Page 189

Thane looked up at them, and she reached toward him. How hurt and scared he must feel knowing that they were leaving him. “Hel, go back!”

His wings kept beating.

A minotaur stabbed Fennan through the chest and he fell. There wasn’t even an opportunity for Thane to catch him or tell his best friend goodbye.

“No, Fennan!” she sobbed. She fought against Hel, hitting him and slapping his face but his grip only tightened. “Go back right now and get him or I’ll never forgive you!”

Her shadows intensified and seeped through hairline cracks in the cuffs.

I’m sorry, but I won’t let them take you. I won’t let them strip you of your immortality again.

“Yourbrotheris all alone!”

Thane broke free of the mob that surrounded him and was running toward the wall, fighting with all his might. But there were hundreds between him and safety. Their ascent slowed andHel stretched his hand toward him. Fire erupted on both sides of Thane, acting as a momentary protective barrier. Then a bright light appeared.

Hel squinted and turned his face. “What is that?”

A brilliant light, as bright as the sun, hovered above the battlefield. Valeen shielded her eyes, everyone did. The enemy cowered in front of it and backed away.

But through the intense light, she saw a figure with flowing hair… Katana.

Something inside Valeen snapped.

“Let go of me, Hel,” she said calmly now. Her hands trembled with the power raging inside her. The cuffs fractured more, darkness flowed through like steam coming up from fissures in the hot earth. She held her hands in front of her, in front of Hel. “Hel, let go. I can do this. They won’t take me.”

His brows pulled closer, and his mouth pinched but his eyes fixed on the cuffs. He looked furious and scared when he said, “Destroy them.” As soon as he released her, the cuffs shattered, darkness flooded out of her like ink spilling over paper.

Becoming shadow, she vanished and reformed next to Katana. With a nod, Katana took Valeen’s hand.

Valeen focused on the moon, on the stars in the sky and channeled their energy. The sky began to dim as if the sun was eclipsed, not from clouds but from the goddess of night’s power. Katana’s radiance shined even brighter.

Inside she was buzzing with a ferocity that made her tremble. Her power was the raging seas against a levee, and all she had to do was let go.

“Unleash hell.” Light and darkness erupted, an invisible wave rolled forward across the battlefield knocking everything down, enemy dragons slammed into the ground throwing up chunks of earth. She tried to shield those dragons on their side but some of them fell too.

Behind that blast wave, a blazing yellow light razed one side and beside it a black wall pushed out consuming everything in its path. The center where light and dark met was like oil and water bouncing and swirling together. Heat and fire seared the air blowing her hair back.

In her mind she shielded Hel, Thane, and anyone she loved. The elves and the city were safe behind them.

She screamed as the power rushed through her veins, as all the stars in the heavens fueled her. It was almost too much—a dam against a violent river.

Katana whimpered and wailed, her body shaking—she was still mortal. There was no way she could hold this power. So Valeen channeled her magic too, taking the heat that seared her hand and ripped through her like lightning.

When every cell in her body felt like it was boiling and her limbs felt limp, she shut off the magic.

She dragged in deep breaths, waiting as the aftermath of what they’d done began to clear. Still hand in hand, the sisters lowered to the ground. Katana collapsed to her knees, her chest heaving up and down.

The light and darkness began to fade, and the smoke drifted. Her legs wobbled but sheer will kept her standing. She peered across the blackened and scorched battlefield. Smolder rose off the charred remains of thousands of bodies. More than half of the enemy army was wiped out in the wake of the sun and the moon.

It was terrible and glorious.

“Katana, are you alright?” Valeen glanced down.

“Yes,” she breathed. “But I might vomit.”

“Everyone does their first battle.”

Well I’ll be damned,Hel said in her mind, maybe in awe for the first time in his life. He dropped to the ground and immediately inspected her. “Are you hurt?”