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“I said those things to wake you up, knowing you were hurting. I may not have grown up with friends or loving family, but goddammit, Nuo, you were my friend! The bad side effects, remember?”

Nuo’s mouth popped open as if to say something, but he closed it, his jaw clenching.

Was that voice in his head getting stronger? Telling him to look and see that it was me?

More Aether flooded the pass, but the biggest part of the horde hadn’t reached us yet.

The Aspis roared somewhere past the cliff edge, birds screeching in reply.

Kazhi and Bastane were managing the battle but giving us looks as if to say, Hurry the fuck up and let’s get out of here .

Nuo finally lifted his blades, taking down an Aethar a little too close to Maev, who cried out in horror as the body landed at her side.

Sweat gathered at my back, soaking into my black Guardian clothes, which attracted the heat in an ungodly manner.

“I don’t believe you,” Nuo grunted while dodging a knife.

“It’s not possible. You expect me to believe a girl I knew for several weeks over histories going back hundreds of years?

You’re possessed. You want us destroyed.

” Nuo pointed his weapons at me. “I am done arguing with my enemy. You’re pretending to stand against the Aethar.

What is it you want? To get us distracted, to get access to the Aspis? ”

A shadow passed overhead, and the Aethar stopped their attack, screaming and pointing to the sky. Some of the scarred faces blanched and fled the pass.

I didn’t care about the danger in front of me. All I cared about was convincing Nuo. “I want the magic out of me. I’m going to find the gods to make them take it back. And I am going to save Brekt.”

He stiffened. “Liar.”

“That’s why I was at Ouras’s temple. That’s why I am going to search for the others.”

Doubt glazed those honey eyes.

Bastane stepped between us and shoved Nuo back. “You’re arguing like a child. Look around you, man. The Ikhor isn’t attacking us. The Aethar are. Fight the current enemy.”

Blood streamed down Bastane’s temple.

Kazhi overreached when she threw her knife and missed her target, and a large Aethar with red veins in his neck tackled her to the ground.

Maev screamed, and my attention darted to where she was staring.

Nuo.

He was gawking down at his chest. An arrow protruded from it, close to his shoulder. He grunted, pulling the arrow free and stumbled back. An Aethar came from behind him and wrapped an arm around his neck, holding a knife to his throat.

“Nuo!” I screamed, but the Aethar yanked him back, and the blade pressed into the skin, drawing blood.

Kazhi yelled for help, and Bastane ran to her. I waited, terrified as another Aethar grabbed him and held him back from rescuing Kaz.

The Guards were overrun.

I had been squabbling, thinking it was okay, that the Guards were undefeatable. I tested my right hand. I could barely hold on to my sword, and I couldn’t lift it very high. I would have one shot to drive the Aethar back. And when I did, would I stay, or would I run?

The Aethar behind Nuo spoke up. She was a large woman, her dark skin shining with sweat. “This was a pathetic fight. Give yourselves up, and we will let you live. Maybe the Ikhor will spare you.”

A few of the Aethar laughed, and Nuo, whose throat was pressed against the blade, looked confused.

“What do you mean? You are here with the Ikhor.” Kazhi grunted, struggling under the Aethar, pinning her to the ground.

“The Ikhor is burning the Guardian lands. We go to join him.”

Bastane fought against the one holding him, three spears digging into his sides, pinning him in place. “They don’t know it’s her.”

“Come on, they’re Aethar,” Nuo warned. “It’s a trick.” The one holding Nuo looked ready to end this.

Nuo nodded once toward Bas and Kazhi, and the three of them, with speed I couldn’t track, pivoted, slashed and pushed their attackers away, taking them down with deadly precision.

Instantly, Nuo was at my side, a hand banded around my arm and a knife in my face.

I leaned away, staring down at the blade. “If you believe I’m lying, then why am I not dead already?” I prepared my own swords, knowing their power would come in handy if need be.

The rest of the Aethar charged, but a large roar overhead drowned out their war cries.

Nuo gave me one last scathing look before he let go of my arm and ran.

“Maev, stay behind me.” I held my swords, afraid to bring them together with the Guards so close by.

