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CHAPTER FIFTY ONE

B astian led the charge through the rubble which barred our exit from the citadel, downing walls and opening up tunnels through rock and steel alike as we fought to escape.

The Flamebringers had found us locked in our desperate embrace and the madness which had consumed me when feeling the heat of his lips against mine had fled as we came close to being burned alive.

I’d stolen the oxygen from the fire intended to end us and Bastian had speared the offending Fae through the chest with a wooden javelin he’d crafted so quickly I’d almost missed it. From that moment on, we’d been running.

Flamebringers filled the citadel, their most powerful warriors absent but like all Fae of The Waning Lands, even the young knew how to defend themselves when battle came calling.

We’d had no choice but to flee, yet neither of us was clear on where precisely we should be running to.

“Damn these twisted passages,” Bastian snarled, throwing a wall of rock up to shield us as a group of Flamebringers appeared at the end of the passageway we’d been taking.

We might have been dressed like them but it was clear they knew who I was the moment they laid eyes on me.

News of the Sky Witch’s captivity had spread far and wide throughout the city and between my pink hair and the obvious truth of my Order, I knew I wouldn’t be able to sneak out of here unrecognised.

“We need to head skyward,” I demanded, looking to the roof above our heads and wishing we’d never moved inside the damned palace in the first place. But we hadn’t had much choice with thirty Flamebringers hounding us inside.

“Straight into the arms of your people? I’ll pass thank you, spectre,” Bastian growled.

“My curse on you won’t break until you set foot on my land,” I reminded him. “Why not take your chances on Ironwraith? Once you’ve stepped upon its shores you could try to fight your way free again?”

Bastian barked a laugh. “You like my chances against a legion of your best?”

“I like them better than I would most Fae’s,” I agreed because it was true. Even outnumbered twenty to one I wasn’t certain the Skyforgers would be able to hold him. And maybe some part of me didn’t want them to anyway.

“Such a pretty liar,” he cooed. “I say we head west and outrun the battle altogether. We’ll take the long way back to your land and I’ll take my chances against you alone when it comes to a fight.”

“Is that cowardice I hear in your voice?” I taunted.

Flames erupted around the stone shield and I guttered them with a huff of annoyance.

“Better a coward than a captive,” Bastian purred but I didn’t buy it for a second. He wasn’t a creature capable of fear.

“Or maybe you just want me to yourself for a few more weeks?” I teased.

The silver in Bastian’s eyes grew sharper, a wicked glint to the steel that lay there. “And if I did? Would losing yourself in the wilds with me for a week or three be so very bad?”

“Bad? I’m certain it would be nothing but sinful. That doesn’t mean I’m going to take you up on it.”

Bastian grinned at me.

The sound of a group of bodies collapsing to the ground through lack of oxygen reached us from beyond the shield. I kept control over the air they were struggling to breathe for a few more seconds to make sure they were definitely out cold.

“That way then,” I barked, pointing at a solid wall beside us.

Bastian sighed heavily, like I was so utterly unreasonable, then carved a hole straight through the wall ahead of us like I’d directed. I resisted the urge to praise him like a good dog but the way he narrowed his eyes told me he could read the thought in my head.

We ducked into the hole, moving through the solid palace wall before emerging on the other side in the streets of the citadel.

Flames were fired at us from both left and right and the two of us threw up shields to block a side each.

“I need a sword,” I complained, eying the blades adorning Bastian’s belt and slung over his back.

“Here,” he forged a little clay dagger with a crudely drawn Dragon on its blade in his fist then tossed it to me.

I caught it, my lips parting to argue the uselessness of the brittle weapon but a blast of fire hit my shield so hard that it almost shattered.

“Time to go,” I snapped, taking the lead and racing down the closest alleyway.

Bastian followed with only minimal grumbling about me being a bossy asshole and I chose to focus on getting us the hell out of here over responding to his jibes.

We were lucky, darting down several alleys before breaking out into the market square without anyone else spotting us.

The bellows of battle sang out across the entire city, blasts of fire and air colliding around us and I couldn’t help but look up towards my people as they launched themselves from the cliffs of Ironwraith far above.

