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One more.
Hot blood splattered across her face, and she turned to watch the male guarding her right fall, his throat wide open. Talon grabbed her arm and twisted her body behind his. He sank his teeth into Fiadh’s warrior, returning the favor.
She tried to breathe, to think as fire spun at her front. Arianna barely had enough time to summon a shield, the thin ice melting almost as soon as it formed. Talon twisted away from her then another warrior caught her leg, knocking her off balance.
She hit the bloody ground, her elbows stinging from the impact. On her back, Arianna tried to crawl away from the male stalking toward her, tried to scream Talon’s name above the roaring chaos.
Her hand slipped out from beneath her and panic shot through her body when the male lunged. Arianna clenched her eyes, bracing for impact. She was out of magic, out of options—an earth-shattering roar echoed across the battlefield, pulling the male’s attention. Grains of earth surrounded her body seconds later like a warm embrace, carrying his scent with it. Arianna hardly noticed the blood that tainted that scent. Hardly noticed anything as she watched auburn hair join the fray, his sand tearing through the enemy with burning intensity.
Her body shook, but Arianna grabbed her sword and struggled to her knees. She panted and watched. Rion’s earth had wrapped itself around her comrades as well, leaving just enough space for them to observe and join the fight once they’d recovered. Even Talon took a moment to breathe. His eyes met hers and she gave him a subtle nod, indicating she was all right.
None questioned his presence. None so much as flinched from the earth circling them, the particles never ceasing their movement, and Arianna couldn’t help but watch as Rion, this male she’d grown to love, tore through Fiadh’s warriors with practiced ease. She’d seen that fierceness before, the gleam in his eyes as they danced from one opponent to the next.
A sob escaped her lips. He’d come for her. Despite everything he’d said, Rion was here. More warriors from Móirín joined the battle, seemingly appearing from nowhere.
Talon broke from his shield first with renewed vigor. Water yanked from the bodies of their enemies and floated in the space between him and Rion. The two males stood back-to-back, facing the numerous warriors who sought to tear them down.
Rion’s sand spun in a violent storm and Talon’s ice joined it, chipping away at the plating on their enemy’s armor until that cyclone found flesh and screams replaced their confidence. The two remained close, relying on the other to guard their back as they whipped their magic from that protective circle over and over again.
Spears of ice from Talon. Chunks of rock from Rion. In rhythm, as if the two breathed together.
They wouldn’t fall now. She knew it in her heart. No one else was going to die.
“Arianna!” Her heart jolted at the sound of Rion’s voice, and she sucked in a breath when their eyes met. But his shifted and he jerked his chin to her left. Arianna followed his gaze toward a sphere of earth just outside the chaos. Warriors were already hammering away at it and dying as tendrils of earth shot from the cocoon like vipers.
She met his gaze again then every warrior separating her from the sphere froze, their bodies encased in dirt and sand.
Arianna didn’t hesitate. She launched from his protective shell and sprinted toward the sphere. His magic caressed her skin, sticking close. Some warriors noted her running form and made to strike, but ice crawled up their bodies and she glanced back to see Talon focusing on her. Arianna didn’t pause to deliver any killing blows. She just kept running, heart pounding against her ribcage the whole while.
The sphere opened like a mouth ready to devour and Arianna leapt inside, darkness converging on her when the sphere sealed itself again.
Arianna fell to her knees, struggling for breath, but a familiar scent had her head snapping up.
She couldn’t see but the copper taste in the air mixed with her sister’s scent told her enough. Ellie needed help. Fast.
“Kieran?”
A sob escaped him. “He said you could heal her.”
Arianna crawled toward his voice, her heart hammering in her chest as she tried to listen. To focus. Her sister’s breathing was too shallow, her heart rate slow.
Arianna bumped into her sister’s unconscious body and quickly found where Kieran was keeping pressure on a deep wound in Ellie’s abdomen.
She tried not to let panic set in at the feel of Ellie’s blood.
Her lips quivered and Arianna begged whatever god had granted her the gift of healing to allow her just a bit more. Just enough to save her sister. Her beautiful, alive, little sister.
The light in her palms flickered to life, spluttering as if it might give out any moment. It illuminated Ellie’s grimaced face and all the cuts and bruises forming down her arms. Arianna’s magic found a broken rib. Two.
The magic worked, far too slow for her liking, but little by little, the wound closed, and Ellie’s blood stopped flowing. Kieran loosed a slow breath, but his hand never released Ellie’s. Time seemed to crawl. The clashing of steel faded. The battle cries stopped echoing and finally, finally, Ellie took a deep breath. Her eyes cracked open a fraction, eyes so much like her own and Arianna gripped her hand, kissing her knuckles despite the blood covering them.
Kieran let out another sob and Ellie parted her lips.
“Don’t try to talk,” Arianna’s voice cracked. “You’re safe now.”
Her little sister smiled. “Your Rion doesn’t seem so bad.”
THEY SETTLED in a ruin, carrying their injured inside the charred remains of someone’s home. Those with the ability put out surrounding fires but most collapsed against the structure in exhaustion, sending up whispered prayers of thanks.
