Queen of Blood and Vengeance (Secrets of the Faerie Crown #4)

80. Arran

80

ARRAN

I was made for battlefields. The most powerful terrestrial fae born in millennia. Blessed not just with one of the terrestrial fae gifts, but both. Fauna-gifted with a beast that stirred nightmares across this realm and others. Flora-gifted with the ability to bend nature itself to my will. Kidnapped in my youth. Separated from my family for most of my adulthood. Honed as a weapon with a singular purpose—to kill in service of my kingdom.

The battle axe that had cleaved flesh from bone for three centuries rested heavy in my hand. A single amorite dagger, the only way to bring down the succubus, gripped in my other. Around me, my lieutenants moved their battalions into position, the entirety of the Terrestrial Army moving with decades of honed purpose. The Faeries of the Fen remained in the human realm, along with the human forces Gwen had gathered from Eldermist, the reunited remnants of the Elemental Army, and the Aquarians under General Ache.

Two battles. Two valleys. One foe.

The fighting in Camlann might already be underway. Communication between our two armies was slow without Veyka to jump between realms at will. The succubus in the Effren Valley were trapped here, in the fae bodies they’d invaded. At least once they took a body, they appeared to be anchored to it.

That was our only advantage.

We had superior numbers, but the succubus felt no pain. It would take a dozen fae soldiers to take down one of the creatures. More of the humans. Many soldiers would die today. Thousands. Maybe tens of thousands. That number was dependent on how long it took Veyka to make her way across the valley.

I could not see her, but the thread of our bond was intact. Somewhere below, she and Mya weaved through the foothills, trying to skirt the horde and avoid notice for as long as possible. My role was to keep the succubus engaged from all sides, to give my mate the best chance of reaching the Tower of Myda.

Isolde and the healers had divided themselves between the human realm and Annwyn. In the Effren Valley, they waited behind the strip of sand that belonged to the Gremog. Even the Gremog would not be able to eat every succubus that stumbled into its domain if there were enough of them; but it would protect the healers and the injured for as long as possible, allowing the bulk of our army to focus on the horde itself.

I reached deep inside of myself, to where those golden threads wrapped around my heart and reached out across time and space and realms. I love you. I will see you at nightfall.

By nightfall, this war would be over, one way or another.

Veyka did not respond. The darkness on the other end of the mating bond banked, still simmering but not a fully-formed black mass.

I did not pray. But if there were a time to start, this seemed the moment.

Ancestors, keep her safe.

Accolon… give me your strength on this final battlefield. Nimue, guard my wife, your heir, that she might live to reclaim her soul.

The sun peeked over the eastern peaks of the mountains, bathing the Effren Valley in the first rays of orange-gold daylight. The battle for Annwyn began.