Page 7 of Wrath Of Suns And Shadows (The Osparia #2)

“Alright.” She said it with a shrug, and I readied my feet for the shift in the ground beneath them—only for my face to meet the earth instead.

A stinging pain radiated across my cheek, and the entire group busted out in laughter from my fall.

Even Atreya chuckled under her breath, breaking her stern exterior.

I made it back to my feet, and everyone straightened, trying to catch their breaths from being bent at the waists, especially Sedrin.

He ended up flat on his back, his wings outstretched with his full belly laugh bouncing off the trees.

He was rolling while I scrubbed the dirt off my face and tugged the tree needles from my hair and clothes.

Luana looked me over with a wide, bright smile as she dusted off my front and helped with any leftover needles in my hair that I couldn’t see.

“I told you so,” she murmured as she regained her composure, grabbing one last needle tangled in the mix of my hair and the feathers I kept woven into it.

On the tips of her toes, she brushed a thumb over my cheek.

I felt a small sting from where I must’ve scraped my face when it met the earth.

Slowly, I felt it fade as my body began healing such a miniscule wound.

Luana swallowed as I heard her heartbeat quicken.

Her hand lingered on my cheek, and I couldn’t stop my fingers from trailing over the back of it as she palmed my face.

My heart hammered against my ribs as warmth buzzed from where our skin touched.

Hope flared within me. After she had put distance between us, I thought the connection might fade, but it was still burning as brightly as the sun.

Her hand fell from my cheek and rested a moment on my chest before she looked away, going back to the task at hand. She turned away, and the group started walking toward the capital again.

But I paused, letting the moment sink in. It felt like the start of the walls she had built around herself were crumbling, and I prayed it was true and that she felt the same connection between us that I did.

“Everything is much easier in the sky,” Sedrin said, and I nodded in agreement. We both flapped our wings once, twice, and then suddenly we were twirling around the treetops.

“Guys! Remember, I want to remain unseen. Stay out of the open and let us know if you see anything up there.” Atreya shouted her command, and we both waved her off.

I saw nothing but trees and the open waters of Draynua in the distance.

The crisp dusk wind made my damp clothes chill my skin.

It felt nice after walking all day to give my legs a break.

I looked ahead, staying just above the women below as they continued their trek.

I didn’t see or hear anything, but as we kept going, the world became quieter.

Night was approaching, but something felt off.

An unfamiliar scent wafted through my wind that I wouldn’t ignore.

I glanced over to Sedrin, who was flying a few feet away from me.

“You smell that?” I signed, and his features were stern as he nodded in agreement. Something was here. Or someone.

Just as I prepared to dive back down to where Atreya and the others were, the world shook. A large, thick wall of earth rose on every side to protect Atreya and Maeve. They were within the four walls of stone, but where was Luana?

My heart plummeted into my gut as I dove to the ground with Sedrin on my heels.

Arrows suddenly flew in our direction, and I twisted and used my wind to turn and shoot them back the way they had come.

Some men dressed in all black gurgled over their own blood and fell to the ground, while others scattered.

I didn’t know who they were, but I assumed there weren’t many of them.

Maybe the Capital City had already run them off and their numbers were small.

Maeve and Atreya leapt out of their box of protection that Luana had created with their swords drawn.

Wind whipped around Maeve, ready to attack at her command.

Rustling came from behind a nearby tree and I ran to it.

Luana stumbled out. I grabbed for her, my breath heaving.

“Are you alright?” I asked, looking over her frantically, and then I noticed the smell of blood. The tinge of it on the wind.

“I’m okay, Ace,” she signed, too winded to speak.

It wasn’t someone else’s blood; it was hers.

I didn’t hesitate. I grabbed her and ripped off her leather vest top to reveal the large gash across her side.

The crimson soaked into her white shirt.

I looked back over my shoulder with a curse.

Sedrin, Maeve, and Atreya had their guards up as I tended to Luana.

We worked together to keep each other safe.

“Why weren’t you within the walls with them?” I asked, my words rolling off one of my stained hands coming out harsher than I meant them too.

