Page 27 of Inheritance
There was no getting through to him.
There was no chance at escaping this place.
There was nothing I could do to get to my mates.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
Finias
This hurt like a motherfucker.Holy shit.
Now, I had experienced a lot of pain throughout my life, most inflicted through training or abuse by my parents, but this arrow to the chest was a special type of pain. Ironically—and maybe a bit twisted in my head—it reminded me of the heartbreak I was suffering with Ama not being by my side. At least it somewhat distracted me from those thoughts as I managed to prop myself up against Damien enough to access my wound.
Adrien had wrapped the three of us in shadows as the battle raged on around us. I knew we didn’t have much time, so I couldn’t afford to be a little bitch about this. I let out a deep groan of pain as I used two fingers to pry open the skin around the arrowhead enough that it could be extracted. Fresh blood poured down my chest.
Immediately, I dropped the arrow and slapped a hand to the center of my sternum, where a healing rune was inked. I gasped out the incantation, my vision going hazy and filling with black spots as my last reserves of magic were used to heal myself.
I considered the fact that it might not work...that I had possibly used too much energy on breaking the barriers.
A groan of relief escaped me as liquid heat filled my veins, and I could practically feel my body regenerating and growing stronger, allowing me to breathe more easily. Underneath it, though, there was a scream that seemed to echo in my ear—one that spoke of pure suffering and heartbreak. I could feel Ama in my soul. Tears almost welled in my eyes as the connection between Ama and I pulsed before fizzling out.
Little creature, where the hell are you?
I had never needed someone in my life before. In fact, I had purposefully avoided having attachments because the people who were supposed to care for you and were assigned those roles were often the ones to betray you. But with Ama, it was different. I needed my bloodthirsty little creature. I needed her with every ounce of my soul—or whatever was left of it—and I found it hard to imagine a world where she didn’t exist. That...that just wasn’t possible. If we had to win this war to get her back, then so be it, but the minute my parents were lying dead at my feet, I would be going to find Ama. No matter how long it took. I would never give up until she was in my arms once more.
There was nothing for me in the Kingdom of Pura if Ama wasn’t there.
My healing took a few minutes at most, and when the energy flow from my rune slowed, signaling healing was complete, a smile slipped onto my lips, and I felt almost high off my own magic. Adrien let out a frustrated sound as something smashed into his shadows, so I rolled onto all fours and moved to stand, Damien’s Hellhound rising onto all fours as I did so. I offered him a nod of thanks because he had all but saved me, and that wasn’t something I would forget.
“Are you good enough to fight?” Adrien demanded, the strain of holding the shadows in place to protect us clear on his face.
“Absolutely,” I said as his shadows dropped, and I immediately activated the rune containing my dagger. Over the next five minutes, I left a healthy trail of dismembered bodies behind me and was feeling far more myself. There was nothing like murdering some assholes to set things straight in your mind. I was feeling positive until I realized just how many Dark Elves my parents had managed to convince to be a part of this coup.
There were far more than our military contained, and I could even see teenagers, the youngest looking to be around thirteen, being sent to fight. That was so fucked up it wasn’t even funny. I killed, but I would never kill a child, and I had a feeling my parents knew that most people with any heart wouldn’t... so, of course, they had ordered them to the front line. It did explain why the hell my parents had both been so fucking arrogant about their ability to actually carry out a successful coup.
How the hell hadn’t I caught on to their plan? As I lodged my knife into a massive bastard’s gut and ripped it open, letting his body fall to the side as his entrails poured out, I felt a twinge of guilt. Not about the body, but rather that I hadn’t realized what was going on right under my nose. Hell, I should have realized something was up and tried to protect the people of our house from this insanity. My gaze moved around the battlefield, and I had to stop myself from looking for faces I recognized.
I couldn’t afford to see if the boys I had gone to school with were now men fighting this war. I couldn’t afford to have any bias at all. I just had to protect and kill. It didn’t take away from the fact that killing other Dark Elves felt innately wrong on so many levels. But they had chosen their side in this war, and I couldn’t afford to be soft in even the most miniscule way.
My parents had brought this war to the Kingdom of Pura, and it wouldn’t end until we took a stand. A stand that would require a significant amount of bloodshed and death. My parents had numbers and the ability to nullify magic, and I had no doubt that any prisoners they took would be slapped with those damn restraints that sucked the energy out of their wearer.
We had something more, though. We had the knowledge that, if we didn’t fight this war, if we didn’t defeat them, there would be nothing left of the Kingdom of Pura and eventually, this realm would fall under their rule. This wasn’t a fight for dominance or a throne, this was a fight for a way of life, and if we didn’t win it...everything would change.
We were fighting for our lives and for justice. We had so much more on the line than those who opposed us, which was what bolstered us to fight tooth and nail in comparison to them.
I switched easily to a sword after a period of time and met most of the attackers head-on, standing beside the other princes who were edging closer and closer towards where the entry barrier into the capital had stood. Yet, with every step we took, it seemed like we were pushed back another ten or more, leaving us exhausted.
I was covered in sweat, and I had to wonder how the other side was keeping up. The answer, of course, was that they weren’t complete. In fact, it almost appeared that they were continuously switching out any wounded soldiers so they could heal then return and fight—something we couldn’t afford.
“We are losing too many men!” Drayven called out, and I looked towards the Reaper, who was soaked in blood.
“We have to retreat for now.” Colt’s voice echoed through the air as I looked around and realized they were right: if we didn’t retreat, we would lose this battle. We couldn’t face it head-on like this with an injured army—we needed to come up with a better plan.
I heard the call go out, and our forces began to move back, separating themselves from the battle at hand, the other Dark Elves being drawn forward. I wouldn’t lie, I took full advantage of them not understanding our tactic and deciding to move forward towards us. I knew it wasn’t sustainable, though, and after a few more kills, I found myself next to Nico. The Incubus was covered in blood and looked a bit shaken, but he was far better than he had been in the past few days.
Honestly, I was going to bet this was the first time he had killed anyone, and considering how he was holding that sword, probably one of the first times he had fought in a real battle. It wasn’t surprising, though, as the House of Sin was not known for their fighting abilities.
“Loosen your grip—you’ll be able to move it more easily!” I called out, narrowly avoiding another hit as Nico surged forward with a push of his wings and buried the sword in someone’s abdomen. That weird, exhilarated-yet-dazed expression crossed his face before he pulled back and offered me a smile.
