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“I’ve got you, Liliana.” His peridot eyes were hard with that promise, and I believed him entirely.
“Let’s get moving,” I said, not wanting to linger, not when there were so many Night Fae and so few of us.
Drazen and another Dragon blasted past us, only partially shifted so they could move faster. With a look, Endre and I dove after them, black feathered wings unfurling behind us and carrying us off toward another set of archers.
The cut on my arm grew more bothersome the more I swung my sword, and I was irritated that the one part of me that wasn’t fully protected was the one part that had been cut. But I said nothing because I knew Endre would insist on healing it, and we didn’t have time for that, not as the sun finally crested the horizon.
It glittered off the mutilated snow, making our targets easier to spot but also increasing the accuracy of their shots. I flew toward a group at the base of the mountain, tucked conveniently beneath an overhang. One noticed my approach, and I had to snap my wings shut to avoid his projectile. Endre swooped in behind me, landing and jumping into a fight against them. Drazen touched down shortly after, the two working as a team to dispatch them.
I was too busy paying attention to them to notice the Night Fae beneath me grabbing one of the fallen Iron Fae’s whips and coiling it up. The crack hit my ears a moment before pain wrapped around my thigh, and I cried out as my leg was yanked out from under me.
“Fuck!” I screeched as I hit the ground, tumbling over myself and trying to dodge the incoming kicks and punches. I triedto stand, but the male still held the whip, maintaining his control over me. I crashed down once again, a frustrated snarl tearing from my throat. Thinking quickly, I reached along it and wrapped it around my hand, then pulled with all my might. He stumbled forward, then realized his mistake and dropped the weapon.
I wasted no time pushing to my feet, holding out a hand as I backstepped to ensure he wouldn’t race forward. The leather unwound from my leg, the air stinging my skin where it had bit into my body.
Fuck, that hurt.
My sword was only a few feet away, and I lunged for it, rolling over a body and grabbing the pommel as I flipped into a crouch. My thighthrobbedfrom the movement, but I didn’t have the luxury of listening to my body when it protested.
The male charged forward, and I braced for impact as he swung. Our blades collided in a clash that reverberated through my whole body, and I gritted my teeth and pushed back as hard as I could, using the force to come into a stand.
He backed away, leaving me off balance, but I quickly recovered and sank into my stance. Before he could come forward again, I lunged, but he handily parried my blade. We danced around each other, striking hard and fast as I worked to steer him toward a large rock.
If I could just position him a little to the left of it…
To my delight, he never looked behind him as I herded him in that direction, sidestepping and striking in such a way that he kept having to chase my next move. With a blast of silver, I sent him stumbling backward, his leg breaking over the stone with a satisfying crunch. As he impacted the ground, I followed him, stabbing him in the chest and ending his life.
I felt nothing as I pulled my blade free and wiped it clean on his leathers.
“Liliana?”
I whipped around, blade poised to strike. Vadim stood there, his long hair and beard both an utter mess, and his evergreen eyes shone with a mixture of pain and relief.
“Oh thank fuck, Lil,” he said, racing toward me and scooping me into his arms for an embrace.
I squirmed against him, trying to break his hold. “Let me go, Vadim.”
“I didn’t know if you were alive or dead,” he said, releasing me and allowing me my space.
“Well, I’m very much alive. And we’re very much enemies right now,” I hissed, raising my weapon. Without warning, I lunged for him, despite the heaviness in my heart and the voice in the back of my mind screaming at me to stop. I’d sworn to Ruslan I was loyal to the Északi Empire, and I couldn’t waver in that again..
He easily swept my sword to the side, not even attempting to fight back. I struck again, and he merely sidestepped, waiting for me to twist and face him once more. On my third attempt, I cut him, momentarily horrified at the sight of his lifeblood trickling down his arm, nearly a twin wound to my own.
With a growl, he charged, and finally, he fought me back.
My brother trained me to fight, which meant he knew all my moves – but I also knew all of his. The past year of training with the Iron Fae and Félvér had taught me a few new tricks, and I called on one just as Vadim arced his sword toward me. Instead of leaping backward and out of the way of his lethal blade, I rolled over my shoulder, hooking my legs around his and using them to send him crashing to the ground. With an oomph, he flattened, and I leaped to my feet immediately, jumping on his chest and pinning him down.
He raised both hands, the pommel of his sword slipping from his grip as he opened them. “I don’t want to fight with you.”
Still poised over him, I hissed, “You chose the wrong side.”
“I know.”
In a flash, he had me on my back, pinned beneath him. I thrashed and struggled in his hold, but he gripped my wrists and pressed them tightly against my chest.
“I should have listened to you and Domi last year. Lil, I’ve been so worried about you since then. Mother and father were furious when I returned without you. Mother has been heartbroken since that day, and she barely gets out of bed anymore, worried that something has happened to you.”
His words were sincere, and guilt settled in my gut, a heavier weight than my brother pinning me down. I stilled, waiting for him to continue.
