“Is this the line? Have we reached it yet?” She spoke to the army. “Will you make us weaker so you can kill a man—a ghiotte, but still a man—who came, willingly, to fight for Saverio, even though he wasn’t required to? Will you risk your friends and families by striking down a warrior blessed with healing abilities, who climbed the peak today to protect your Finestra and Fontes?”
They stared at her, uncertain.
“Why are we here, if not to fight? Why are we fighting, if not to live? Dante can fight. He’s hard to kill. I chose him to be my guard, and he’s here to protect me. I ask you now—will you fight me? Because I won’t let you take him. Not again.”
A clang of metal made her flinch. Captain Papatonis, scowling ominously, struck his chest with the flat of his sword, then took a knee.
For a breathless minute, Alessa thought he would be the only one, then a handful of soldiers echoed the movement, more and more, until nearly every metal-clad warrior bowed their heads in salute. Behind them, the ragged militia in their makeshift armor and helmets raised fists in solidarity, and if their roar of approval was a bit too fierce with pride at seeing a fellow outcast standing before the thousands of elite soldiers, she didn’t begrudge them.
Padre Ivini blanched, realizing he’d made a terrible mistake.
Alessa smiled grimly at her soldiers. “Today, we fight together.”
The soldiers rose to stand at attention, a rolling wave of silver up the hillside. Trebuchets and archers stood at the ready, swords and scythes were drawn, and everyone looked to the enemy in the sky.
Fifty
La morte mi troverà vivo.
Death will find me alive.
The scarabeo did not attack like an army. One minute, they were a dark cloud roiling across the ocean, and the next they were everywhere, wings and claws and gaping mouths framed with glistening mandibles. There was a system to their coordinated movements, but it didn’t rely on formations or pre-planned strategy.
The soldiers roared, and Kaleb clasped Alessa’s shoulder, adding his spark to Kamaria’s fire and Josef’s cold. Alessa drew on their power, slow and gentle, trusting Dante to keep the space around them clear while Nina’s power threaded with Kaleb’s lightning, moving through her muscles and deep into her bones, until her entire body prickled.
Even Nina’s eyes were closed and her face serene. Trusting. No sign of doubt in Alessa’s ability.
“Time to kill that wolf,” Kamaria muttered.
Kaleb gave her a baffled look, but there wasn’t time to explain.
Alessa gathered the power they offered, held it, then turned her palm to the sky.
A hundred scarabeo met their end in a burst of fire and ice, and she bared her teeth in a victorious grin.
Another surge of power and a scarabeo shattered directly above them, raining glittering black shards. Alessa didn’t flinch or brush the fragments from her bare arms. Let the detritus of demons dust her skin. Let her sparkle with it. Let it be a warning to the rest:
Here she stands, slayer of demons.
Her power purred with satisfaction. Dante had been right all along. Alessa bared her teeth in a grin, savoring the rush of adrenaline through her veins. She had her team, and her power rejoiced. Together, they fought to win.
The Fontes took turns letting go of Alessa, picking up weapons when they weren’t being weapons. No rest for the weary, but a different kind of effort.
War was deafening. Rattling metal, the twang of bows, booming cannons, shouts and screams, and everywhere, the bone-deep vibration of thousands of wings.
Pacing. Control.
If she pushed too hard, or they weren’t careful to keep at least two Fontes in contact at all times, any one of them might snap.
The scarabeo screamed, a thousand fingernails screeching across slate, and the next wave fell, frozen.
Alessa tried to pace herself, gathering and holding their gifts, trying new combinations. Nina’s gift still left her queasy, but everyone whooped with glee when Alessa used it to burst scarabeo into grotesquely beautiful sprays of blue ichor.
The guards protecting them were fierce and willing to die for their saviors. Alessa loved them for it, forgave them for every time they’d flinched away from her. Now, when she needed them most, they did their duty.
Wings, sharp as knives, slashed the air before her, and for a second, Alessa saw her own reflection multiplied in the facets of gleaming red eyes.
She was terrifying. And for the first time, she reveled in it.
Soldiers shouted, dodging frozen scarabeo, which crashed down as solid and brittle as glass. Soon, their shattered remains made the entire hillside resemble the black rock beach.