Her breath strangled at the amused taunt in his eyes, before his lids lowered. The man before her now seemed much more than a monster. He was still unapologetically brutal, but now there was a hint of something mysterious and seductive, and her entire body flushed and ached.
Shifting away from him she stared out at the waiting force, which numbered in the thousands. How could they survive such a force when he had no access to his demon’s power? She glanced in the sky at the red hue, sensing the sun would soon sink, but by then it would be too late.
In the far distance, a flash of light so bright it hurt her eyes shot into the air. And with a sense of shock, she recognized the aura of the Phoenyx.
“So, this is the power of the Phoenyx,” he said contemplatively while exuding acknowledgment and challenge along their link. “There is a battle in the Taryllion at the section between Mevia’s and Nuria’s borders.”
“Yes, that power is from King Ajali’s Phoenyx,” she said softly. “And from the soundwaves trembling on the air, he fights Mevian warriors. I had wondered how the grand general wasn’t here with this force to capture me. King Ajali and whatever he fights to defend is a greater force.” And she suspected the female who housed the Dracan the Emperor coveted could be what the king fought for. It warmed something inside Shilah to know that he would battle for her similar to how she had done for him when the empire tried to capture him.
“The empire is confident these warriors before us can retrieve you. They did not count on me. I am of the shadows and darkness. I am a force they cannot comprehend.”
She glanced up at him with a terrible fascination, unable to take her eyes off his expression of ruthless purpose.
He looked away from her. “There are two choices, mate.”
She shifted her gaze to assess where he stared. Mist veiled the mountainous horizon and crept into the deep forest below them, and beyond the tree lines, thousands of warriors waited, their bronze armor shining under the sun. Her heart stuttered. “And those choices are?”
“I take you now into the shadows, and we leave for my Kingdom.”
Her breath rushed from her lungs in a long gasp. “The realm of the shadow demons?” she asked, recalling every rumor she had heard whispered in the empire the three months she had been inside its walls.
“I will only take you, your sister, the Queen’s guards, and the witch.”
Shilah stiffened, understanding dawning. The captives would be on their own. “They’d gained no true liberation. Once we leave them here…they will be lambs waiting to be slaughtered or recaptured. They are weak and unable to fight. If they run, they will be hunted and found.”
A thundering sound tore the false tranquility, and the warriors waiting on the horizon flashed toward them, their speed making them a blur. Her stomach knotted for they would reach them in only a few minutes and the slaughter would begin. The wind started to increase in strength, and dark clouds drifted overhead. The frantic murmurings subsided as the people behind her spied the wave of warriors flashing toward them. The despair that rose in the air almost choked her, but she sensed their determination to fight, even at the cost of their lives.
“Can you take them into the shadows and hide them from the empire?”
“How long can they hide in the shadows,” he said flatly. “The emperor has a record of every prisoner in his dungeon. If they flee to the comfort of their home, they will only be retrieved.”
She hadn’t thought that far ahead, only the need to take them from that terrible place had burned in her veins. But had she just brought them to meet another death or imprisonment once again?
“Perhaps we could keep them in the shadow space until I come up with a plan.” Her heart felt heavy with grief and failure, for she could see no foreseeable way to save these people.
“There are three Darkans in the shadows ahead. They are coming our way.”
She wanted to scream her frustration to the sky. She took a breath, even though her lungs could barely drag in air. “I assume they are not with you.”
“That is correct, mate.” Yet he did not seem worried there would be a potential battle with his kind.
“What is the second choice Lachlan Ravenswood?” Inside she was still, coiled, waiting for some hope, bracing for the wave of attack from the approaching warriors, yet unaccountably confident he would allow no harm to her.
His lips curved, and primal anticipation throbbed in his tone as he said, “We kill.”
11
The world around Shilah turned into chaos.
The captives hadn’t been required to battle before, but now it was inevitable as dozens of warriors screamed out waves of terrible destruction. The sound waves were excruciating, an energy wave that blasted everything in its path, knocking her back, aching her eardrum. Shilah frantically erected her barrier of kinetic energy.
“Decide.”
Lachlan’s voice in her mind was a menacing rumble of power even without the darkness what had seemed stamped onto his soul. The soundwaves emitting had no impact on him, and he stood with his feet planted wide, the muscles on his back and shoulders twisting like a snake. He was leaving the choice to her, flee and protect themselves or try and help these people. “We save them!”
Before the swarm reached them, shadows snaked over the earth with shocking speed, grabbed the oncoming warriors by their neck and snapped, as if the shadows were sentient. Wicked clawed daggers appeared in Lachlan’s hands, and he moved with the shadows straight at the incoming force. He was too brave, utterly mad, or totally confident in his brutal might. It was the latter she saw, as dozens of warriors converged on him, only to fall under the slashing blades and darting shadows. Whenever she saw him without the shadows, he was a thing of beauty, his body fluid and graceful, so fast he was a blur. Then he would disappear, and bodies would suck into the shadow to only appear seconds later, dead or dying.
She stood in a fighting stance, using the well of power in her mind to uproot trees from the ground, and massive stone boulders and throwing them at the oncoming force, slapping warriors away with brutal force. There was a fierce, burning need to survive and to protect the people behind her, and she let that dominate her will refusing to feel the terror over the hundreds of warriors pouring over the land like ants towards them.