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“You’ve been limping for the last two miles and trying to hide it, Cali. It’s more than your wings that are injured. Your magic won’t work on the wraiths anyway. Draven and Vail are the best suited for fighting them, and you know it.”

Vail was the only one who had a weapon that could hurt the wraiths in their shadow state, and Draven had experience fighting them.

Cali’s lips pressed into a flat line while her eyes glowed with rage, but she didn’t argue any further. She knew I was right.

“We’ll make this quick.” I leaned forward slightly on the balls of my feet. “The three of us will run away from the temple, just enough for you lot to get inside the entrance, then we’ll turn around and sprint back. I’ll take point since the wraiths won’t kill me.”

Hopefully. I was counting on them fearing Erendriel enough to obey his orders and deny the drive every predator had to chase down prey and slaughter it.

The kùsu-shaped wraith got too close to one that looked like a seriously fucked-up bear, and the two shrieked at each other.

“Go!” I spun around and shoved Kieran and Alaric hard. “Now!”

Without waiting to see if they obeyed, I took off in the opposite direction.

Curses sounded behind me, but when I chanced a look over my shoulder, I saw everyone racing towards the temple.

Two of the wraiths started to chase after them, only to stop and shake their heads violently, causing shadows to swirl through the air before twisting back in my direction.

Both released pissed-off screams, then charged after me.

Well, my plan worked. Yay?

Draven’s whip cracked, and something snarled to my right. In front of us, shadows writhed on the ground before bursting upward and snapping into the form of an enormous beast with wings.

“Oh, fuck me!” I skidded to a stop, Vail and Draven doing the same next to me. “Is that a dragon? Why is it so big?”

“What the fuck is a dragon?” Vail cursed as we all tilted our heads to look at the towering monster.

“I don’t know!” I took a step away. “There was a picture of one in a book!”

The shadow dragon snaked its long neck forward until its head, adorned with spikes, was only a few feet from us. A mix of fear and adrenaline slammed into me as the other wraiths closed in behind us, leaving us nowhere to go.

Then it spoke one word in Unseelie, its voice so broken that it took me a second to understand.

“ Bìrreb .” Kneel.

“ Mur keb !” I screamed. Fuck you.

The dragon roared, and the other wraiths let out their own shrieks.

“Pissing them off further probably isn’t a wise move, Sam,” Draven chided even as amusement coated his words and a crazy smile lit up his face. He flipped his whip so that the length stretched across the ground before gripping the handle with both hands and then pulling them apart.

I blinked as a second whip peeled away from the first—made entirely of blood.

“I knew I saw you with two whips before!” The bloodred whip looked almost exactly like the first, aside from the color. I pointed one of my daggers at him. “You’re teaching me how you did that.”

Because having an endless supply of blood daggers I could throw at people who pissed me off sounded amazing .

“Maybe. If you ask me nicely.” Draven winked at me. “Get ready to run again, love.”

The wraith dragon growled and opened its maw to roar at us again, but Draven’s bloodred whip snapped forward, growing impossibly long before cutting directly through the dragon’s head.

Instead of passing harmlessly through the shadows, as most weapons would, a deep red mist burst out from the whip, and the wraith reared back with a pained scream.

Then the dragon shape fell apart, as if the wraith had lost control of its shadows, which were now writhing across the ground like a puddle of darkness.

Draven’s whip snapped around to the wraiths behind us, but I didn’t wait to see what would happen. I just took off running back towards the temple with Vail and Draven hot on my heels. Several wraiths were convulsing on the ground like puddles of liquid night, just like the dragon shadow had.

Unfortunately, not all of them, because the one that was shaped like a kùsu and the feline sporting spikes down its spine cut off our retreat to the temple.

Once again, I slammed to a halt. Damn it. Less than fifty feet separated us from the temple, where I could see Rynn’s white wolf form pacing.

“Can you do the whip thing again?” I looked to my left, where Draven panted, then dropped my gaze to the single whip he was holding and felt my hope extinguish.

“No,” he ground out. “I can only get in a few hits with the blood whip before it disintegrates. It doesn’t kill the wraiths either, just fucks with their ability to control their shadows.”

“For how long?” Vail moved to stand between me and the two wraiths

“Another five minutes at most,” Draven answered tightly.

