King Zephyr moved his head to the side of hers, but before I could focus on him, Gabriel sent a blast of dark magic toward me, and the power clipped my good wing, bending it into an awkward point.
“Don’t play with her, Gabriel. Just capture her and bring her to the dungeon.” As I kneeled on the ground, recovering from the most recent blow, I turned back toward the sound of his voice. King Zephyr met my stare and ran his nose through Ivy’s blonde locks. “I need Lucinda awake for the first part of her suffering.”
Ivy shuddered, then dropped an elbow into his gut. “Keep your damn hands off me.”
King Zephyr retaliated with a punch to the back of her head, and Ivy fell to the ground behind the other waiting guards.
Wrath built within me once more. Nobody deserved to be treated like that, especially Ivy. I might have been beaten on the outside, but I wasn’t done fighting. The king was the ultimate bully, and I was going to show him what happened when he didn’t give others the respect they deserved.
Gabriel took a step toward me as I stood back up. My full focus was on him, wrath bubbling and power continuing to build within my core.
“Are you going to make this fun or disappointing, Lucinda?” Gabriel jeered, and I stumbled to the ground once more, a new plan forming. “Of course you’re not going to fight. You’ve always been pathetic. I never could see what the king saw in you. Not even with your unique wings.”
The last bit was whispered in my ear as Gabriel grabbed hold of my hair and yanked my head back.
“You know, I normally like rough foreplay, but I’m going to have to pass this time,” I snarled, forcing my head forward and into his nose even as his grip tightened around my strands.
The resounding crunch was pleasing, but I knew it wouldn’t faze him enough to get me through the gates. I wrapped my hands around his face, sending a wave of magic into Gabriel with enough force to knock him out. Unfortunately, my actions nearly did the same to me.
“Get her!” King Zephyr shouted, and I glanced up in time to see him retreating with Ivy dragging behind him and fighting against his hold.
I took quick stock of my situation and was fully aware of the blood seeping from multiple wounds—mostly from my stomach. My wings were pretty much useless, but I refused to believe any of those things were going to stop me.
I ripped out more feathers and winced when I realized how many I’d grabbed. I’d never utilized my own feathers this much before, but I had to use whatever was at my disposal when magic wasn’t enough. The feathers would grow back.
After throwing a handful of sharpened feathers at the advancing horde, I spotted a glowing sword at Gabriel’s hip. Crawling toward him since I still couldn’t stand, my fingers wrapped around the hilt. The pain caused me to hiss and almost drop it, but my hold tightened against my command as dark magic filled me, allowing me the energy to finally stand again.
End them. Now!
The more magic I soaked in from the blade, the darker my thoughts became. I moved to swing down toward Gabriel and cut his head off, but power burned into my back.
“I love granting death wishes,” I stated with a grin as I moved toward the group that had assaulted me. I had no idea who hit me, but the whole lot would pay for their mistake.
Some of them slowed as black magic began to intertwine with my normal teal, but I had to give credit to the six who didn’t stop following what had been commanded of them. At least they were loyal, but that wouldn’t save them. Nothing would now.
While greedily inhaling the power that the sword was providing, I channeled some of it back through the blade and arced it high in the sky before swinging it around and across the chests of four fae. Their skin burned on contact with the metal, and their knees buckled, but the ones behind them were prepared. The fae I’d thought slowed out of fear were merely preparing.
As more moved forward, three of them stood side-by-side, palms facing me and navy power swirling around their hands. I tried to bring my wings in front of me to use as a shield, but even with the increased adrenaline from the sword, they weren’t cooperating.
Before I could think of a plan B, the fae fired off their magic at me all at the same time, and I ended up on my ass as someone called my name from behind.
When I tried to sit up, I realized my hands were empty and the sword was nowhere in my limited sight, causing my energy to wane once more. Another hole was ripped through my bodysuit that should have been nearly impenetrable, and blood soaked through not only at my stomach, but now my shoulder as well.
Everything within me felt broken, but it was my fury that gave me the strength to keep getting up. I wasn’t done with these people. I had to get to the king.
A blur of motion flew past me as I crawled to my knees, still failing to stand, but I did lay eyes on the sword. A large part of me was screaming to leave the blade be, but I just needed its power for a little bit longer.
I lifted my head and caught a glimpse of forest-green wings. When my eyes focused, Finn was moving swiftly between the remaining guards knocking those unconscious that he could and even breaking a neck or two on those he couldn’t.
I wasn’t sure who this new Finn was, but he was glorious and going to be my ticket to the king—him and the sword. I just needed my magic to start healing me and everything would be fine. Finn could get his sister and say goodbye, and I could end the reign of terror that was King Zephyr.
Except, when Finn was done and there were no more guards coming toward us, he didn’t do what I expected, what I wanted most.
His gentle hands lifted me up and cradled me to his chest. “Let’s go.”
Don’t let him take you. He will ruin us. Don’t let—the inner voice started to yell in my head, but I cut it off, needing to focus.
Finn took a step in the wrong direction, and I fought against his hold. “No. We just killed more than half his personal guard. We need to end this now. It’s our best chance.”
Adjusting so he could use one hand to grab my chin, he growled in my face. “Lucinda, if I don’t get you away from here, you’re going to die. You’re not healing, and I have to save you.”
It didn’t matter that everything within me was screaming in agony and that he was probably right. I wasn’t ready to walk away. I was there to kill the king, and that was what I would do. Or die trying.
“Let me go. I’ll be fine. I can use the sword I had.” I pushed against his chest, but he didn’t seem the least bit deterred from his intentions.
I tried to draw on my darkness, take whatever boost I could get, but something was wrong. The power was just beneath the surface, but it was being smothered. Had I lost too much blood? Was this it for me?
Shit. Maybe I was as bad as he said, but I wasn’t ready to give up. If this was where I died, then so be it, but if I was going down, I’d do it fighting.
“You’re not going to die. I won’t let that happen,” Finn grumbled. He tightened his hold on me as the castle disappeared around us and consciousness began to fade away.
Chapter 2
When I came to, I was lying on grass, staring up at a clear blue sky, and listening to the waves crash against the shore. The smell of saltwater was heavy around me. I tried to turn my head, but I couldn’t move anything except my eyes.