Total pages in book: 247
Estimated words: 235897 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1179(@200wpm)___ 944(@250wpm)___ 786(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 235897 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1179(@200wpm)___ 944(@250wpm)___ 786(@300wpm)
Not Mira. I yell at whatever deity will listen and press harder, like I can force the blood back into her body. My breath comes in stuttered gasps, terror cutting off the flow of oxygen.
Mira stares up at me, her brown eyes wide with shock, and I force a smile so she doesn’t meet Malek in fear. “You’re going to be all right.” I nod, my head jerking as my eyes blur.
“Move!” Brennan hits his knees, and I barely have time to yank my hand away before his is there. “You will live, do you hear me?” He slams his eyes shut and sweat immediately beads on his forehead as he leans over Mira.
Is it even possible? Brennan’s powerful, but I can’t think of a single rider who’s been saved on the battlefield with an injury this extensive. She goes limp and my heart seizes, but she’s still breathing despite the blood coursing down the sides of her neck.
Shapes blur and snarls sound from every direction. I look up, and the dragons leap over us, claws filling the sky before they land on the circle of wyvern. Four of the gray creatures launch at the onslaught, shrieking their way into the sky. The daggers of Sgaeyl’s tail swing just a few feet above us, and I throw my body over Mira and Brennan as the navy-blue blades cut so close I can feel air rush against my skin.
Xaden casts a wall of shadow, blocking us from the fray, and to the right, I see Garrick pull the venin’s dagger from the door of the Rybestad chest as Bodhi forces the other one shut.
Screeches fill the air and my muscles lock as I look back over my shoulder at the impenetrable darkness. “Tairn!” I can’t see him.
“They die,” he says, fury saturating the bond.
I take that as the only good sign on this field and sit back on my heels, giving Brennan room to breathe.
“Come on, come on,” Brennan mutters, his brow furrowed in concentration just like Dad’s used to, but he’s swaying slightly and losing color in his face.
It has to work. It just has to.
Blood trickles down the column of Mira’s neck, crossing her scar as her eyes flutter shut.
“You can’t have her,” I whisper up to Malek, and I swear the clouds darken slightly in acknowledgment, or maybe mocking, as two reds approach from the south at tremendous speed.
Wait. Why are they flying away from the city?
I strain to identify the dragons. Thoirt? The tear pattern in her right wing is unmistakable, but that would mean…
Oh gods, Sloane is here.
Liam, I’m so sorry. My throat tries to close as I throw my head back and search the sky for gray, but there’s only Thoirt and— I blink. That’s Cath on her tail.
Sweat drips down Brennan’s neck at the same alarmingly fast pace as blood from Mira’s wound, and his breathing becomes labored. “There’s too much damage,” he whispers.
“There isn’t,” I argue, glancing between Mira’s slackened face and the strain on my brother’s. “Brennan, you can mend anything, remember?”
Marbh roars.
“Your brother nears the limit of his power,” Tairn warns.
And I can’t give him mine. My heart races.
“Get the chest out of here,” Xaden shouts to Garrick. “If she wanted him dead, he obviously knows things they don’t want us to.”
“Chradh!” Garrick yells, and the Brown Scorpiontail bounds over the shadows to Garrick’s side. A second later, they disappear, along with the trunk.
I feel a rush of air as they go, and glance toward the sky as the two reds approach.
“How much are we trusting Aetos these days?” Bodhi says as he runs toward us.
“Not enough for what he just saw,” Xaden answers, his shadows blocking what looks to be the tip of a wyvern’s tail from hitting me.
Wind from wingbeats blows back Brennan’s hair, and the reds land so close their heads hover over us as they skid to a halt, their talons dragging up clumps of grass.
“Violet, I’m sorry,” Brennan whispers.
“Don’t say that.” I shake my head. “The blood flow is slowing. It’s working.” Though it hasn’t stopped.
“What the fuck are you doing here?” Xaden calls up at Dain as he dismounts, but my focus firmly locks over Brennan’s shoulder.
“Following her ass,” Dain replies, then winces at the crunch of bone coming from behind the wall of shadows Xaden holds in place with both hands. “She’s under my command, and Cath alerted me the second they crossed the wards against orders.” He aims that last part in Sloane’s direction.
Sloane. A shard of hope pierces the terror wrapped around my heart.
She races our way, reaching into her flight jacket and retrieving a cylindrical parcel the length of her hand. “Aaric told me you’d need this—” She stumbles as she catches sight of Mira.
I don’t give a shit why she’s here. Only that she is.