Page 87 of Of Blood and Banes (The Arterian #2)

TOO LATE

“ A rchie!” I scream, pumping my arms harder and hurdling over the downed soldiers littering the ground. “Archie!”

Hands snatch me from behind, and Daeja roars, “I’m trapped!”

An unfamiliar voice calls behind me, “This is her. Have they secured her dragon?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Good, both of them must remain unharmed.”

I wiggle against them, trying to free myself while never taking my eyes off Archie. “They won’t hurt you, Daeja…but I have to get to Archie!”

I can hear her snapping jaws somewhere behind me. She’ll manage on her own.

In the distance, the first soldier strikes Archie, and he deflects the blade—barely—with his small dagger. The second soldier prowls toward them as Archie fights for his life against the first one. He still hasn’t noticed the second man.

I rip my left arm out from my assailant and fling it forward with curved fingers, channeling the ley line magic below the earth and pushing it until it erupts from the ground into the first soldier attacking Archie. It slams the man against the wall.

My kidnapper slaps my arm down, and I lose my grip on the magic.

The man I’ve pinned against the wall slumps to the ground, knocked unconscious.

The second man tackles Archie from behind.

Out of the corner of my eye, a flash of red appears before I’m knocked sideways to the ground.

When I land face-to-face with a dead soldier, I clamber up to find Cole scrapping with my attacker.

When Cole affords me a glance as he grapples with the man, he mouths, “Go!”

Belly down, I crawl through the bodies for a moment until I can spring up to my hands and knees. I look up as Archie is pinned down by the second soldier. The man pulls a fist back and smashes it down straight into Archie’s face.

“No!” I cry.

Someone snatches me by the ankle, dragging me backward through the dirt as I watch the man rear back and begin to wallop Archie as he writhes on the ground. I reach out a hand to him, like I’ll be able to stop it in the devastating distance between us.

Everything slows while my memories with Archie flash in my mind.

Him throwing the dagger to save me back in Arterias.

Us staring up at the stars and pointing out a constellation that looks like a soup ladle.

Him taking it easy on me in sparring. Him finding Daeja and protecting me against her before he even knew she wouldn’t hurt me.

Letting me rest my head on his shoulder to sleep.

Every laugh.

Every smile.

My best friend.

I flip onto my back to face my attacker and fucking kick the man square in the face. Giving me enough time to scramble away and turn my attention back to Archie. All the pain surges around me like a power source, filling to the brim.

“Archie!” I lift my hand again with a cry, tears blurring my vision as if I reach hard enough for him, I can save him. I begin to pull the magic again?—

The soldier rebounds and falls on top of me, pinning my arms behind my back and shoving my face down into the dirt. I lose my grip on the magic. All I can see is Archie getting hit, again and again. Tears slip from my eyes as I’m forced to watch, fighting to free myself.

A figure flashes across the scene and tackles the soldier off Archie to the ground. The figure rears up. Brown hair swept into a mess.

Darian.

He plunges a dagger straight into the man’s throat, pausing for a slow moment, before slicing it across his neck and ending the soldier’s jerky movements.

The person pinning me rips me up off the ground by my hair, their other hand on my wrists. When I see Archie roll off his back onto his hands and knees, relief breaks through my chest. He’s alive.

The person holding me hostage grunts, then gurgles. Something slumps behind me, and I turn to see a man collapse to the ground with blood pooling out of a wound in his chest.

Melaina looks at me and nods, then springs back into battle. When I glance back at Daeja, she’s shaking nets off her back, fifteen soldiers lying limp around her.

“I have an idea,” I pant.

“Don’t you always?” she purrs, flicking her gaze to me across the battlefield.

“Light it up. I’ll draw the flames to protect our group.”

“Good thinking.” She rears back onto her hind legs and blasts a shot of fire near me.

Sucking in a quick breath, I power my stance and grip the flames with clawed fingers. I work to move them around the battlefield, like drawing lines in sand. Eventually, I’ve blocked off our group, protecting them from any attackers.

The clamor of the battle fades into an eerie stillness, broken by crackling embers, until we all stand amongst the carnage, flicking our gazes back and forth between those still standing.

“Bristol…take the others and fly overhead…See if you can pick off any stragglers,” Sethan commands breathily, his hands braced on his knees.

Bristol dips his head and mounts Nadja with the other riders as they push off the ground and climb into the sky. I slide the flames down back to the ley lines, sweat soaking my brow.

I make eye contact with Cole. Even from this distance, the amber of his eyes glows with rage, blood smattering the side of his face and clumping bits of his flame-red hair.

He nods slowly to let me know he’s okay, blinking the anger out of his eyes like a cat might do when the sun comes out after a dark night.

“Father!” Melaina screeches behind us.

Everyone turns as she catches Sethan, folding forward onto his knees. Melaina struggles against his strong frame to lower him to the ground, and when she does, all of us swarm in around her.

I sweep the soldiers in front aside to get a clear look. “Let me see him!” I drop onto my knees beside Melaina as she cradles her father’s head in her hands, her eyes round with fear.

“What’s-what’s happening?” Melaina pants, her voice pitching higher with panic. Her shaky hands gently pat up and down his torso, his sides. “I don’t understand. He isn’t injured. What is happening?”

Sethan’s eyes stare up at the sky, his fingers pulling at the top of his gorget. His lips bloom to a tinge of purple.

“Kat!” Melaina screams. “Please!”

I scan his body with my eyes and hands, not finding any critical wounds or blood. Frantically, I unfasten the gorget encasing his throat. “Poison? Maybe? I can try to?—”

My heart stops as Sethan slides his brown eyes to mine.

I look over at A’nala as she collapses onto her side to the ground. Her head bounces off the earth lifelessly, and her yellow eyes are blown wide in a glassy stare. A shining blue blade protrudes from the elegant curve of her throat.

I scream to anyone who’ll listen, “Someone! Quick! Take that dragonblade out of her throat!”

Several rush over to her and pull the sword out. The blade is soaked in blood, glittering in the sunlight with a beauty belying the horror. Her blood spills out onto the ground in ruby pools, shining with magic and poison. Poisoned by her own kind. Twisted by the sinfulness of man.

I jump to my feet, determined to pull any poison from A’nala’s bloodstream?—

Sethan catches me by the wrist, his fingers locked around me with a waning strength. He takes a strangled breath.

When I look back down at him, he chokes out with his eyes half-closed, “It’s…too late.”

Melaina’s cry breaks something in me, and she curls her shoulders inward as if she can protect her father from his own looming fate. Archie comes up behind her, resting a cautious hand on her shoulder.

Sethan’s grip on my wrist intensifies. “Success is…a decision.”

He lets go of me and rests his hand on Melaina’s forearm as his head begins to lull back, fighting with every staggered breath and drag of his eyelids to stay conscious.

“I may have never been the best father to you. But…I never wanted to leave you, Melbell,” his voice is mangled by blood, spilling out of his mouth in gurgling streams. “I want you to be happy. I…love…”

You.

His hand slips off Melaina’s arm, and the gurgling in his mouth ceases. His head falls back as the life in his eyes fades.

Melaina screams.