Page 44 of Oath-Maker

My magic reached out in response to Lucius’s, and when our magic met in a ferocioussnap, like two pieces of a large puzzle clicking into place, the world spun for just a moment.

Power. Control. Both seeped into me, along with a gravity that settled low within me. Direction. A path forward through the chaos that led straight to Lucius.

Love. Gods, so much of it.

“Let’s go,” I said to Ian and Jessa as fight renewed within me. I hadn’t been sure before, down in the cell under the Order’s tower, what might happen. And the size of the Veil’s tear worried me to no end.

But Lucius was here, so anything was possible with our power. Literally.

We rushed forward, occasionally dipping into skirmishes to assist our paladins where we could—both refugees from Lightport and the newer Shadow Paladins. But my main goal was getting to Lucius and the Guardian. And it seemed to be easy to cut through all the chaos with that goal in mind, except for the towering, utterly massive celestials who moved around Lightport like giants. Insane entities with radiant presences that made looking directly at them nearly impossible, and the details of their forms a mystery.

It only took me until nearly burning my retinas trying to discern the true nature of one to figure it out.

The elders of the Order.

Usually, they sat silently in the Tower, deciding things from afar but not getting directly involved. I hadassumedthey were more human than celestial, definitely on the celestial-kin line somewhere.

I knew now, in this moment, that had never been true all along. Because as we crossed paths with one of the impossibly radiant creatures now, the glowing faded as they retook a more human form. One I recognized as Elder Shion. Beside them, another entity appeared. Commander Lumen. Whowasn’tat the Guardian’s side, which surprised me. Only, instead of shrinking to human form as Elder Shion did, Commander Lumen began to grow and swell as scales grew along his armored body until—

“What the actual fuck is that?” Ian exclaimed as Commander Lumen’s new form rose, a giant snake above the shorter buildings.

My breath caught in my throat. The commander was celestial-kin, not a full celestial. And yet…

I peered closer at him now, pushing away my fear to see the truth of it. Now, he was a full celestial. Soltar, the tear in the Veil—it was empowering him.

I glanced around and watched as other celestial-kin grew into larger entities. Soltar’s increased presence was empoweringeveryone.

Ian and I exchanged quick and worried looks. Jessa, too. But neither of us was changing despite Jessa and me being celestial-kin.

“I don’t understand—” I tried to say, but Commander Lumen lunged forward. His snake’s mouth widened and he bared his fangs, but I pulled Jessa out of the way as Ian jumped in the opposite direction. The commander’s fangs pierced stone and he cried out. The sound of his pain reverberated through the air.

Jessa gasped and clutched her chest. She cowered, pulling into a tight ball. The commander’s pain—everyone’s—was getting to her.

I pulled her up. “I’m sorry, Jessa, but we have to keep moving.”

“No,” she mumbled, her fists squeezed together at her stomach. “I can’t, I can’t, I—” Her entire form quaked.

“Ayla!” Ian screamed from across the way. He’d drawn his celestial sword and was now fighting Elder Shion. Their attacks clashed. Worry spiked within me, but two paladins joined him, running in hot from another skirmish.

Which left just me and Commander Lumen and a very hurt, very powered-up Jessa. Red, radiant energy began to seep from her the same way the markings on my arms glowed when I used my magic.

“You could have had this!” Commander Lumen’s booming, hissing voice screamed across the air. Hearing human words from a snake’s body was jarring. But I squared up with him with Jessa behind me anyway. “You could have had your own celestial form, so much power. And you threw that away for ademon. You betrayed the Guardian’s trust and love fornothing.”

I drew my celestial sword and summoned my magic through it. The blade lit up with radiant flames, red-tinged and flickering with the barest hint of shadows at the edges. My magic pulsed around me and Lucius’s flared in return. Our shared bond empowered me more than the presence of Soltar possibly could have. Of that, I was absolutely sure.

“Jessa, stay back,” I said, and then I sprouted my paladin wings and charged for Commander Lumen.

My starry-black, night-sky wings carried me toward him quickly. His head and tail swung toward me in turn, but I was smaller, quicker, and I maneuvered around him, slashing along his scaled body as I went. As much as I’d wanted nothing more than to kill this very man upon meeting him, Ineededto be with Lucius. I didn’t have time to fight Commander Lumen with the tear in the Veil as large as it was, spewing celestial magic. All around us as the commander and I clashed again and again, my radiant magic sword on his scales and fangs, barely keeping him from biting me, other celestials rose, empowered, into the sky.

But—I noticed with relief that sent hope leaping in my chest—demons did, too. It was like the very nature of their home world was empowering everyone who wasn’t human. It was changing them into what they’d been before coming to Serenia and the rest ofthisworld.

They reallywerebringing their war here again.

I wasn’t sure Earth could survive a second wave. We’d barely survived the first.

I moved too slow, distracted by my thoughts, and Commander Lumen’s massive fang skimmed my shoulder and wing. I cried out as agony seared across my skin. Blood seeped from the wound, dripping to the ground far below us, but I kept moving—if I didn’t, he’d easily kill me. I just needed one good shot, a chance to drive this sword into his head, and he’d be dead, but—

Lucius’s roar sounded over the air above Lightport, followed by the Guardian’s. Both Commander Lumen and I turned fast, our fight paused, to watch the two clash, magic rippling visibly between them. The mate bond between Lucius and me flared and Ifeltthe power-up he was getting from Soltar’s presence, as it had basically folded itself over our world. The magic along my celestial sword changed to shadow flames filled with stars and, like breathing, a hundred possible futures lay themselves out before me in my mind’s eye.

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