“Darius!” a girl’s voice caught my ear as I prepared to follow him.
I turned, spotting Sofia there, her eyes wide and fearful as she tried to drag Xavier away from the retreating rebels as they raced past where he lay bleeding on the floor in his Fae form.
“Give him to me,” I said in fright, running to her and grabbing his arm, pressing healing magic into his skin, though the bleeding wounds on his back only scabbed over a little, the deep blackened, slashes in his side seeming to suck the magic away from the wounds and stop any of it from healing.
“I think it was Lionel’s shadow claw,” Sofia sobbed, gripping Xavier’s cheeks and pressing a kiss to his mouth. She had his Phoenix fire helmet hanging from her wrist and there was a mark on his head where it had been so tightly strapped in place.
Xavier groaned, blinking his eyes open and cursing at the pain he felt as his eyes moved from her to me.
“He ripped my wings off,” he choked out, tears glimmering in his eyes which cut me to my fucking core.
“I’m going to end him,” I swore, raising my head as a furious whinny drew my attention and a huge silver Pegasus galloped through the crowd towards us.
“Tyler!” Sofia cried and I stood, hauling my brother into my arms as the Pegasus came to a halt before us, kicking up mud which splattered across his pale legs alongside more than a little blood. He had a bag hanging from his neck, the strap half severed and a pair of jeans dropped out of it as he fell still, pressing his nose to Xavier’s cheek as a whinny of alarm escaped him.
My chest tightened as I took in the sight of Geraldine sprawled across his back, her chest and side punctured with a tremendous bite mark and similar blackish claw marks were carved into her flesh as Xavier’s.
She looked dead and I hesitated for a moment before reaching out to touch her, a sigh of relief tumbling through me as I found a weak pulse.
I tried healing her too, finding a similar barrier to my magic as there was in Xavier’s flesh.
“Fuck the shadows,” I bit out, fear tumbling through me for the other Heirs as I wondered what was taking them so damn long. Lavinia was still visible on the far side of the battlefield, flying above the Nymphs on a cloud of shadows which seemed specifically designed to taunt me with her power. I didn’t know what the hell was happening with that altar, but it couldn’t be good if she was still that powerful, and I hated the fucking stars for forcing so many roadblocks against us time and again.
"What do we do?” Sofia asked, looking to me for an answer I didn’t have.
“You heard your queen,” I said firmly, stepping forward to place Xavier on Tyler’s back as well. “She called a retreat. So get back inside those tunnels and make sure the four of you get the hell away from here.”
“What are you going to do?” she gasped, reaching out to place a hand on my arm as I grabbed the jeans Tyler had dropped and tugged them on.
“I’m too fucking stubborn to bow to the orders of a Vega, even if I do happen to love her more than the earth we stand on,” I growled, hunting the sky for my cowardly father and spotting him standing on a hill beyond the ranks of Nymphs who still pressed forward after the rebels. He’d shifted back into his Fae form too, no doubt needing to heel the wound I’d given him, and he was now shrouded in a red cloak which marked him as the leader of the Dragon Guild.
“You’re going after Lionel?” she breathed fearfully and I turned to her again, picking her up easily and sitting her on Tyler’s back with the others so that she could make sure they didn't fall.
“I’m facing my fate,” I confirmed before slapping the Pegasus on the ass like he was a common mule and barking a command at them to go.
Tyler took off with a startled whinny, beating his powerful wings and galloping away from me towards the tunnels which were their only slim hope of survival, and I wished I could do more than watch them go.
I turned from them and broke into a run, casting as I went and building a bridge of ice right over the heads of the Nymph army and blasting them with Dragon fire as they looked up see me pass.
The sounds of their screams coloured the air beautifully and a dark smile lit my features as I spotted my axe imbedded in the ground ahead of me. I must have dropped it after I stardusted back here and the shift took hold of me, but there it was, blazing with Phoenix fire which stopped the Nymphs from getting close to it and waiting for me as if it too was hungering to feel the weight of it slicing through my father’s neck.
I leapt from my bridge of ice, grabbing the axe and swinging it at the closest Nymph, taking its legs out and leaving it screaming as I ran on, charging up the hill where my father was waiting for me with flames dancing in his palms and a look of vile victory in his eyes.