Page 119 of A War of Three Kings

As I run in pursuit, two sets of hooves pound toward me from behind. I spin to find an Explosion Brother almost on top of me, his arm outstretched with a musket pointed at my face, and Kai galloping behind him, desperately trying to catch the human.

The kelpie’s brown eyes widen, and his face and bare chest turn a deeper shade of blue as he throws icicles from the palm of his hand, but they don’t make their mark before the Explosion Brother pulls the trigger on his gun.

Bullets fly toward me, but this time I am ready for them. I will not fall under this contraption again. I throw out a hard sheet of air, enough to push the bullets off their course and send them whizzing over my shoulder. In the next moment, Kai’s icicles hit their target, and the man falls off his horse and under Kai’s hooves.

I could hug the kelpie. Gods, I could kiss his scaly face, but there is no time for that.

“Don’t get wounded,” he growls at me in greeting. “I’m not carrying you off yet another battlefield.”

I run at his side. It is a struggle to keep up with the sprint of his horse’s legs.

I barely halt when we reach a row of a hundred men on one knee, their muskets aimed at our advancing lines. I drag moisture out of the very air and rain a spring storm down upon them, the droplets hard and heavy. The signature of Silvan and Klara’s magic curling with mine tells me they are nearby, just as Cyprien materializes at my side.

The empty clicks of the Explosion Brothers’ guns send a wave of satisfaction through me, doubling when panic crumples their faces. Charging Northern soldiers cut them down before they can reach for their blades. I grin wildly, racing past the massacre.

I move through this vale of blood, death and smoke with nothing but violence on my mind. The storm of my creation streaks rivulets of water down my face and into the gaps of my armor, washing everything clean. It is freezing, but does little to dampen the fire in my soul. Beyond the shower, other high fae crouch on the ground, pulling up great geysers from the water table to deactivate the black powder.

The enemy’s horn blows the retreat as thousands of their number race down the narrow channel toward the forest.I laugh and laugh and laugh.Here, surrounded by ancient trees with roots and branches thick with age, I am at my greatest strength.

I blast out a wave of my power, sending that royal command throughout the battlefield for all my Spring Court fae to muster to me. To chase the fleeing enemy.My people answer my call. A hundred high fae warriors. Kelpies, fire sprites and nymphs, all slaughtering humans with sword and magic alike.

Their violence is a delight to my soul.

Three dragons crash to the ground, which reverberates as they land and crush humans carelessly. Their gazes land on me. One is a towering form of blue scales and spines. Another is a scarlet beast. The last to land is my golden friend, largest of them all.

Aldrin. King of Fae. It has been too long since we have met on the battlefield, Ezekiel rumbles in my head, looking away only long enough to snap up a passing human and swallow them whole.

“This is my preferred rendezvous, covered in the blood of enemies and with the anticipation of victory.” I stop before him. His head is the size of my torso. “Do you have my woman with you?” I crane my neck to find her.

Ezekiel chuffs, his brown eyes turning molten.She had the scent of you all over her. Thought I better protect this prize.

He shifts so I can get a good view of her. Keira waves at me from where she is perched between the ridges of his back, then scurries to slide down his front leg, which is as tall as her. She races toward me, but all I can do is examine every inch of her for injuries.

The moment she crashes into my arms, I forget the surrounding slaughter. The wails, the stink of fear, my earlier bloodlust.

All I will ever need is her.

I crush Keira into an embrace, tucking her against my chest as I throw up a shield of hardened air and churning storm clouds around us. Embers race within the tempest as Keira thrusts her own magic into it and her arms tighten around me.

I tilt her chin up with a single finger, searching her face for pain or tears, for any internal battle—but all I see is the thrill of the fight in her rosy cheeks and dancing eyes. I kiss her hard, my lips devouring, my tongue slipping in and caressing hers hungrily.

“I was scared for you,” I say, pulling away long enough to speak, then crashing against her mouth once more.

“Don’t be,” she breathes, pulling her lips away from mine for far too long. I trap her mouth again. My hands run up and down her body, across her waist and hips, skirting across her ass that is irresistible in these tight pants.

“Gods, I feel like I can’t breathe when I am not with you, Keira. You take half my soul with you each time we are apart.” I put my forehead to hers, our noses touching. “Are you ready for more? To make our enemy bleed?”

“Yeah. I think so.”

“And you don’t feel sad for them?” I probe. “You don’t feel sickness to the depths of your soul at the mindless carnage?” Her devastation at the brutal deaths of the Assassins of Belladonna as we fled my home city comes to mind. The way she couldn’t grapple with the needless waste of it.

She shakes her head. “I’m sure that will come later. All I can think right now is that they would kill my entire family and kidnap me if we don’t fight. Every single one of them.” A shiver runs through her body, but it is anger, not grief, that twists the lines of her face.

I drop our magic defense to find the enemy skirting far around us, shooting terrified glances at the dragons. I take Keira’s hand and lead her toward Ezekiel. “Mind carrying two of us?”

Always with the useless questions, Aldrin. Why do you think I landed here?he snaps, like he wouldn’t bite my head off, literally, if I assumed to mount him. The chieftain of the dragons has always been prideful. They belong to no fae court.

Drake rushes to us, slicing down a human on his way over with a casual swing of his sword. He glances from Ezekiel, to me, to the other two dragons. “By the Soul Ripper, Aldrin, we are not doing this again, are we?” His eyes are wild.

---