“Someone grabbed me. I didn’t even hear them approach.

They were so quiet. I bent the walls up hoping no one else would get taken,” she said as I grabbed a bandage from my bag.

I lifted her shirt, motioning for her to turn over on her side so that I could clean her wound.

She winced as I poured some water over it.

I noted a light brown liquid slipping from the gash mixed with blood.

Fuck.

Hemlock.

I cleaned it the best I could and wrapped it tight to stop the bleeding, but if hemlock was coursing through her veins already, we needed to get to a healer and fast. I helped her to her feet.

“Ace,” she whispered as she stood, and when I looked over at her, she was ashen and couldn’t take a step forward before falling. I grabbed her around the waist and hauled her up into my arms. Her body was already growing warm with fever.

Skies above, how much was on their blade?

The effects were happening quickly—too quickly.

I knew with fae and Sky Elves, since our kinds were similar, as long as it was smaller amounts, it wouldn’t kill us.

We’d just be ill and weak as it burned through our systems. Ember used it as a tactic to weaken us before killing us.

I didn’t know how hemlock worked with an Earth Dryad, nor how much was coursing through her system.

What if they had given her a lethal dose?

Atreya, Sedrin, and Maeve made haste toward us.

“What’s happened? What’s wrong with her?” They all rushed in with questions.

“Hemlock, I’ll meet you at the capital.” It wasn’t an ask or a request. I was leaving. “Sedrin, can you hold both of them? Do you have any straps?” I signed quickly with the hand draped under Luana’s knees.

Before the war, Sky Elves like my father and Orion, Emelyn’s father, would use straps any time they were together so my father could fly them wherever they needed to go effortlessly. But since Sky Elves had become more of a rarity, few people thought to carry straps with them anymore.

“No, I don’t have any.”

“I’m wearing mine, but they aren’t big enough for Atreya and I to wear,” Maeve signed.

“Shit,” I cursed, and then I looked down at Luana. She was fading. Her lids fluttered.

“Go.” Atreya looked to the three of us.

“We can’t leave you out here alone,” Sedrin countered, but she wouldn’t take it.

“All of you, go! Get Lu to the capital. I’ll meet you there,” she commanded, but Sedrin and Maeve hesitated as I cursed internally.

“No,” I signed. Crouching down, I laid Luana gently on the ground before I undid the large leather band of daggers I kept strapped across my chest. I quickly threw it at Atreya, and she caught it effortlessly.

“Take that and hold on to it so Sedrin can fly you both to the capital. We don’t need to separate with those people still out there.

They’ll kill you with no remorse,” I signed before I grabbed Luana again, gently laying her head against my chest. I couldn’t speak to her, even though my soul wanted to scream out for her to open her eyes.

To tell her to stay with me. Instead, I hummed the song she had been humming before as I took off into the skies faster than I had ever flown in my life.

I hoped she could hear it, cling to it, something familiar to keep her here with me.

I could hear Sedrin far off behind me, but after what felt like forever, I was landing at the Capital City’s gates with rows of soldiers holding bows and arrows aimed at me. I stood still. I didn’t make it this far to only get us both killed.

A few moments of tense silence passed, and then Atreya leapt down from the sky right before Sedrin landed.

“It’s me. Lower your weapons,” she shouted, and they slowly lowered their bows.

The large stone gates made the ground rattle as they slid open just enough for our bodies to slip through before they slammed shut again.

Luana started trembling in my arms, then convulsing.

Panic thrummed in my chest, making it hard to breathe—to think.

I had rushed into the Capital City. Everyone looked at me with panic and surprise furrowed across their brows.

No one knew what I needed. I signed over and over, but no one understood.

I felt helpless as the person I cared for most faded in my arms. The thick lump of emotions formed like a bolder in my throat.

I couldn’t breathe. No matter how much wind I tried to force inside to fill my lungs. They burned, shriveling away as my heart cracked with every beat that pounded behind my temple. I shattered. I couldn’t save her—help her.

Help her, help her, help her . . .

The words never stopped echoing in my mind—begging, pleading for someone to help her.