Page 186 of The Jasad Crown

I looked at her unblinkingly. “Of course. It is of my magic, and my magic is of me.”

A volley of screams came from the north. The regiment of soldiers traveling through Ahr il Uboor had arrived.

I pried Sefa’s hands off and stood. “Both of you get back. Now.”

Magic sang in the air as the Jasadis threw everything they had against the soldiers. Hayagan whipped their magic toward the horses, sending riders flying off their backs. The Sahirs handed out weapons as fast as they could fashion them. Four had already collapsed and been dragged back to safety. Those with generalized magic were more subtle. Their movements were just a little faster. Their artless swings, a dash more graceful.

I spun toward the next wave of soldiers from the north, and my magic laughed as I did.

The cloud of kitmers above me flattened their wings as they barreled toward the swarm of black-and-violet uniforms, the tips of their wings catching on fire. My fingers burned as their feathers became ash, the flames traveling over me and my creatures in tandem.

BeingEssiyadid not make me hard to kill.

Beingof Jasaddid.

CHAPTER SIXTY-SEVEN

ARIN

The third gate of Nizahl fell, and through it, history spilled onto the Citadel’s grounds.

The Ruby Hounds were nothing like what Arin had imagined—nothing like the sorry impression the Urabi had conjured in the woods. Rising on legs high as his shoulders, they loomed taller than the gates they had crushed beneath their powerful paws. Jagged coats of raw ruby glinted under the waning moonlight.

The soldiers around Arin held firm, but terror saturated the air. No amount of training prepared you for witnessing a horde of legendary beasts barreling toward you.

What training did was keep their swords aloft and unwavering. It meant when Arin raised a hand, he did not have to glance behind him to know the seventy-three men leaning out of every window and roof of the Citadel had angled their bows in preparation.

Dirt kicked into the air as the Hounds pounded across the lawn. A Hound twice as large as the others cleared the fallen gate in a single leap, and Arin finally saw her.

Sultana Vaida leaned forward on the back of her Hound. A silk ivory dress flowed around her lithe figure, slitted on either side of her legs. A large white flower was woven through the thick braid draped over her shoulder.

That was where the similarities to the Vaida Arin knew ended.The skin of her shoulders had been replaced by glittering ruby shards, winding down her arms like scales. They jutted over her shoulders and along her collarbone. Bloodred eyes scoured the Citadel’s field, searching.

When Vaida saw him, Arin dropped his hand.

Arrows whistled across the courtyard. A normal arrow would have snapped on impact, and it was clear Vaida expected as much.

So when they sank into Vaida’s beasts, cleaving through their coats, Arin had the satisfaction of watching her cringe as the Ruby Hounds reared back with an earth-shaking roar.

Another fleet of arrows flew.

Do you think they will be necessary?Vaun’s voice lingered in Arin’s head for the first time since he had executed the guardsman. He had been the only witness to Arin’s preparations for this battle, and Arin supposed he should be glad the guardsman had kept at least one secret from Rawain. One last echo of loyalty, ringing longer than Vaun’s life.

In minutes, the Hounds would be upon them. Arin extracted the wooden splint from his pocket and raised it to one of the torches flaming cheerfully against the Citadel’s walls. Soldiers parted around him as he walked forward.

Vaida saw what Arin meant to do seconds before he did it. She shouted, but Arin had already lowered the burning splint to a line of thin white dust nearly invisible between the tall blades of grass.

The flame caught and erupted, racing over the lines Jeru had meticulously drawn. Together, the lines connected to form the sigil of Vaida’s ring.

The fire surrounded the Ruby Hounds, melting through their rubies like butter placed upon a hot pan. Baira’s relic magic turned against the source of its own power.

Arin heard the first dying scream of a Ruby Hound.

The barricade of fire flashed red as Ruby Hounds leapt throughthe flames. The minute the paws of the first Hound landed on the other side of the white lines, hundreds of black-and-violet uniforms swarmed toward the flames. Ruby and steel met, the sound shrieking to the top of the watchful eaves of the Citadel.

A sword smoothly cut through the flank of a Ruby Hound, and though the Hound ripped the soldier’s throat open with a swipe of its paw, the damage was done. The next soldier slashed her sword across the staggering Hound’s chest, and it dropped to its side.

Despite utilizing every blacksmith in the kingdom, Arin had only been able to secure six hundred and seven swords with Baira’s sigil carved into them. The arrowheads had been faster to make, and they flew through the carnage as Arin walked, finding a home in the sides of the half-melted beasts bursting through the flames.

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