I stared at the six dark crystals that lay on the ground, splayed out around his body, and my hands heated up with warm buttery light.
Huh?
It hit me then. These were sick. The darkness in them was like an illness, and what better way to cast out the dark than the light? Settling onto my knees, I reached for one of the crystals with my light-infused hands.
“Lily, no!” Liam shouted, swatting my hand away.
I looked at him and saw so much love and protection in his gaze that it made my heart pound faster. “Trust me?” I asked.
We stared at each other for a long few moments until finally, he released my hand and nodded. Continuing my forward motion, I grasped the crystal. The moment my fingers wrapped around the cool rock, a dull, stabbing pain ran up my elbow but not nearly as much as when I’d first grabbed it with bare hands. Liam watched me like a hawk, and I felt the sickly dark energy trying to slither its way into me, but I resisted. I pumped golden sunlight magic into the crystal, casting out any darkness there and not allowing it to affect me.
“You’re amazing,” he breathed.
I looked up at him with a smile and then back down to see the crystal was a clean, clear blue as the others in Faerie were at the base of the tree.
I looked at Liam. “Go dig up the others. I’m right behind you.”
He stood, faltering for a moment, but then took off running.
I took the next few minutes to hold each crystal and pump it with enough healing sunlight that it turned it normal in color and could be held by me without issue. All the while, my eyes searched the thick forest. I saw a few people off in the distance through the trees, but they appeared to be walking casually, not running or screaming or flying.
Where the frick was everyone? Why was it so calm?
When I’d cleared the last crystal of its darkness, I stood on shaky legs, my breath coming out in deep gasps. Liam was right. I’d expended a lot of energy doing that, but I had to push through. Gathering the six crystals in my arms, letting them stretch out the base of my shirt as I held them, I ran to Liam. He was only a dozen yards away. He’d taken off his shirt and laid it on the ground, creating a little sack to carry the crystals. I knelt next to him, setting the six clear ones down, and picked up one of the dark ones, intending to cleanse it. That’s when I heard her scream.
A horrifying shriek of agony ripped from Elle’s throat, and I dropped the crystal with a thud, flying up into the air without another thought. I’d fixed Liam’s wing. He’d be able to fly, and we’d found all nine remaining crystals. I needed to save Elle.
Chapter 11
Elle.
When I flew up and over the tree line, coming back into the city square, bile rose in my throat.
No.
No.
No.
No.
Bodies were… everywhere. So much blood. The casual figures I’d seen walking through the trees were the Winter King’s guards. My eyes zoomed in on the bodies I passed, and I screamed in horror when I recognized Liam’s men. But they weren’t all Liam’s men. Some were just fae holding backpacks and hastily packed suitcases like they’d intended to leave….
They were going to go with me... Go home like I’d invited them, and they were killed for it.
I brought them to their death. His men had been busy, silently taking out our army, but where the hell was he? Where was the Winter King!
When I saw the tall man with two little black horns protruding from his forehead, and the way he held Elle by the hair, I fucking lost it. He held a knife to her neck, and a thin trickle of red dripped down it.
Any shred of pity or humanity I had left washed out of my skin, and I only saw red. Flying through the air like a torpedo, I slammed into the dude, ripping him off Elle. We collided, making everything in my body groan in protest, but I didn’t care. It felt good, pain felt good right now. I’d never been so angry in all my life. The guy looked surprised like he thought he could pick Elle off easily.
Reaching up, I held his face in my hands and screamed, pushing so much light through my palms I went temporarily blind. His head liquefied in my hands, and he died instantly.
I stood, panting, and wiped my palms on my pants as I spun. The guards were running for me, at least twenty of them. Some held bows and arrows, others knives, and some guns. Cam limped over from behind a bush and pulled Elle backward, out of the line of fire, and then looked at me helplessly. Like he was sorry he was taking her and leaving me alone.
I simply nodded, and he dragged her farther away as she screamed for him to stop.
How many died?
I did a quick count and estimated forty bodies; at least twenty were ours.
No. My heart tripled its beat while simultaneously breaking in grief.
War was like a festering wound, constantly reopening and never healing. How many times were we going to do this back and forth?
No longer. Not anymore. I couldn’t bear it.
I let the powerful magic and light fill my body as it mixed with the rage that was brewing there. Then I poured in a dash of anger and hatred, and by the time they reached me, I was a bomb ready to blow.
The time for speaking and giving them a chance to surrender had passed. If they were still gunning for my life at this point, they were dead to me. With a battle cry, I opened the aching cavern of pain and magic and grief in my chest and exploded. Light shot
