Page 179 of A Queen This Fierce and Deadly

“Go!” Marth yelled.

Whoops and screams of frenzied delight rang out as our soldiers filed past, killing as many terrovians as they could while they were vulnerable.

Kaliera looked as if she’d tasted something terrible.

I gave her a wide smile. I hadn’t wanted to waste one drop of my power proving myself. Because I’d needed it for this.

Zathrian snorted out a laugh. I ignored him, nudged my horse, and rode toward my brothers.

“Faster!” Marth roared.

Hooves and boots thumped against the hard sand, increasing the pace but remaining in sync.

I was attempting to make this look easy. Like it didn’t cost me. But gods, it did. Stopping time for this many creatures, and holding it for this long…

And still…if I hadn’t been unable to use my power for so many weeks, I wouldn’t have had enough strength to hold time hostage for this long.

Our army was only halfway past their lines when I had to let the threads go. I couldn’t risk burning out. Not before we killed Regner.

Steeling myself, I glanced over my shoulder.

One moment, the terrovians had been slaughtering our people.

And the next, thousands of our soldiers were fightingin their place from the edge of the forest to the wide expanse of sand.

“Toward the sea!” someone roared from the hybrids waiting ahead of us. “Turn them toward the sea.”

Lorian used his lightning now, sweeping a long, hair-raising blue bolt from the west side of the island near the forest, across the sand.

Terrovians touched by Lorian’s power died instantly. Those that were forced back close to the seawater turned and sprinted away.

I blinked. Was that—

There.

Preventing the terrovians from fleeing toward our people…

A group of Drakoryx.

Vynthar leading them as he snarled threateningly, refusing to cede a single inch of ground. I swallowed a sob. My friend hadn’t abandoned us. No, he’d gone to gather the remainder of his kind.

And by fighting with us here today, they were risking their extinction.

“They’ll reform the lines when Regner’s foot soldiers arrive,” Lorian said. “But for now, we’ve achieved what we needed to.”

Shouts and laughs, and joyous hollers broke out when we made it to the hybrids near the pass. We were directed toward a hill that seemed to be an extension of the mountains, and Demos wrapped his arms around me.

We’d made it in time. My heart soared, and for just a moment, I could forget everything else except for the fact that he was still alive.

“That was quite an entrance,” he rumbled.

“I thought you’d appreciate it,” I pulled away. “Tibris? Asinia? Vicer?”

“All alive.”

My breath shuddered out of my lungs, my knees weakening. But despite the joy that had lightened his expression, his eyes were flat.

My smile faltered. “How many, Demos?”

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