eternal rest in the Great Luna’s court.” Then he took Vasile’s hand and wrapped it around Alina’s. Gavril knelt down on one knee then, placed a hand over his heart, and bowed his head. His mate, Rachel, did the same. One by one, the supernaturals who had fought side by side took a knee and showed their respect.
The warriors formed a circle around them. Cypher’s body was carried over by Jareth. Beside him, Riven carried the king’s head as reverently as Lucian had carried Alina’s heart. Then the king of the warlocks was laid beside the two fallen alphas, and his head was placed where it should be. A king as honorable as Cypher should not go into the afterlife remembered the way he had fallen. Lilly knelt beside him, her shoulders visibly shaking as her head bowed. The warlocks who had fought so bravely with their king knelt in a circle behind their king and queen, their swords held firmly in their hands as they laid them across their hearts.
Her gaze continued to travel. Prince Thalion and Cyn were in the same position as the others, kneeling. They’d both laid their blades down in front of them, a symbolic gesture that they would die fighting for the cause that Vasile, Alina, and Cypher had given their lives for. Cindy Morgan, the woman who had, no doubt through the seer sprites, known that Alina was in trouble, was wrapped in her husband’s arms. She wept so hard that her sobs could be heard above the storm.
“Set her down, beloved,” Lucian said softly, drawing her attention back.
Peri didn’t want to let Alina go. She didn’t want to let any of them go. But death did not ask her what she wanted. She carefully lowered Alina’s body to the ground so that her shoulder was touching Vasile’s. After several minutes, Lucian stood and pulled Peri up with him, his hand wrapped tightly around hers.
“You kneel out of respect for them,” Lucian said, his voice full of strength despite the pain she could feel through their bond. “But now you must stand so that you can avenge them.”
The warriors rose to their feet … all except Lilly who would not take her eyes off her mate. They looked around and saw the same thing Peri did. Vasile, Alina, and Cypher had not been the only losses. The bodies of other warriors were littered across the battlefield.
Lucian spoke again, understanding through their bond that Peri needed his strength. For once, Peri’s pain was greater than her seemingly inexhaustible fortitude.
“Vasile and Alina would want us to honor our fallen as we will the alpha pair and the warlock king.” He tilted his head back and let his wolf out. The howl that rumbled up from her mate’s throat was nothing like one that would come from a human. It filled the air and no doubt carried for miles. The other wolves among them joined their howls, and those who were not Canis lupus raised their voices as well as their weapons in a battle cry. Not one of victory or of a call to arms. But one of honoring those who had given the greatest sacrifice: their lives for that of another.
One by one as the voices died down, the circle broke, and those who’d survived began gathering their fallen warriors. Peri and Lucian helped. The first two bodies they came to shredded her heart even further.
Peri wasn’t particularly close to the other elders on the fae council, but she’d known them a very long time, and those still there had remained faithful over the centuries. Their kind wasn’t especially maternal, but there were always exceptions to the rules. Talia and Vale, warriors who had volunteered to join them, lay side by side, their eyes staring lifelessly up at the sky. Both were children of high fae council members. Disir was Talia’s father, who adored her. Dain, Vale’s father, spoke very highly of his son’s accomplishments as a warrior.
“We need to be expecting a visit from my council,” she told Lucian in a quiet voice. Then she used her power to raise their prone forms and move them toward the other dead.
By the time they’d gathered everyone who had given their lives up in the fight, there were a total of twenty deaths, not including Vasile, Alina and Cypher. Drake clung to life, though the sprite healer was still working on him, and no one held out hope that he would make it.