AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I couldn’t lose him; it would be the death of me too.
“I’m so glad you’re okay,” Drazen murmured in Liliana’s ear before setting her feet on the floor again.
“I’m glad you’re okay too. I thought I was going to be sick when I heard that you’d been ambushed here.” She looked up at him with love shining in her eyes, and I felt like an intruder on what should have been an intimate moment. But I couldn’t tear myself away, not when this was the light I needed to remind me what we were fighting for. Vengeance was one thing, but safety, security, and love was a higher, more important purpose than that.
A rumbling laugh sounded in his chest. “Is the prettiest female in the Északi Empire admitting to having feelings for me?”
Liliana gave him a playful smack as she pushed out of his arms. “Don’t get any crazy ideas, Drazen.”
A warning growl from Ruslan shattered the moment and forced our attention back to the matter at hand. “The Day Fae have arrived, along with a good portion of the rest of the Iron Realm’s army. Can you fight?”
Drazen dipped his chin. “If you can provide cover for us to exit.”
“Consider it done. I’ll have the Dragons shift and fly here. Wait for my signal to open the mountain,” Ruslan instructed, clapping Drazen on the shoulder. The males exchanged more than words with that look and that touch.
Liliana returned to my side, and we allowed the two a moment for themselves. I elbowed my best friend in the side, and she shot me a warning look. A smile pulled at my lips, but I didn’t voice the tease I had planned. Instead, I said, “We need to find a place for me to work my magic.”
“First, we need to find Kazimir,” Zuriel emphasized, tucking strands of white hair behind his ears. He was all seriousness, not a hint of emotion playing across his sharp features.
Liliana scoffed. “He’ll be at the back of the army, pretending like he’s a big, tough male, but not actually helping them fight.”
“A true leader fights alongside his soldiers,” Ruslan interrupted, pulling me into his arms. The intensity of his emotion melted into me despite my mental barrier, and I allowed it, soaking up every bit of himself he offered me. My mate, my one true love, my soul. His love was all I needed in this world. Together we were unstoppable, and we’d been training together for this very reason.
“Or her soldiers,” I corrected him, earning a small chuckle.
“Or her soldiers,” he echoed, our exchange lifting a hint of fear from my stomach.
“Win this battle for us, and I’ll marry you,”he teased mind-to-mind.
“Why would I marry you ifIwin the battle? You should be begging to marry me. Falling to your knees and pleading for me to give you a drop of my attention,”I quipped back.
“Then I suppose we have a competition on our hands. Whoever kills more Night Fae will have to beg the other to accept a new marriage proposal.”
I spun in his arms, and he grasped the back of my neck and forced me to peer deep into his eyes. “Deal,” I whispered, a smile blooming on my face. Ruslan kissed it away, then released me. Our friends – our family – watched on with a mosaic of expressions, ranging from exasperated to feigned disgust to starry eyed jealousy.
“If we can move along now,” Liliana said, rolling her eyes and pretending to gag. Ruslan beckoned her forward.
Zuriel placed his hand on Ruslan’s shoulder, and Liliana did the same, waiting for him to whisk us back to the battlefield.Drazen watched Liliana go, his eyes holding an emotion as deep as the ocean-blue that colored them. As we disappeared, I vowed that we’d win this war – by whatever means necessary – so my best friend too could find the happiness and love she deserved.
35
Anarchy was the only way to describe the battlefield when we returned to it. Lines were shattered, Fae from all realms scattered and fighting in disparate groups. The massive olyphants had spread further afield, stomping all beneath their feet. Arrows rained down, both from the backs of the beasts and the skies above them. Howls of pain melded with roars of rage amid the sharp clash of swords.
Izidora remained wrapped protectively in my arms until I was certain we were far enough away that a spear wouldn’t fly out of nowhere. “Zuriel, Liliana, keep my mate safe until I return. I need to coordinate the Dragons,” I growled, looking over the plains in search of Artur and the others in charge of the Félvér units.
Izidora stepped out of my embrace, a white fire burning behind her aquamarine eyes that made me so fucking proud to call her my mate, my wife, my future empress. “We fight together. I’m strong on my own, but I’m stronger when I’m with you. Hurry back.”
I crumpled over her words and the strength of her conviction in them. “Yes we are,” I replied, tucking an errant lock ofchestnut hair behind her ear. “If I find Kazimir, I will call for you.”
A wicked grin crossed her heart-shaped face. “His death is mine.”
Grasping Izidora’s hand, I brought it to my lips and kissed the back of it. The large ruby ring I’d bought for her during Béke still adorned her finger, even now. The sight made me smirk, and I paused for a moment, drinking in my mate’s glorious form one last time. “I love you, Izidora. Until my dying breath and through whatever awaits me beyond this life.”
“I love you, Ruslan. My broken emperor. Us against the world.” She slipped her hand from mine and stood on her tiptoes to stroke my cheek. I leaned into her touch, turning my face and kissing her open palm.
I knew I lingered too long with her, but fuck, I couldn’t tear myself away when our immediate vicinity was filled with war.
I couldn’t lose her.
