Page 207 of Of Masks and Fury

“Stay with me,” I growled as Isi and I turned to face the new threat.

Our bodies fell into complementary stances. We didn’t need to see each other to know. Her body was an extension of mine in battle, as familiar as my own heartbeat.

“Thorne can’t reach Kyreth,” she said, her voice tight.

I tracked her gaze. Thorne and Addie were surrounded, Skathes closing in from all sides. Addie sagged against him, her hand raised in defiance.

“I’m going,” Isi shouted, slicing through a Skathe as she sprinted toward her sister.

My heart lurched into my throat. This woman would walk through fire for those she loved.

I charged after her, my sword carving a bloody path. “Gavelle, with me!”

This was who she was. She’d meant every promise she’d ever made to me. And she would mean them right up until the moment someone she loved needed her more than I did.

I used to think that was contradiction. Now I knew it was just Isi, loving without hierarchy, without limit. She didn’t run from me. She ran toward them.

It was one of the reasons I was so completely undone by her.

The firecat bounded to my side, his enormous form clearing Skathes from my path in a brutal way that made me admire him even more.

Isi reached Thorne and Addie first, her blades whirling as she drove back the creatures closing in on them. I arrived moments later, taking a position that completed our defensive circle.

“Can you go fast?” Isi asked Addie.

Determination hardened Addie’s bone-white face. “I’ll try.”

A faint blue shimmer of magic surrounded her. Even weakened, she could still host a bit of defense. The sisters were mirror images of stubbornness, of courage.

“Behind you,” Thorne shouted.

I spun as a Skathe leaped, its claws extended. Pain seared across my back and shoulder as its talons ripped through leather and flesh. The wound burned, and I sent magic to it, closing the flesh.

With a roar, I drove my sword up through its chest, the blade catching on bone before bursting through the other side. The creature’s fangs snapped close to my face before it dissolved into ashes.

Lakast and Levar swept overhead, unleashing torrents of flame, creating a momentary corridor through the Skathes.

“Now,” I cried. “Run for the dragons!”

Thorne supported Addie while Isi and I guarded their flanks with Gavelle and Pherin. Dare and Keek joined us, forming a protective ring around us.

We’d almost reached Kyreth when Thorne grunted. Turning, I found him stopped, staring past Addie’s shoulder, his eyes widening. A clawed Skathe arm had punctured through his chest from behind.

“Go,” he hissed, shoving Addie toward Isi with enough force to send both women stumbling backward.

I ripped through the Skathe behind him, ending it fast.

Skathes descended on us, talons extended. While I lopped off heads and limbs, one Skathe ripped its claws across Thorne’s back. A second tore into his side. A third went for his throat.

I couldn’t get to him. There were too fucking many of them for me to kill.

“Get to…dragons,” he garbled out. With a lurch, he pivoted and drove his blade through the chest of the nearest Skathe. Blood poured from his wounds, but he fought with fury.

“Thorne.” Isi’s scream tore through the air.

I rushed toward him, but more Skathes blocked my path. By the time Dare, Keek, and I had cut through them, Thorne had fallen to one knee, still swinging his sword in wide, weakening arcs.

Pherin leaped over us and stood between us and the rest of the Skathes, Gavelle growling at her side.