I eyed the two wraiths. “They won’t hurt me. What if I?—”

“Don’t even think about suggesting that you run one way and we go the other,” Vail growled. “I went along with your plan the first time. The others are safe. I’m not leaving your fucking side.”

I opened my mouth to argue, but Draven cut me off.

“I agree with the Marshal.” Any trace of amusement was gone from Draven’s tone. “Besides, even if they won’t kill you, they’ll absolutely hurt you.”

“Fine.” I gripped my daggers tighter. “Then we stick close together and just edge our way towards the temple.”

“Quickly though.” Draven glanced over his shoulder at the shrieking wraiths. “Those ones are going to be extra pissed once they’re capable of moving again. We need to be behind that ward before then.”

They could still follow us inside the temple, but Rynn was there to help, and it wouldn’t be far to the safe room. We’d made it all this way. I refused to falter now.

Slowly, we started walking towards the temple entrance. I took the lead, Draven and Vail walking at an angle so their backs were towards mine. The two remaining wraiths paced aggressively around us, clearly wanting to attack but bound by the order to not kill me.

A minute passed, and we were halfway to the entrance. Hope started to flutter inside my chest that we might actually make it.

I should have known better.

The feline wraith pounced forward, its clawed paw swiping out for my legs.

I leapt straight up into the air, its paw passing underneath me.

Then Rynn barked in warning, but it was too late.

The kùsu wraith plowed straight into my side with the top of its head.

The cool shadows momentarily turned solid, which sent me hurtling away from the temple—and from Vail and Draven.

“Samara!” Draven screamed. I heard his whip crack before one of the wraiths hissed in pain, but it wasn’t the agonizing scream his blood whip had gotten.

Then I hit the ground and rolled, barely avoiding stabbing myself with my dagger before springing upright. Twenty feet now separated me from the others.

Rynn had charged into the fight. She and Draven were squaring off against the feline wraith. Every time it turned solid to attack one of them, the other would counter.

Based on the fresh blood on Rynn’s coat and the way Draven’s arm was hanging limply at his side, it wasn’t going well.

We only had a small window to inflict any type of injury on wraiths, and as soon as they turned back to shadows, they healed.

Rynn’s teeth couldn’t do any lasting damage, and Draven’s enchanted whip could barely do any better.

The kùsu circled me, its long, dark body cutting off my view. I had no idea where Vail had gone, but he hadn’t been with Draven and Rynn.

I gripped my dagger, even though it was basically useless. Then an eerie sound filled the night, and I realized it was the kùsu wraith laughing.

It weaved its long body around me. Without the light of the moon or the stars, it was hard to distinguish it from the dark of night.

“ Din tros,” it mocked. Forgotten queen.

Fuck this. I darted forward, intending to run straight through its shadows, but it snapped its massive form towards me.

The hard body knocked me backwards before vanishing into cool shadows once more.

Out of the corner of my eye, I could see the other wraiths starting to gain control of their shadows.

We were running out of time.

I shoved myself up, ignoring the bite of pain in my leg. Something had crunched when I’d landed, but I could still put weight on it, which was all that mattered. The wraith could only turn solid for two or three seconds, tops. I just needed to time it better.

Before I could attempt to race through it again, its shadowy form rippled, and it jerked its head up with a shriek as Vail’s sword sliced through its midsection, momentarily parting the shadows, before he rolled through it.

“Vail!” I raced towards him but then had to leap back when the wraith scuttled between us. It lunged forward, its pinchers snapping towards Vail, but unlike mine, Vail’s timing was perfect. He sidestepped the attack and plunged his sword into the wraith’s eye for the split second it was corporeal.

It screamed and reared back, creating a clear path for me. I raced forward but halted when Vail held up a hand.

“I’m sorry, Sam.” There was a note of finality to Vail’s tone that sent a chill down my spine.

Shimmering eyes of silver bored into my soul.

“I’ve always loved you. Even when I hated you.

” He laughed darkly. “There is no force in this world that could have ever stopped me from loving you. I’m so sorry I fucked it all up. ”

“Don’t,” I growled and took a step towards him only for him to move back. “Whatever it is you’re thinking of doing, don’t you fucking dare.”

He smiled at me, and in that moment, I didn’t think there was anything I hated more. “I was wrong about the prince too. I’m happy you have him and the others. They’ll keep you safe. Now run .”