Embracing Destiny

by Hutchins, Amelia

  I peered out over the army slipping into our gates to where the mages smugly carried the flags of the Dark Kingdom, the Light Kingdom, and last but not least, my father’s banner, the Blood Kingdom.

  Insolent pricks had no shame or respect for the dead. Anger slithered through me as my eyes slid through their ranks, hating that they’d taken the banners from the fallen kingdoms.

  “That’s not good,” Adam said. “They’re flying my fucking flag.”

  “They’re flying all the high fae flags, all except for the horde,” I stated, turning to look at the anger and pain that covered Adam’s face. “They’re coming to take our kingdom. Let’s disappoint them, shall we, gentlemen?”

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  The entire stronghold held its breath as I stood in front of the castle in full armor. I was prepared to defend my home against the vile mages that had been stupid enough to march upon our lands, intending to bring it to its knees. Lena stood shoulder to shoulder with me, while Ciara, Icelyn, Lilith, and Fyra flanked us on either side.

  The entire front line of troops was comprised of women warriors. The men stood behind, fully aware that the mage army outnumbered us, and we were in trouble. We’d been wrong to assume the mages would send the bulk of their troops to the valley. It didn’t help to worry about it now, considering we were staring them down across the field.

  I’d placed Sevrin in the castle with Dristan, ensuring that Eliran was inside the tower with Olivia and the children. I’d secured the castle, reinforcing the wards before I set even one foot outside of the stronghold. I hadn’t forced the women to come with me, nor had I refused their help.

  We made a plan before coming beyond the gates, one to hold the fight at this position. This was the line their army wouldn’t cross unless we fell, and we had no plan of that happening.

  I’d been sure to remind everyone that these beings weren’t weak. They’d brought the Blood Kingdom, the Light Kingdom, and the Dark Kingdom to their knees, and murdered the most powerful fae in their own homes, where they were at their strongest.

  “At the back, you see it?” Ciara asked through her dragon armor, covered in scales of red and black like the armor Blane donned when he’d left here.

  I stared across the field where two large ballistae were being armed with giant arrows that could easily pierce a dragon in flight. There were also other contraptions spraying iron into the air that was already beginning to affect the surrounding fae but only slightly at the moment. Giants had been captured and were being used to haul medieval machinery back and forth to where the mages wanted them placed.

  “That explains a lot,” Fyra muttered crossly. “Those arrows will cause an issue with our plans.”

  “Icelyn, are you healed enough to do what you need to do?” I asked, slightly turning to take in the anger in her icy depths.

  Anger was good.

  Anger was strength.

  Fear was power against the enemies because fear made you fight harder to shove it away.

  “I am. I can fight. I wouldn’t be out here if I wasn’t sure I could help.” Her hands were encased in ice, prepared to send it sailing toward the mages at a moment’s notice.

  “Lilith?” I turned to where she stood within the shadows that clung to her as if she was one with them.

  “I’m ready.”

  “Ciara, are you certain you want to be out here and not inside where you are protected?”

  “Synthia, I’m not weak. I am right where I am supposed to be. My children are with my brothers high in the tower, safeguarded by your magic.”

  “If the mages release the iron, we will need to figure out how to get around it,” I admitted, knowing I couldn’t push the iron away and fight. “Fyra, and Darnell, dragon forms, please. This only works if you’re transformed. If they release the iron, you need to be ready to neutralize it to the best of your ability.”

  No worries, right?

  I was terrified of what we faced, knowing these creatures had been underestimated time and time again. They’d been allowed to become strong until they were flooding into our lands by the thousands, murdering our courts before anyone had taken them seriously. It was our own fault for allowing them to grow unnoticed within the guilds, using contracts to build their bank accounts to afford the war against the inhabitants of Faery.

  I could feel Ryder fighting on his own front. I knew he was battling mages as we geared up to fight them. He wasn’t coming to save us because he couldn’t. We’d been outplayed and had fallen right into their trap. He’d taken the larger portion of our army to take the mages down on our own terms, only for them to use it against us.

  Our enemies had known where to strike us to inflict the most pain, and they hadn’t hesitated. We had, and that was because we played by a set of rules that we expected them to use. They weren’t honorable, which made them more dangerous.

  No one had any idea just how large their army was until it had been too late. Now they were here at our fucking doorstep, prepared to fight us on our turf without fearing us. I stared down the line, frowning, noting that everyone held weapons or magic in their hands.

  The giants turned, marching toward the front of the enemy lines. I gave the order to place the spears down in front of the army in which I stood. I would show no weakness because I was born to protect this world. I wouldn’t let them see the fear that hugged tightly around me, slipping through the cracks in my armor.

  Because who doesn’t have giants on their side? Oh, yeah, us.

  “We can’t get to the machines without plowing through their forces. If we move to do so, they’ll release more iron into the air, and that will leave the fae unable to defend the stronghold. We need more people,” I muttered, turning to stare at the faces of the army prepared to defend us with their lives. I feared it might reach that price, and if it did, the castle would fall. I couldn’t allow that to happen.

  “It’s too late,” Ciara said, coughing in reaction to the iron being sprayed into the air. “It’s working.”

