Something slammed into me with the force of a car crash, and I was knocked off course with a curse of pain, tumbling to the ground beneath a powerful body and losing my grip on my sword as we skidded across the dirt.
I snatched a blade from my hip, jamming my knee into the ground to stop our roll and swinging the dagger at the neck of my opponent, my eyes widening in alarm as I recognised Orion.
I managed to halt my attack at the last second, the tip of my blade grazing the corner of his jaw and drawing blood as I snatched it away and I sucked in a sharp breath.
“Holy fuck, I almost killed you.”
“The beast is Darcy,” he barked, not even seeming to give a fuck about the blood I’d just drawn from him. “It’s the curse. Lavinia has forced it to manifest within her and I don’t think it’s the first time.”
I jerked my head around, looking through the crush of fighting bodies towards the beast as it got to its feet once more, my lips parting in horror as I took in what he was saying.
“She’s the one who was killing those Fae in The Burrows?” I breathed and Orion nodded as I looked back down at him.
“I think so. But I don’t think she knew it was happening. She seems utterly lost to the curse now that she’s in its hold. I’m going to get her away from here. You have to win this battle, Tory. You have to lead them to victory.”
I swallowed thickly as I took that in, throwing a shield of air magic up around us as I got to my feet and offered him a hand up too.
“No pressure then,” I ground out, glancing at the carnage which surrounded us.
“You can do it,” Orion said, gripping my arm and making me look at his silver ringed eyes where I found a whole lot more faith in me than I had in myself, and I swallowed thickly.
“Please save her, Lance,” I breathed unsure if he would even be able to hear me over the raging battle, but he nodded firmly.
“I’ll do whatever it takes.”
“Do you need more power?” I asked as the beast roared and I looked towards it once more, wondering how the fuck he planned on getting her out of here.
His answer came in the sharp sting of his fangs sinking into my neck and I gritted my teeth as I tightened my grip on my sword, my gaze falling on that huge Nymph once more just as he shifted back into his Fae like form and a snarl pulled at my lips as I recognised Alejandro.
“Don’t die,” Orion commanded as he released me, and I met his gaze one last time.
“You either.” I dropped the shield protecting us and he shot away towards Darcy as I forced myself to let him help her without me.
I hurried over to reclaim my dropped sword, raising it and fixing Alejandro in my sights as he began to throw handfuls of wild fire magic at the rebels who fought against the Nymphs on his flank.
Fire magic he’d stolen from my father when he killed him. Magic I’d make him pay for taking in blood and bone.
“Tonight, you die, asshole.”
I had seen it all. My lady Darcy turning into a beast of the backwoods, and her Orry man chasing after her into the fray. I had to run to her, to tame her like a wild mustang in my pastures.
I ran forth as the giant beastly creature that my dear Darcy had turned into feasted on our people. She resembled a large black bear with shadows that danced along the edges of her fur like a creature from the deep chasms of Bagamagooth.
“I am coming, hold on my lady!” I cried.
I spun through the air with the name Vega on my lips as I swung my flail, the spiked ball whacking into the goonish face of a Nymph and turning the brute to soot. It was a small victory among a field of desolation and as Darcy rampaged among our people, I could see our doom rising like the moon over a stormy sea, marking us for passage beyond the Veil.
Orion cast air shields over the rebels to keep Darcy away from as many of them as he could, but she tore through them time and again.
I took down another Nymph with a shriek and a swing of my loyal weapon, the Flail of Unending Celestial Karma delivering death to our enemies like it was born to protect us.
“Take that you rapscallion of the underlings!” I cried, wiping my brow as I pressed on, my sweet Darcy now coated in blood as pieces of the rebels went flying overhead and the wailing intensified.
I had an inkling of what had brought upon this change in her. Lavinia was clearly to blame. I had seen their interaction, though I hadn’t heard even a whisper of a word over the tumult of the battle.
Orion was fighting to push her back, his arm already bleeding from a swipe of Darcy’s claws, and I screamed like a Grebe of the Garbles as I fought to reach them. I would not see her Elysian Mate fall beneath her claws or watch her tear his head from his fine body, but alas! I could not seem to move any faster, pushed back by the rebels who turned and ran from their queen as she slashed them to pieces.