She shrugged, taking him in. “You have a valiant heart; I will give you that much.”
Pushing off and thundering toward her, his heart broke with every footfall.
Bresslin smiled, and she snapped her fingers, the storm ceasing. The snowflakes hung in the air, transcending gravity, gleaming like diamonds in the afternoon light. Each intricate pattern was amplified as the sun touched the defined edges, shining like stars among the carnage.
Flattening his ears, Brokk faltered when Bresslin whistled merrily. The ranks of demons split - they created a pathway of savagery, and his world tilted as Gortach loped down toward him, Emory chained and in tow behind him.
Shifting back, Brokk sprinted for her, roaring. Fear encompassed him at the sight of Emory, bloodied and chained. It sent him spinning and seeing red. “What did you do to her?” he screamed as Bresslin prowled around him, assessing his reaction.
Bresslin tutted. “I take offense that you think I would chain and beat our beloved heir. I have other means to get my hands dirty. This was all too easy, betraying Nei and Roque who trusted Cesan and me to blindly follow them. Why share in the wealth when we could seize an entire kingdom from them?” She rolled her eyes. “And this legendary school is laughable. None of you have known true loss, pain. No one here was prepared for the weight of war, even with your abilities. Coddled children aren’t soldiers, even if you were all told you are.” She smiled, bright and sharp. “You have lost; the Academy is fallen. Your heir was found trying to flee, to leave you all to your fates.”
Gortach had reached them, and Emory would not meet Brokk’s gaze. Silent tears slipped down her cheeks, and Bresslin grazed the sword’s end underneath her chin, forcing her to look up. “I was very upset to see someone had beaten me to the pleasure of killing your parents.”
All he saw was red.
His fist slammed into Bresslin’s stomach, his left connecting with her jaw in a sickening crack. She laughed darkly, spitting blood as he stood there. Brokk’s chest heaved, and his mind reeled with what she had just said.
“Ah, I finally touched a sore spot. Yes, it’s true, the King of Kiero is dead, along with his weak wife. It is finally time true leaders step up to the task of ruling this country.”
Emory’s chin wobbled, but her voice was strong. “My parents were not weak.”
Gortach snapped the chain attached to her collar, wrenching her back, and Brokk could not resist the current of wrath that burned in his blood.
His world was one of tooth and claw, of instinct and reaction. The ground shuddered underneath him as the dabarnes lunged at him, Bresslin giving the order with the swipe of her sword. Emory was pulled back, screaming his name when he charged toward her, straight into the heart of darkness itself.
Sharp teeth pierced and ripped into his haunches, but he leapt, missing another set of talons swiping at his heart.
The dabarnes were fast.
But he was faster.
There were maybe fifty in front of him, the rest falling behind. He snarled as they stomped their feet in dominance. Emory was maybe ten yards away. The creatures bared their teeth, racing toward him. Pushing faster, his surroundings becoming a blur.
Five yards.
The thick torso of a creature slammed into him, crushing the wind of out of chest, pinning Brokk to the ground, almost at the forest’s edge. Its teeth snapped at his throat, but sinking his back talons into its hide, he pushed down, slicing clean through.
Rolling, he leapt over the body only to be met midstride by talons sinking into his haunches and teeth into his shoulder. Brokk’s howl pierced through the air. He was almost at the woods.
All he could smell was the blood and decay dripping from their jaws. Panic settled into his chest as his body felt drained from healing repeatedly, as the monsters around him feasted on his pain. Sinking their talons into his side, his ribs cracked and shattered underneath their pressure. He thrashed, the vital drive to survive thrumming in his blood. All that he saw was gleaming teeth as they closed in on him, his howls tearing through him.
No, no, no!
He felt the shudder roll through the ground first. The dabarnes stopped, raising their heads, distracted by something or someone else. The group hissed around him, wrenching their gazes from their killing blow. Ears twitching, he craned his neck and caught a glimpse as the doors of the Academy exploded off their hinges. Adair stood in the doorway, smoke curling around him.
At first, he just stood there, his mother and the army thrown off as he looked at the ground. Fear lurched through Brokk when he heard the throaty chuckle.
Adair looked up, grinning, and the world erupted into mayhem.
Chapter Nineteen
Adair
Adair bowed to the dark magic commanding him, and it was intoxicating. The winter wind bit at his skin, but he didn’t feel the cold. He didn’t feel anything. The shattered doorframe lay around him, and for a moment, he couldn’t breathe, as he stared at the blood-stained stairs, and the carnage of monster and students sprawled around him.
The smile tugged at his lips as he looked up to the hundreds of dabarnes, tilting their head, assessing him. And what he was.
“It was such a waste, their power.”
The voices curled around his mind, burning into his heart. He honed in to the one person that would answer for this.
His mother moved through the ranks with a lethal ease, her voice breaking over her ranks with cool indifference. “Adair.”
In the confines of his mind, he was pounding against the bars, shattering apart, screaming, Why did you do this?
The air stirred around him, and the ice started to melt underneath his feet.
“I will admit, I’m surprised you’re still alive,” Bresslin said.
You don’t mean that; you don’t mean that; you don’t mean that.
Ice tore through his veins,
