Total pages in book: 119
Estimated words: 116396 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 582(@200wpm)___ 466(@250wpm)___ 388(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 116396 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 582(@200wpm)___ 466(@250wpm)___ 388(@300wpm)
“Haldir had already sent the other kings to HeartHolme by the time I arrived. He dispatched me to join them. There was no way I could have given you a warning because we don’t communicate with messenger birds. I had to play along until the time was right.”
Now I felt like shit for assuming the worst.
“When I saw the look on your face…I wanted to die.”
I dropped my eyes. “I’m sorry I didn’t have more faith in you…”
His hand brushed my hair away, with the same gentleness as the day he left. “Haldir is marching here with Necrosis as we speak. We need to prepare before they arrive. We’ll need the dragons. If they aren’t here, we won’t stand a chance against Haldir.”
“Huntley will be here,” I said with a nod. “Let’s go to work.”
He moved off the bed.
I grabbed his arm and kept him in place.
He stared at me, his eyes searching my face.
“I love you.” When I didn’t tell Kronos the truth about the Ice, I knew. I’d hated myself for it because I’d given my heart to a man I’d thought didn’t deserve it. It was a moment of heartbreak rather than joy. But now, it was a moment I would never forget.
He stared at me for a while before he gripped my face and kissed me. “I love you too.”
The twelve Necrosis who accompanied Bastian weren’t the twelve he’d originally intended to bring, so we had to kill them all. It was easy for Bastian to sneak up on each one and slip the dagger between their ribs. They crumpled one by one, and the castle was back to pure silence.
We made it outside and found Ian and Queen Rolfe sitting side by side, chained to the chairs outside the castle. The Necrosis that guarded them were killed from behind by Bastian. I got to Ian and started to remove his chains.
“Elora?” His voice picked up in excitement. “What’s going on? How did you escape?”
“Him.” I nodded to Bastian, who was loosening the chains around the queen.
Ian looked over and paled when he saw Bastian. “What…?”
“He killed Kronos and the others,” I said. “The only reason I’m alive is because he saved me.”
Once my brother was free, he was instantly on his feet. “So, the Two Kings are gone?”
“Yes,” I said. “We killed all the Necrosis too.”
Queen Rolfe was on her feet and already giving orders. “Elora, fetch me my blade.”
“I grabbed it for you.” I held it out to her in the scabbard.
A momentary glimpse of gratitude entered her features before she secured the blade to her belt. “Ian, take care of the gate.”
Ian shielded his eyes and squinted. “They’re closing the gate.”
“They are?” I asked, turning to follow his stare.
Bastian returned to my side. “Necrosis has arrived. Prepare for battle.”
“Go back to the forge?” I asked incredulously. “And do what?”
Queen Rolfe was rounding up the army and deploying them outside the city while Ian took care of the men behind the wall. Without Commander Dawson, we’d lost another leader to guide the soldiers. Ian grew irritated, wanting to focus on other things besides my protest. “Make more weapons.”
“There’s no more Ice!”
“Then make regular weapons.”
“Ian, I’ve made more than we’ll ever need. I belong here, in battle.”
“No.”
“No?” I snapped. “Who killed the Third King? If Queen Rolfe can fight among her men, so can I.”
“She’s a lot better than you—”
“Then fight me right now. See what happens.”
Before Ian could yell at me, a hand gripped me by the shoulder. “I’ll look after her.”
Ian turned his stare on the man he hadn’t fully accepted. “You want your woman out here? We’ve got the biggest army ever marching on HeartHolme—”
“And we need every person possible if we want to make it through the night,” Bastian said. “If anyone wants to fight for their home, they should have the right. This battle only has two outcomes. Life or extinction. There will never be another opportunity to fight Necrosis. This is it. We either win—or we perish.”
Ian drew a deep breath before he shifted his gaze to me.
“Ian, I know you want to protect me, but you can’t this time,” I said. “We’ve got too much at stake.”
He released a heavy sigh, like he didn’t know what to do. “No offense, man. But you look like shit.” He looked at Bastian again.
“It looks worse than it feels,” he said. “Besides, I’ve got all that adrenaline from killing the Second King.”
Ian shook his hand. “Protect her—because I can’t.”
“With my life.” He returned the gesture then stepped back.
Ian gave me a final hug before he walked off and got back to work. Right away, he started to bark out orders, telling the men to prepare the cannons, directing the archers to position the barrels of Ice arrows.
Bastian examined the closed gate for a moment, seeing Queen Rolfe organizing her army to fight outside the gates.