Page 54 of Queen of Shadows and Ruin (The Nightfire Quartet #4)
FIFTY-THREE
Yasen stood shoulder-to-shoulder between Miraan and Vikas, facing northeast as they waited for the nairatta to appear.
Andhera and Gi’ana’s armies spread out before them, forming a line of defense. When Dishani finally listened to reason, they were called to cease terrorizing the vanshaj and meet the larger threat. In an ironic twist, their army was now double the size thanks to the Andheran’s presence.
Further down the line stood Ajay, Rania, and Farida.
The Army of Ashes had mostly pulled itself together, and what they lacked in elegance, they made up for in heart.
Every Aazheri in Ishaan had been called upon and stood ready to offer their strength.
“How much longer do we have?” Ajay asked.
“Rabin predicted they’d be here by late afternoon,” Miraan answered.
His gaze met Yasen’s, and he couldn’t help admiring the prince in his armor. His dark hair shone under the sun, and his dark eyes brimmed with promise and determination. They’d spent last night together, appreciating each other from every angle and position his filthy imagination could come up with.
On his other side stood Talin, also armed to the teeth.
Dishani remained in the palace with Advika and Kabir, still too weak to do much. Yasen was in the room when she’d conceded this threat was more important than the war they’d been fighting for months.
Though she was the absolute worst, he had to admire her frustration that she couldn’t join them on the battlefront today.
“Soon then,” Ajay replied from Yasen’s other side, and Miraan nodded.
“Soon.”
They all turned towards the horizon as the breeze blew off the mountains. It was so quiet, so still, everyone paralyzed with fear and the uncertainty of what came next.
Over the next hour, they waited.
Thanks to his enhanced senses, Yasen was the first to hear it: the sound of marching, chanting, and the gnashing of teeth and fists—the sound of their deaths.
“I hear them,” Yasen said, his voice dropping. “They’re coming.”
Everyone gripped their weapons as word passed through their ranks.
And then…the nairatta appeared.
A black blot stretching over the horizon.
More terrifying than the worst nightmares.
They wore beaten leather armor, and their tough skin glistened a dull grey under the sun. Nearly as tall as trees, their arms and legs were thick and muscled. Horns and teeth and muzzles came together to form these twisted creatures: part human, part animal, and all monster.
“Ready!” Miraan shouted to the sound of hundreds of blades withdrawing. “Wait for my signal!”
They shuffled together, shoulders back, weapons ready, prepared to die.
The demons advanced, sweeping over the landscape almost as if they had wings.
Some of them did.
“How do you think Zarya and the others are doing?” Yasen asked, focused on the advancing line.
“I don’t know,” Miraan answered. “But we can’t rely on them right now.”
Yasen glanced at Miraan, to see his eyes were glassy with tears.
“I want you to know I love you,” Miraan said. “I didn’t want to say it like this, but you are the best man I’ve ever known. You are brave and fearless. Kind and giving, even if you pretend you are none of those things. Maybe because you pretend you are none of those things. But you are worthy of love and everything the world has to offer, Yasen Varghese, and if I die today, I wanted you to know that.”
Yasen blinked, stunned into silence for once in his life. He had no idea how to respond. No one had ever said anything like that to him before.
“If you survive,” Miraan added, “I want you to be happy. Allow yourself that. I want you to understand that you deserve everything.”
Miraan searched his face while Yasen stood there like a stunned ass, unable to form a single sentence. The prince looked away and raised his sword over his head.
“Soldiers of Gi’ana and Andhera! Taara Aazheri who are now free! This is your land and your country, and today, you will defend it until your very last breath! Don’t let the efforts of the resistance have been in vain! I want you to live!”
They shouted in response, raising their fists as their cries rose into the sky with a thread of hope.
Yasen had faced many foes in his life, but this was the first time he’d ever truly worried about dying. Maybe it was due to the strength of the enemy they faced, or maybe it was because he finally had something to lose.
And even…something to live for.
Then Miraan gave the signal.
Together, they charged, finally united.
Working as one.
They picked up speed, racing across the plains.
Yasen lifted his sword, calling out a battle cry as he crashed into the line of nairatta and hoped he’d see the sun rise again tomorrow.