Page 28 of Wrath Of Suns And Shadows (The Osparia #2)

Chapter Eighteen

Ace

W e landed on a mountainside that was on the outer banks of the Islands of Ash.

We had used the clouds and trees for cover in hopes of not being seen, even in the darkness of night.

I set Luana down and undid the straps that attached us.

We wouldn’t need them if we were going to be flying short distances.

We all stretched our legs and began descending the uneven terrain.

Ember soldiers littered the islands. I wasn’t sure how we would get to the ships unseen. Flying would be too big a risk. Valla had a small army perched here. I could see all the warships below along the beach gently swaying with the rougher waters from the storm.

I assumed Valla’s was the larger one, with the biggest Ember flag waving from the flagpole at the top. Soldiers moved freely around the island in small groups.

Emelyn was here. I could feel it. I just had to find where Valla was keeping her. Kade had held her in a small jail-like prison in the belly of his ship. I assumed that Valla’s would be set up the same way. We just needed to find a way in without alarming the entire island.

We all moved slowly down the mountainside, only signing when we needed to communicate.

We were all tense, our eyes roaming over our surroundings.

The trees swayed gently with the soft winds.

Something seemed off. It was quiet, too quiet.

Not even the creatures of the woods dared to make a noise.

As far as I knew, no one had seen us fly in.

The soldiers in the distance seemed distracted with their orders, but something was .

. . wrong? I could feel the sensation as if eyes watched the back of my neck.

I turned to Luana long enough to see a soldier poke out of the brush.

I grabbed her and threw her to the side as I sent a burst of wind barreling toward him, shooting him off the cliffside.

His screams went silent after the thud of his body echoed in the distance.

More men popped up from the surrounding areas. All wore black, not the Ember uniform. The same men that had attacked us before. Western Wyverns.

Shit.

They were prepared for us. This was an ambush.

“Fall back!” I signed to everyone, scooping Luana into my arms as I shot out toward the cliffside with Cyran and Sedrin on my heels. An arrow shot through my shoulder attached to a link of iron, as the assassin that had ensnared me yanked me back down to the ground.

Luana tumbled out of my arms and stood, shifting the earth beneath their feet.

They sank one by one as the ground swallowed them whole.

I got to my feet as four assassins came for me.

They were quick. I blended my combat with my daggers and wind, Cyran joined me, and together we took them down, one by one.

Sedrin and Maeve fought just a few yards away, while Luana dodged their attacks with walls of earth before sending them tumbling in their directions.

We fought together, and it was fucking magnificent.

Cyran and I slogged our way over to Sedrin.

Eventually, we were all back-to-back, taking on the assassins as they came, and then they stopped.

We looked around frantically, waiting for more to pop out from the darkness shrouding the surrounding trees as our breaths heaved and our faces were splattered with the blood of our enemies. When I finally looked toward where Luana stood, my blood ran cold.

Valla stood there, holding a dagger to Luana’s throat while her arms were chained behind her back to prevent her from bending. Valla hummed.

“Do you know what weakness is, elf?” she asked calmly before her muddied amber eyes met mine.

“Love is by far the strongest one you can have. Do you know what the second is?” Her voice was calm.

“Blood,” she whispered as she used the side of the blade to slice down Luana’s cheek.

Blood slid down her face and she winced from the pain, and I lurched in Valla’s direction.

Valla’s eyes shot up to mine as she returned the blade to Luana’s neck.

“Ah, ah.” She tsked before continuing her tangent.

“Even in the wild, if you are an injured creature, you will be targeted when you bleed because predators can smell it. Your weakness leaking from you.” She pushed the blade a little farther into Luana’s neck, and she winced again as the blood began trickling from that wound as well.

My breathing was so heavy, I couldn’t keep air in my lungs.

I felt like I was going to crumble into a million pieces where I stood.

“Do you know what happens when you mix those two things? Love and blood? And use them to your advantage?” she asked again, and I shook my head, my eyes desperately pleading, looking for a way out of this situation.

But no matter what ideas came to mind, they all ended with Luana dead, and I couldn’t have that.

I glanced to Cyran and Sedrin. Neither one of them made any sudden moves.

“You gain power,” Valla said as she dug the knife a little deeper, causing Luana to cry out.

I moved without thinking. My feet left the ground as I flew in Valla’s direction, daggers drawn, but her men yanked my chain still buried in my shoulder, and I slammed into the hard ground.

Valla chuckled lightly, wickedly as her men held me down.

I heard Cyran and Sedrin try to fight their way through the wave of soldiers that began arriving, but there were too many of them.

“Your hearts will be your downfall,” Valla mocked as her men shackled us.

The wind left me, and I was suddenly powerless.

I didn’t understand. Elves didn’t have a weakness to iron, but I could no longer call the wind to me.

I glanced down at the chains as a soldier yanked me to my feet and noticed the markings carved into the links.

Enchanted chains.

Fuck .

I wouldn’t be able to use my bending, but I could still fly.

We couldn’t leave Luana or Maeve, so we’d have to wait until the time was right before they threw us inside one of their warships to try to get away.

But instead of moving us farther down the mountainside, her soldiers began leading us up it.

Slowly, we marched up to the top. I was confused.

There wasn’t anywhere for Valla to take us unless she had a hidden underground bunker tucked away under the mountainside.

We stopped once we were a few feet away, where the cliffside fell off to the rocky bottom below.

Soldiers grabbed for Maeve, ripping her away from her brother, and Sedrin jerked forward.

“No, no!” he screamed as they dragged Maeve to the edge, and my gut dipped.

A sickness overtook me. She was going to throw her over.

Maeve whimpered and thrashed as they took her step by step, closer to the edge of the mountainside.

Sedrin, Cyran, and I all yanked against our chains to get to her, but more soldiers came up from behind to hold us exactly where we were.

“NO!” Sedrin roared out in agony as tears began slipping free from his eyes.

My chest grew taut with emotion as they stopped only a foot away from the drop-off.

And then soldiers began grabbing Luana and dragging her to the edge.

Valla had them placed further apart from each other.

I growled as my muscles strained to be free of the chains that bound me.

My veins bulging, my wings thrashing. We all became beasts trying to save what we held dear.

Our friends, our family, our love, our blood, our weaknesses, they were all there in front of us. We all would sacrifice whatever it took to save one another, and Valla dangled the thing we cared for most directly in front of us.

Losing those we loved.

Love and blood.

Sedrin fell to his knees, and it made his chains go slack enough that he cried out as Valla stood there with the slightest smile on her face.

She was getting off on our agony. Suddenly, Sedrin’s eyes met mine, and I knew he was going to go for it.

He twisted and tripped up two of the soldiers behind him with the slacked part of his chains before he tried to shoot forward with his wings to go for Maeve, but at that same moment, soldiers behind us tackled him.

They shot him with their anchored arrows and chains, pinning him where he was, but he had caused enough of a distraction for me to fight off the soldiers holding me down.

“Drop both of them. He can’t save them both.” I ripped the arrow from my shoulder and ignored the agony that came with it, fighting off the two men that tried to hold me down.

One, two, three beats of my heart before I could get free. I took off into the skies before I barreled over the edge after them. I heard Sedrin’s screams against the whistle of the wind, but I hated to admit that Valla was right.

I would have to choose . . . I wouldn’t be able to save them both.

The realization had tears streaming down my face from more than the wind. The heavy weight on my chest only made me reach the bottom of the mountain faster.

I’d never forgive myself . . .