Page 135 of The War of Wings
Blood in my mouth. Snapped ribs in my chest. Ringing in my ears. But I felt nothing except the need to get to Adorex’s side as I clambered over roots and rocks and shrubs beneath the canopy of the forest. The clouds roiled above the treetops as thunder crackled and lightning lashed through the sky.
Adorex. Hurt. The sound of her thoughts in my head was weak, barely a whisper. I snatched a stick from the ground as I ran, running its broken edge across the wound on my palm that had already begun to close.
Snapping twigs sounded around me. The Occulti were in the forest, but I ignored the sound of talons shredding through leaves as I sprinted forward, intent on where I saw Adorex hit the ground. We were far enough into the treeline that they hadn’t made it here yet, but if I took any longer, they’d beclosing in on me within minutes. My movements were too slow, my feet too clumsy over the uneven terrain.
Just hang on a little longer, I thought, tugging against the line connecting me to Adorex, but it felt loose. I wouldn’t entertain the questions that sprung to life in the back of my head. I wouldn’t address thewhat ifs. Please, just let me get to her before the Occulti did. Me. Not them.
The light in the forest suddenly changed, an errant ray of sun cutting through the clouds, a beam of warmth breaking over the chaos. It streamed through the dim, smoky air like a beacon.
Adorex’s words filtered through my head, and my heart cracked.Adorex. Sunshine.
Tears streamed down my cheeks. “Hang on, Adorex,” I ground through gritted teeth.
Dying.
“No! Please!”
And finally, there she was, laying on her side in that single spot of sun, surrounded by fallen trees — some snapped in the middle and some torn from the ground, roots and all. Behind her was a trail gouged into the dirt, evidence of where she hit hard and slid. A sob broke loose from my chest when I saw the spear sticking straight up to the sky from between the black opalescent scales of her abdomen, a slow trickle of blood dripping from the wound.
My legs couldn’t move fast enough. My feet found every dip and divot in the ground. The line between us loosened.
Adorex. Happy.
“No!” I screamed. She wasn’t allowed to be happy right now. I needed her to be angry and menacing andalive.
I finally made it just as her great, heaving chest fell and didn’t rise again. My hand landed against her side next to the wound and I willed my power forward, picturing it pouring from my hand and into her. My eyes were locked on the scalesin front of my face, waiting to see them shift with an intake of breath.
The clouds closed in and Adorex’s scales dulled. The spot of sunlight was swallowed once again.Herspot of sunlight.
“No, Adorex!” I screamed, the undeniable truth staring me harder in the face with every passing moment her chest remained still. “No! Please!” My hands closed around the wooden shaft of the spear, and I pulled with everything I had. “Comeon!” I roared, but it wouldn’t budge.
She couldn’t be dead. I’d never considered this a possibility, never thought about whether a driva could die or what would happen if they did. What was waiting for her on the other side?
I yanked on the spear one more time, but it didn’t shift an inch. My shoulders tensed when the call of a driva echoed through the forest. One of Malosym’s, then.
The first dozen Occulti had finally found their way to us, their whirling, empty eyes on me. I cast out a wave of power, cutting through the ones at the front lines like it was nothing.
“I’m so fucking sorry, Adorex,” I whispered, my forehead resting against her side for just a heartbeat before I backed away.
When I turned toward the beach, there was no more fear in my chest. There was no room for it alongside the force of outrage. All the times I thought I’d felt powerful, all the times I thought I knew the burn of true fury… They had been nothing compared to this moment. The sensation pumped through my veins like venom. Saints, it burned, and it feltgood.
Malosym had killed my father. He’d killed Wrena. He’d killed Marita. He had Katia and Rhedros imprisoned. He’d taken Miles’ soul, and now he’d stomped out Adorex’s light.
I was going to find him and kill him. Nothing was going to stop me from watching the light leave his eyes, even if mine was extinguished in the process. And for everyone he’d killed, for everyone he’d hurt, everyone he’d manipulated anddeceived and coerced, I’d burn that much hotter, I’d delight in his suffering that much more.
I stalked forward, striking down Occulti as I went, my power spider-webbing outward from my body. Before long, demons were crumbling before I even caught sight of them, their spines snapping at nauseating angles, their throats slashed open beneath invisible blades. I ripped them limb from limb with my mind, shredding their spindly, angular bodies to pieces.
“Where the fuck are you, Malosym?” I shouted into the air as Occulti fell around me. A driva swooped low, but with a single flick of my wrist, a gash opened throat to belly, a spray of blood showering over me. The beast keened as its wings slowed and it crashed to the sand atop a handful of demons. Good. Fewer for me to kill. “Show your face, youfuckingcoward!”
The rumble in the ground had grown so strong I felt it in my chest now. More Occulti were coming. Fuck.Okay, Petra. Pivot. Adapt.I wasn’t going to make it to Malosym before I was captured, which meant I needed to come up with a plan to kill him while imprisoned. He said there’d be a family reunion, so maybe he’d imprison us together? Between the three of us, I was sure we could come up with–
My strategizing was cut short when another driva crested the forest and dove straight for me. I threw my hands in front of me, but I was too slow, because the beast's massive jaw had unhinged and fire sparked deep in its throat. Malosym was the only thing that could kill me, but being torched by a driva? It wasn’t going to feel good. I managed to leash the wind just enough to slow the stream of fire as I hit the ground and waited for the burn.
But it never came. I looked up just in time to see that stream of fire tearing through the horde behind me, leaving a trail of ash in its wake. The driva banked hard to the left until it was headed back in my direction, and that’s when I saw its eyes.Crystalline blue. And there, straightbacked in her seat atop Rixa, was Nell, with one hand raised in a wave and a big, goofy smile on her face.
A disbelieving laugh sounded from my throat, my hand against my forehead as I watched Rixa and her brave rider incinerate their way through the surrounding horde.
Another driva appeared in the sky to my right, her eyes just as blue as fire poured from her throat. Gehenna. My breath hitched as another crossbow rose above the demon horde, just visible through the fog and pointed straight at her. But not even a heartbeat later, it was ash at the ruin of her flames. My eyes narrowed on Gehenna’s rider, relief flooding through me when I saw a familiar head of dark hair. Tyrak.
