. As long as the dakkais hadn’t completely swamped him. As long as he was still conscious. We’d find each other.
Silvery flames cut through the darkness, catching those fallen and those not, scattering the thickest of shadows—
Gold.
A flash of golden hair and golden paint only feet from me.
I stumbled back, my stomach lurching as my grip tightened on the sword’s hilt. Shadows reclaimed the space as I veered to my right, closer to what I thought was the palace.Breathe in.I kept going, one hand stretched out. We’d find one another. We would—
I halted.
The tiny hairs all along the nape of my neck rose.Hold. A wave of awareness tiptoed down my spine. My stomach hollowed as I firmed my grip on the sword. Tension settled in my shoulders as I heard Ash shouting my name, drawing closer and closer until the sound of hooves drowned him out. Our armieshadarrived, but something…someone else was close. A hunter. I felt it in my bones. And I was the prey. Instinct seized me.
Spinning, I thrust out with the sword.
A hand clamped down on my wrist as a stream of fire overhead broke apart the shadows. The air cleared enough for me to see blondish-brown hair. High cheekbones. A scar across the left cheek.
Attes.
The rush of relief nearly took my legs out from under me. He’d come to our aid, even at the risk of not just angering Kolis but also to take up arms against his brother. Thank the gods he’d stopped what would’ve been a fairly painful blow, even with the shadowstone armor protecting his chest.
“Thank you,” I scratched out.
Tension settled in the corners of his mouth. “You shouldn’t thank me yet.”
I stared up at him as the breath I drew in went…nowhere. Every part of my being rebelled against the instinct suddenly screaming at me.
“Why?” I cried.
His stare was expressionless. “Because this is the only way.”
“No,” I seethed, red-hot anger exploding. “No, it’s not.”
Attes pressed his fingers into my wrist, between the tendons. The flare of sharp pain was intense and shocking, forcing my hand to spasm. The sword fell as horror and fury pounded through me.
“Sorry,” he grunted.