groan, I released them, allowing everyone to fall that one inch back down to the ground. Danaus instantly collapsed to his knees in exhaustion, but the ground held him. He had managed to kill at least enough of the earth clan that they could no longer pull us into the ground.
Pausing long enough to get the trembling in my arms to stop, I looked around the battlefield to find it littered with bodies from both sides. However, a quick count revealed that Cynnia’s army was holding up better than Aurora’s.
Apparently, Rowe had come to the same conclusion. “We’re going after Aurora,” he announced in a low voice after he and Nyx approached me. Despite the pounding rain, he was still covered in blood from the battle. “We need you to keep her fire attack at bay.”
I started to agree that I would cover their backs when I heard gunshots. I twisted around to see at least twenty men ringing the park with semiautomatic weapons trained on us all. They weren’t the cops. The Daylight Coalition had finally arrived.
“I can’t,” I growled with frustration. I wanted nothing more in this world than to climb that hilltop with Rowe and Nyx and aid in removing Aurora’s head once and for all. But I couldn’t. “The coalition is here, and I need to lead the nightwalkers against these fucking zealots.”
“Mira!” Rowe snapped.
“No, it’s okay,” Nyx said quickly, laying a hand on his shoulder. “I can handle Aurora. I just need your help taking her down. Leave Mira to cover our backs. You know the Daylight Coalition won’t stop with just killing the nightwalkers. We will be next.”
“Thank you. I’ll leave Danaus to watch over Cynnia,” I offered. It was the best I could do. The hunter wasn’t going to be pleased with my decision, but he was better skilled to deal with the naturi than some of the other fighters, and the remaining nightwalkers could join me in taking out the Daylight Coalition members that had slaughtered Daniel and his family as well as four lycans.
“Don’t play too long,” Rowe admonished.
“Good luck,” I replied, giving him a small smile. “You know I envy you.”
Rowe smirked at me, his one good eye dancing with laughter. “Eat your heart out.”
A low chuckle escaped me as I turned my back on my unexpected comrades and focused on the Daylight Coalition. It was time for a little payback. I would teach them what it meant to mess with a nightwalker, particularly one called the Fire Starter.
Thirty-four
Rowe turned his stern gaze on me as Mira led her group of nightwalkers in the opposite direction to take on the Daylight Coalition. We were left to finish up with Aurora’s army. My sister-queen, underestimating the number of naturi willing to side with Cynnia, had not brought a large enough army. It was only a matter of time before she realized as much and beat a hasty retreat that we couldn’t allow or afford.
“Can you do this?” Rowe demanded. I had fought in this battle and killed dozens of my own people that were trying to kill me. The queen of the naturi was out for blood, and she was going to give her two sisters and her former consort no quarter. I should have had the same mind-set, and yet I was hesitating.
“I will try,” I admitted.
“ ‘Try’ is going to get me killed,” he snapped. “You get an open shot at her, you take it. Otherwise you, Cynnia, and I are all dead.”
I nodded and squared my shoulders as I stood facing him. He was right, and deep down I knew it. This was no time for an emotional attachment to someone who had never cared for me or the people she was chosen to protect. It was time for Aurora to be destroyed.
Unfortunately, she was already one step ahead of us. Cynnia’s terrified scream shattered the night, sending a chill down my spine. Aurora was using her ability of telekinesis to pull Cynnia toward her through the air. Rowe and I turned at the same time to see Shelly desperately holding onto Cynnia’s hands, trying to pull her back down to the earth. Rowe and I sprang forward, reaching for Cynnia, but the naturi slipped through Shelly’s hands, sending the witch sprawling forward in the deep mud.
A scream of rage rose in my throat as I watched Cynnia fly straight and true through the air toward our sister. Aurora returned to the earth herself and tightly grasped a hunk of Cynnia’s hair, pushing her down on her knees while laughing manically. She knew that she finally had the upper hand.
With sword drawn, I climbed the hill, rushing through the crowd of naturi that surrounded Aurora. My feet slipped in the wet grass and mud, but my legs continued to churn, forcing me forward. I chopped through one naturi after another in a blind fury, no longer aware of what I was doing. It wasn’t about the death and destruction that seemed to eat at my soul. It was about saving Cynnia.
At the same time, Rowe took to the air, flying over the horde that stood between me and Aurora, hoping to engage the queen before I could reach her. I not only needed to save Cynnia, but had to help Rowe counter Aurora, who was capable of anything, and might well knife Rowe in the back while he tried to save the sister of his former wife-queen.
“Release her, Aurora!” he shouted just before touching down on the hill she was claiming as her own territory.
“Not until she takes her last breath,” Aurora said with a wild laugh.
As I cleared my final combatant, I saw Aurora raise her free hand toward Rowe. He flapped his wings once, trying to pull back and away from the blast about to hit him. I dropped my sword and raised both my hands to summon all the powers of the earth I could feel just beneath my feet. As the flames poured from Aurora’s fingertips, a protective sphere surrounded Rowe, blocking the flames before they could touch him.
Aurora screamed in frustration and tried again, but he remained untouched. Through the flames that lit up the night sky, I could hear Rowe’s deep laughter, which only enraged Aurora more. She jerked on Cynnia’s hair, tightening her grip as she flung out her free hand, sending a barrage of fireballs through the night, just hoping to hit something, but they dissipated almost as quickly as they formed.
“It’s over, Aurora,” I called to her, my hands still raised as I awaited the next attack. I knew my sister and what she was capable of better than anyone else. Her powers were limited to only the use of fire and telekinesis, which gave her the illusion of flight without wings. Light clan queens of the past were able to summon up the sun, but Aurora had spent too many centuries relying on me as her muscle, and I had spent many years studying the magical arts of our people. But I’d never imagined I would be using my skills against my sister.
“Traitor!” she screamed in a wavering voice. “I am
“You abandoned me when I was born. You’re nothing to me,” I replied. “Cynnia and Rowe are the only ones who believe in me now.”
“Then I’ll take them both from you!” she snarled. From her waistband, Aurora pulled a long jagged blade and held it over Cynnia.
“No!” I screamed, charging the remaining distance up the hill. My heart felt like it had stopped in my chest, and time seemed to slow down to a crawl as I watched Aurora lower the blade toward Cynnia’s chest. The knife would rip through her and tear apart her heart. There would be no chance of healing her, no possibility of survival after such a wound.
Then Rowe pulled his wings tight against his body in order to crash into Aurora. Cynnia went flying free as Aurora lost her grip on her hair. She rolled away, pale and shaking. But I saw no fresh blood on her. She had escaped harm for now.
Rowe, however, was wobbly as he returned to his feet, backpedaling away from Aurora with one hand pressed to his throat. And yet, he still managed to pull his sword from his sheath and stand ready to engage her. I reached him in time to see blood running between his fingers from a wound in his throat. He was struggling to breathe as his eye narrowed on Aurora. Clearly, he intended to finally end this war, even if it meant dying in the process.
“Get Cynnia to safety,” he said in a low, gurgling voice.
“I’m not leaving you behind. We’re going to finish this.”