  My hands lifted, pushing against the iron that filled the air. The soldiers behind me began coughing and hissing as it filled their lungs. My magic pulled the metal from them, forcing it back to the mages, but I couldn’t keep it up forever.

  “Starting without me? I’m wounded,” a cheery voice said as the surrounding air ignited and filled with power. “That’s a problem,” Erie said, materializing to stare across the field before her electric-blue eyes turned and held mine. “I thought I told you not to let them reach the castle?”

  “It wasn’t like we planned it, Erie. Or are you Mórrígan?” I asked, staring at her while wondering which side she’d play on today.

  “I am Erie, and I am Mórrígan. Trust me. You want me in goddess form for this fight. Anyway, you should call in the oath I owe your mother now. The mages are about to start forward, and the moment they do, you will be forced to release the iron you’re removing to defend the stronghold. This will kill the fae behind you instantly. So, call in the fucking oath so we can get this party started,” she hissed. Turning, Erie used her fingers to make a box around a giant’s head.

  “What are you doing?” I asked, shooting my eyebrows to my forehead as I watched her.

  “I have a vacancy in my freezer, and Fred hasn’t fucked up enough that I can put him back in it yet,” she explained, shrugging when my face scrunched up. The war drums sounded, signaling the mages had grown tired of waiting. “Call in the oath, Synthia.”

  “I don’t know how.”

  “Destiny, I suggest you start explaining how it works before we end up losing Faery, and Danu rolls over in her grave. She was such a drama queen,” Erie snorted, still measuring the heads of the creatures that stood opposite of us on the battlefield.

  “Synthia, repeat after me.” Destiny held my hand, and I dropped the
other, turning to listen as the warriors behind us coughed. “I, Synthia, Daughter of Danu, claim the oath that was owed to my mother.”

  “No,” Erie interrupted. “Call in all of them, because the war won’t be finished when this fight ends. If I am to be here and fight with you, I need to be able to say I had no choice.”

  “I, Synthia, Daughter of Danu, call in the oaths you owe my mother, Mórrígan.” I stared at Erie as she lifted a delicate brow.

  “Mean it, Synthia. We’re out of time to be fucking around. The Mórrígan. Not Mórrígan.” She bristled as if I should know the difference.

  “I, Synthia, Daughter of Danu, call in the oaths owed my mother by the Mórrígan. Heed my call, and fight beside me, Goddess.”

  “My fucking pleasure,” Erie said, skipping away.

  “Wait, where are you going?” I asked, watching the craziest of crazies skipping barefooted toward an entire army of mages. My eyes widened in worried as creased my forehead in confusion. “Erie, where the hell are you going? That isn’t the plan!”

  “To fuck shit up, duh,” she chuckled. “Fódla, Banba, to me now!” she shouted above the drums.

  I watched as Erie’s sisters appeared before her, vanishing the moment she stepped through them. She cracked her neck, approaching the army without a shred of fear. I turned, studying Destiny and the way she stared at Erie with a look of worry.

  I looked back at Erie, watching the redheaded warrior close the distance between her and the giant that marched toward her. He carried a wicked-looking club adorned with spikes that he was swinging back and forth. Erie started to run forward, materializing twin swords in her hands right before she reached him. Stabbing the blades into flesh, she used them to climb the giant, slicing his throat, sending his body into a flip. Erie landed on the giant’s back. She opened her mouth, and a large unkindness of ravens began to flood from it.

  I blinked as my mouth opened and closed. Because that wasn’t freaky? No, it made perfect sense for the tiny redhead to open her mouth and release hundreds of ravens from her lips. Right? Right? You couldn’t make this shit up, not where she was concerned.

  “Did she just throw up ravens?” I asked, turning to Destiny, who smirked, her worry gone the moment the birds slipped from Erie’s lips. I blinked, watching her to make sure I wasn’t hallucinating.

  “She’s the Mórrígan and the Goddess of War. She is an army within herself, and those are her Raven Guard. She can only call them if she blesses a victor of the battle. She’s blessing you, Synthia.”

  The battle line moved, and I stared down at where the fae were itching to be allowed to fight. “Hold the line!” I shouted, and then listened as my words echoed down the wall of fae that stood between the mages and the castle, circling the entire stronghold, guarding it. The back was less protected, but enough fae were defending it and would sound warning us should an assault be tried from any other angle. “Hold the line!” I shouted again. I turned to Icelyn and smiled. “You’re on; freeze the ground and drop the temperature.”

  Ice formed across the ground, forcing the mages back as it crawled up their legs, trapping them to the land with icy claws. It forced the mages closer together, and Erie was mowing through them with ease.

  The ravens transformed into the immortal souls of the men the Mórrígan had collected from ancient battlefields. She plucked the bravest from their bloody demise before the Gods of Death could claim them. They wore thick, feathered armor and swung long, black swords where their arms had once been. If one fell, two more would rise in its place. I’d never imagined of all the myths surrounding the Mórrígan, that one was true.

  “Dragons,” I called, watching Fyra and Darnell take to the skies to force the mages on the edges of the battlefield to move closer to the middle.

