Time seemed to slip away as I fought. Red ribbons flowed out of me, matching the flashes of green and purple that burst through the darkness.
Daegal’s footsteps pounded on the stone, adding to the symphony of death. The voices of the others disappeared, and I lost track of time. All that I knew was the pull of my power. It was intoxicating, the feeling of letting loose after so many years.
There was just me, my magic, and the male who never let me go.
A loudscreechcame from behind. Then another. The darkness thickened. Daegal cried out, and his grip on me faltered for the first time since he picked me up.
My heart pounded as though it was trying to escape from my chest, and I looked around, seeking the source of the Fortune Elf’s distress. Pulling up as much magic as I could, I prepared to launch it in the air.
Daegal yelled.
There was the strangest sensation of falling.
Then everything went black.
This Wasn’t Supposed to Happen
AILEANA
“Duck!” Xander’s voice broke through the sounds of battle, and I dropped to the ground.
A horrible scream like an animal being torn apart from the inside out came from above me, followed by the sound of metal meeting bone as Xander destroyed one of the nightmarish creatures. Shards of cartilage fell on my head, and I shuddered, shaking them off as he helped me to my feet.
“Thank you,” I said.
Always.
After that, there was no time for words, spoken or otherwise. The strange spiders kept coming at us. Reaching into my well of magic, I pulled up as many ribbons as I could. They flooded out of me in a rush of green, slamming into these awful creatures.
I had witnessed many things since escaping my tower, and I had met many different people. Some were good, others were bad. I had seen evil personified in Remington and Edgar. And yet, nothing was as terrifying as these creatures that were Life and Death melded together.
They shouldn’t have been alive, but they were. Their eyes glowed in the dark mist as they made their skittering, crawling advance of death.
It felt as though hours had passed since the first creature appeared, though it had probably been far less than that. Xander and I fought side by side, beating back the nightmares as we moved through the city. The sound of metal crunching through bone would forever be ingrained in my memory.
If we survived this.
At the moment, I wasn’t sure that would happen. Flurries of ribbons left my palms, crawling toward the horrible creatures before erupting into vines, thorns, and briars covered in black blood. Even as I destroyed the skull-spiders, more of them cropped up.
Every so often, flashes of red and purple magic broke through the darkness, a reminder that we were not alone. Xander fought with ease, his eyes having no problem seeing through the mist.
I wasn’t so lucky. Even though I was Mature, I couldn’t fully see in the dark. There were limitations to all magic, I supposed. Following the light emitted by my ribbons and using the glow of my skin, I fought to the best of my abilities. I had quickly realized that my dagger was virtually useless against these creatures, so I focused on my magic.
My heart pounded and my breaths were heavy as I battled next to my mate. The sounds of fighting raged all around. The weight of the compass felt heavier than ever in my pocket, almost as though it were taunting me. It had led us to this tomb—was this all a joke?
The nightmare creatures pushed us deeper into the city. Rough, cracked cobblestones were beneath my feet and I stumbled, slamming various parts of my body into the stone buildings as I struggled to remain upright. Countless ribbons flooded from me as I pulled on the depths of my magic. I lost myself in the battle, giving into the innate part of me that wanted to keep me safe.
Fighting was in my blood, and I was good at it. Great, even.
I wondered if that was why High King Edgar had hated females so much. Was that why he locked up Ryllae? Was it the reason behind the Accompaniment Law?
Did he realize the power that females had running through their veins?
Fear was a powerful motivator. Perhaps he knew if we weren’t oppressed, we could transform the world. Perhaps he knew that if females pushed back against the powers holding them down, they could bring about a genuine change in Ithenmyr.
Equality wouldn’t happen overnight. Opinions wouldn’t be transformed in the blink of an eye. But if females could fight for themselves, one day this could be a place of hope. Joy. Safety. That was the future I was fighting for. Females were not property to be bought and sold. We were not bargaining chips, nor were we breeders. We were gods-damned warriors. Males thought they were better than us simply because of the parts that dangled between their legs.
They were wrong.