Total pages in book: 40
Estimated words: 37456 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 187(@200wpm)___ 150(@250wpm)___ 125(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 37456 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 187(@200wpm)___ 150(@250wpm)___ 125(@300wpm)
My sisters and I hurry toward the gates, carefully avoiding the deadly spikes and trenches spread across the town.
Halfway there, Abigail cries out and doubles over, her face twisting in pain. At the same instant, shards of ice dance up my spine, sinking all the way into my soul. Tori shivers beside me, and I know she feels the same thing I do.
"Forsaken!" a Fae atop the wall shouts. "They're opening portals all over the forest!"
"To war, Fae!" another voice roars in response. "To war!"
Horror floods through me, tearing at my heart. The Forsaken are out there. And so is Malachi.
No. Oh god, no.
My mind races as we rush forward, my pulse pounding in my ears. The icy wind whips at my hair and stings my cheeks, but I barely feel it. All I feel is the desperate, clawing need to reach Malachi before those monsters do.
Please, I pray silently. Please let him be safe. Let me get to him in time.
The Light that burns within my core floods through me in a surging tide of power that sets my nerves alight. I let it pour into me, grasping for it eagerly, desperately even. I don't call my blade, doubtful something so small would be much use in the face of Forsaken magic. But all around me, my sisters blaze with their own Light, their auras flaring white-hot.
"Well, that's new," Rissa says, surprise flickering in her eyes as she looks at me. "You know how to call your Light."
"I…" My voice trembles slightly. "I've always known."
Rissa and the others eye me silently for a moment, unspoken questions hanging in the air. But they don't voice them.
Instead, Rissa nods. "Good. You're going to need it because we're going out there." She gestures towards the gates, her gaze burning with fierce determination. "Our mates are out there, and we're bringing them back."
Tori's blue eyes blaze with an intensity at odds with her delicate features, while Abigail's jaw clenches, fear and anger warring in her expression.
"Link arms," Rissa commands. "No matter what, don't let go. We're stronger together."
We link arms, our Light bleeding into one another, weaving us together. I feel their Light flooding into me, amplifying my own power until I'm nearly drowning in it, my skin humming with barely contained energy.
"Open the gates," Rissa commands the Fae warriors lined up in front of the gates, her voice ringing with authority.
One of them steps forward, shaking his head. "You know we can't do that."
"Open the gates, Suriel," she growls, "unless you want every Fae out there to die."
"Nei, Valkyrie. I cannot."
I narrow my eyes on the man, my Light surging. A flick of my wrist sends a lash of power towards the defiant warrior. It pours over him in a shimmering wave, and he gasps, stumbling back in shock.
"What was that?" he demands, eyes wide.
"The only warning you're going to get," Tori growls, her voice hard as steel. "Open the gates."
The warrior hesitates a moment longer, indecision playing across his face.
I lift my hand, prepared to move the warriors out of our way if that's what it takes. He sees me, and his eyes widen.
"Open the gates!" he shouts. "Let them through!"
As the heavy wooden gates groan and start to swing outward, I draw in a shaky breath, my heart a wild drum in my chest.
Hold on, Malachi. I'm coming.
We march out arm in arm, an unwavering line of determination, our combined Light pulsing around us in a brilliant corona. But the sight that greets me beyond the gates steals the breath from my lungs. Ice cascades through my veins.
Portals ripple open across the forest, jagged tears in reality spewing forth a seemingly endless tide of Forsaken warriors and monstrous wolves. The air shimmers with ropes of their dark magic, the same twisting, contorting threads that killed my parents.
For a paralyzing heartbeat, I freeze in the face of their sheer numbers. How can we possibly hope to stand against such a force? How are we supposed to defeat the Dark when it's overwhelming?
And then I think of the Fae who rescued me, the one who looks at me as if I'm his salvation. He's out here somewhere, and he needs me.
I can't—I won't—fail him.
I hurl a searing ball of Light into the closest group of our enemies. They erupt in a blinding flare, disintegrating to ash between one breath and the next. The portal that brought them wavers before collapsing in on itself like a cauterized wound.
"Aim for the portals!" Rissa shouts over the rising din of battle, her sapphire eyes alight with righteous fury.
We surge forward as one, hurling massive blasts of Light that sear away everything they touch. Forsaken and wolf alike crumble beneath the onslaught, more and more portals winking out of existence with each passing moment.
But for every one portal we destroy, two more pop up in its place.