  I studied the arrows, flicking my wrist the moment they shot toward the dragons. They instantly disintegrated into ashes. I grinned silently, holding the line while I put everything into play. More arrows were loaded, and I flicked my wrist again, crying out as one of the dragons dove too soon and took an arrow to her chest.

  “No!” Ciara shouted, watching as the dragon dropped from the sky, its shrill scream ripping through the air. We watched its body hit the ground while mages leapt onto it, stabbing its body. It flailed helplessly, trying to escape the arrow that was retracting to the ballista by the attached chain. More mages engaged the dragon, cutting it up while preventing the Raven Guard from reaching her.

  “Who fell?” I demanded and watched Ciara shake her head.

  “Fyra, I think,” she whispered thickly.

  My heart hammered in my throat as I shoved the emotions down, turning to look at Lilith. “Shadows.” I swallowed, watching as the shadows that had clung to Lilith moved like a thick fog across the ground, covering the battlefield in darkness.

  The one dragon still fought fiercely, and every time they tried to load an arrow, I flicked it until one finally reached the ballista, flinging it like a toy through the air, shattering it. Erie guarded the other machine loaded with iron dust. She was slicing and dicing through the mages as if they were there merely for her enjoyment. I stared down the line one way, then the other as my breathing grew heavy.

  “We fight to survive! We fight to protect the horde! We fight to persevere, or we die in the name of glory!” Cheers erupted, and I turned, staring at the mages who screamed in pain. Ice held them to the earth, and fire burned their bodies as darkness consumed them. “Well, ladies, shall we?” I asked, materializing swords before I sifted. Erie threw a warrior toward me, and I jumped, spinning in the air as I took his head from his shoulders. His body landed on the ground in front of me.

  A warrior rushed toward me, noting the crown on my head. His blades moved swiftly, slashing for my body as I ducked and dodged each attack. I watched Erie from the corner of my eye as she danced in her long blood-red skirt, her blades pulsing.

  Lena’s wings were out, skewering men as she lunged, taking them down effortlessly as those who had come with her joined the fray. Blood covered the ice beneath me, and my swords drank it, offering more to the surrounding ground.

  Asher and the Seelie let their power rip through the crowd, surrounding the mages from the outside. The mages had attempted to hide behind a veil of invisibility, attaching pieces of the cloak to their armor.

  A giant flung his knife toward me, forcing me to drop and roll through the blood. Coming back up in a crouching position, I sifted, landing on his shoulders where my swords ran across this throat. His lifeless body fell, and I stood upon his back, turning to block yet another blade. Ciara took the attacker’s head, swiftly dodging another assault behind her until the sword found a home in his skull.

  I moved toward Icelyn, whose ice blades sliced through the advancing warriors, holding them to the ground with her power. She filled their lungs with ice until their breathing was labored.

  Lilith forced the warriors to their knees as her shadows ripped through them, yanking limbs apart and pulling them into dark recesses as their bodies were devoured by the darkness.

  An arrow shot toward the last dragon, and I flicked my chin, watching as it turned into flowers and fell to the ground. The dragon landed on the second wooden ballista, tearing it apart with its teeth before sending it sailing through the fray to shatter against the icy ground. The men and women of the horde screamed with victory as it opened its mouth, sending flames burning through the mages that were desperately trying to retreat.

  “Kill them all!” I shouted, watching as the dragon’s head turned, and then took its flight, following the line of mages into the woods as it opened its jaw and expelled flames.

  I stood in the middle of the field, staring at the dead, blood coating my body and hands. We’d done the impossible. It had almost been too easy. Slowly, I made my way back to where the females were gathering, when a blast rang from t
he castle, and then the alarm sounded.

  “No,” I uttered. “No!” I screamed, trying to sift, only to remember I’d warded the entire castle against sifting to prevent our enemies from gaining access. I ran, and the women followed me, knowing that there’d been a breach for the alarms to sound. My stomach somersaulted as fear tightened around my heart.

  My gaze slipped up to the tower, watching as someone hung out the window, attempting to escape. “Catch him!” I screamed as someone tried to throw a child from another window. The dragon swooped toward the falling child as I held my breath. “It was too easy because it was a fucking diversion!” I snapped, running with the women as we moved to fight whoever had breached the stronghold.

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  The castle floors were covered with bodies. We slid in their blood in our haste to get inside, and I sailed across the floor until I slammed into something soft. I lifted from the ground on my hands, staring directly into Darynda’s sightless eyes.

  “No. No, please,” I whispered, turning to look at the staircase leading up to the tower, noting the bodies piled at the base of the stairs.

  I stood, knowing I couldn’t do anything for Darynda. She was dead, her entire chest cut open with an iron blade. I slid in the blood again, wiping my hands on my armor as I rushed toward the stairs, not knowing who followed. The upper-level hallway was littered with corpses, making it impossible to move through them without stepping on them as we raced forward.

  Ahead of us was the invisible doorway to the safe room, which stood wide-open, allowing me to view inside. “No,” I whispered, unable to say anything else as my heart hammered so hard it was deafening in my ears.