We were closing in on the edge of the floating island, our chance to board it slipping by as it moved overhead, turning in the clouds to position itself for another strike at the palace.

“Come on,” I barked, moving to grab Bastian by the hand before wrapping us in a knot of air magic and hurling us skyward.

He snarled aggressively, snatching his hand from my grip and throwing earth magic around us so that rocks formed over our boots, their weight dragging us back towards the ground.

“For the love of Gemini, stop!” I yelled, taking a swing at him but he deflected my blow, only grinning at me as he cast more rocks into place, making it even harder for me to haul us skyward.

Flaming arrows arced through the air towards us and I only just managed to throw a shield out to block the attack in time.

The dip in my concentration saw us tumbling towards the ground and Bastian snatched my hands into his grip, clamping them in his fists to stop me from casting and launching us upwards again.

I lunged for him and he narrowly avoided my forehead as I took aim for the bridge of his nose so I sank my teeth into his neck instead.

A Dragon’s snarl escaped him and we crashed heavily into the roof of one of the market stalls, wood splintering all around us as we were thrown away from one another.

I scrambled to my feet, his blood staining my lips and a wicked smile accompanying it.

“Back to this again, are we?” Bastian growled, shoving a lump of awning off of him and regaining his feet.

The heavy shadow of Ironwraith moved overhead, blotting out so much moonlight that it appeared pitch black down here.

“Were we ever not?” I replied.

A boom of impact made us both lurch around as a great lump of the palace wall came crashing down from above.

I cursed, throwing up a shield and Bastian caught my hand, driving his magic into it too and stealing my breath from my lungs as our power combined.

The heavy lumps of black glass and stone exploded around us and I stared into his silver shot eyes with my heart racing and every lie we’d ever told each other keeping us company.

“What are we to one another, spectre?” Bastian asked me but I had no answer that I could give him to his question.

“We’re both dead if we don’t get out of here,” I replied instead, my chest heaving with the roiling combination of our magic beneath my skin.

He nodded, taking his hand from mine and severing our connection more efficiently than a bucket of ice water.

I drew in a shuddering breath, focusing my mind as the weight of his power abandoned me and we were left standing amid the rubble of our enemies’ stronghold.

“No way up anymore,” Bastian pointed out and to my utter frustration I had to admit he was right, Ironwraith had swallowed us within its shadow and making any attempt to fly up to it here would be suicide.

We’d be shot from the sky long before we could reach the edge of the island and make it to its top.

“West,” I grunted irritably because that had been his preference all along.

Bastian grinned, revealing the dimples in his cheeks and the scheming in his eyes before turning and running for the wall which ringed the citadel.

Flamebringers came for us as we ran and I had no choice but to follow him and shield us the best I could.

We made it to the wall and Bastian blasted a hole in it for us to escape.

The streets beyond it were chaos, soldiers racing to and fro, barking orders and running to meet the enemy. We had all of five seconds before one of them noticed us and then we were running blindly, unable to do anything other than shield as fire rained down on us from all around.

My magic blossomed within me, there was so much desire for death, glory and most of all, survival, that no matter how much energy I poured into shielding us, my magic never once began to wane.

Bastian relied on me to keep us from being burned alive, forging ahead of me and swinging the heavy sword he carried with brutal and lethal efficiency every time a Flamebringer dove into our path.

We tried to run west but kept getting herded north instead, the great dam which held back the Blackthorn Canal looming between the houses ahead of us.

The flags of the Cascadian Armada beat a violent rhythm against the sky up there, blasts of water magic colliding with fire so frequently that a fog of steam hung above this end of the city.

There was a roiling undertone to the cries of fighting Fae too, some seething mass of force drumming against the walls of the city itself.

“What is that?” I demanded as the rushing crash sounded again and Bastian skidded to a halt, dropping into a crouch and placing his hand against the cobbled street.

I fought to shield us as a group of Flamebringers took aim at us from a rooftop to our right and the piercing cry of a terrified child drew my attention to three tiny figures who were scrambling out of an alleyway ahead.

The children ranged in age from around two to seven, the older girl gripping the hands of the others tightly as she hauled them along. Her gaze snapped to mine and she skidded to a halt with a cry of pure terror, recognition spilling through her brown eyes.