Bastane took on the horde to the right as Nuo went straight ahead, but several Aethar met him head-on. His blade made quick work of the first one, but the second one dodged, and the third rounded behind him.

Bastane took down the one at Nuo’s back, and Maev turned her head as blood poured from the gut of Nuo’s attacker.

Before long, the Guards were pushed backward, fighting closer to Maev and me.

They were losing.

I closed my eyes, blocking out the sight, searching for what I felt.

Fear. Anticipation. Worry.

I was too wrapped up in the fact that Nuo was here.

“They’re going to lose,” Maev said from behind me.

Bastane pulled an arrow from his arm, shouting something at Kazhi, who threw a blade at an archer and got them in the neck.

“They’re trained to fight like this. They’ll win.” I tried to convince myself, but my hands shook so violently that I couldn’t hold my swords steady.

The magic felt further and further out of my control—because my emotions were out of control.

Nuo yelled in pain, slashing at an Aethar, and when he backed away from a group of swordsmen, I caught sight of a large hole in the front of his vest.

Another Aethar aimed for him.

I screamed, running forward without thinking, and brought my swords together. Like before, a blast of energy pushed back the Aethar, causing blood to pool out of his eye sockets.

The impact threw me back, and I stumbled into Nuo. I glanced down at the hilt of the swords where the crystals sat, the magic fading from them.

“What the fuck was that,” Nuo said behind me.

“Me saving your ass.” I put the swords back in their leathers, having no use for them now.

“Kazhi,” Nuo shouted, pushing me away from him. “Group back.”

Kazhi sliced open the neck of an Aethar coming for her side before she ran back to where Nuo and Bastane stood. “Looks like those swords were a good find, Bones.”

I swallowed hard, hearing my old nickname. “Little help they are. We are going to need a lot more to get out of here.”

“We can run, Liv.” Maev, pale and shaking behind me, threw a thumb over her shoulder. “This way.”

Leave the Guards? I couldn’t. “It’s the wrong way. We need to get you home.”

“We don’t have much choice right now.”

I looked across the clearing. More Aethar poured in through a narrow passage on the far end, no more than two at a time, but they were never-ending.

Nuo held the hole in his chest with red fingers. “Run, Liv. You’re good at that.”

Bastane wiped blood from his eyes, muttering something about Nuo’s stubbornness as Kazhi gasped for breath.

A shadow passed over us, and I braced myself to face the beast, waiting for its thunderous roar. Once it arrived, the fight would be over. We were going to die.

But instead of a roar, a loud screech echoed off the walls of the clearing. What was above was an entirely new threat.

The shadow swooped over us again, and a booming sound blocked out the shouts of the horde as it descended upon us, slamming into the ground between the Guards and the Aethar, kicking up a cloud of dust.

A sweeping wind knocked me off my feet.

The Guards backed away, Kazhi standing close to my side as we watched the cloud, waiting to see what would happen.

The horde stopped to watch, too.

My heart lurched—a towering, broad-shouldered figure as dark as night appeared, and for a moment, I thought it could be the swirling shadow.

I was wrong.

A man—I think it was a man—stood in the dissipating dust cloud.

His arms hung at his sides, his stance casual, as two massive wings tucked against his back.

Even bent, the wingtips brushed the earth beneath his feet.

The dark figure looked over his shoulder to where we stood, amber eyes appraising the Guards.

His nose was curved, and his skin was so brown it blended into his black wings.

A few Aethar ran forward, screaming, “Attack!”

The man, looking toward my group, opened his wings, pointing them wide like a great black horizon, and spun so fast he became a dark blur.

Despite the heat, the surrounding air turned cold as I suddenly realized why there were so many bodies and broken bones throughout the canyon.

Thuds sounded as severed heads hit the ground, the bodies collapsing around them in a pool of blood. The man stopped spinning, flicked the tips of his feathers and sent blood flying into the dirt below.

“Did he just cut their heads off with his wings?” Maev asked behind me.

“Oh my god. Is that him?” I faced Nuo, whose sweat-drenched face had drained of colour.

Nuo’s favourite legend was real.

“That’s the Desert Eagle.”