Palace of Silver (The Nissera Chronicles #3) - Hannah West Page 0,137
I let anger conquer logic and strategy. Logic and strategy would do nothing for me anymore.
I drew my sword and charged at Ambrosine.
Roaring, I swung my blade down on her shoulder. It broke to shards. My arm bounced back and our bodies collided with bruising force. The momentum was on her side, and we tumbled down together.
My head careened, and stars twinkled in my vision. Before I could blink them away, Ambrosine smacked me across the face, the armor coating her hand more rigid than a gauntlet. Warm blood filled my mouth and nose. But I realized I was still gripping the hilt—all that remained of my broken sword—and slammed it into her jaw.
The sound was of metal hitting metal. She didn’t even flinch.
“You aligned yourself with the wrong people,” she said, pinning both of my wrists to the ground with her iron grip. “Family used to come first, but you changed.”
“You changed,” I barked through the blood pooling in my mouth. I could feel that my nose had been jammed off-center, the bone and cartilage crooked. I squirmed beneath Ambrosine. Her knees locked around my hips like a vise, trapping me in place. I tried to materialize, but her armor gave her the power to anchor me there. My shoulders strained at their sockets and I halted the attempt before it ripped me limb from limb.
One more blow to the head and I would likely cross that veil of death, forsaking this world to the hands of the Fallen.
But not without a better fight than this.
My power answered my summons, and the falling raindrops flocked together and froze into icicles with points as sharp as knives. I flicked my finger and drove them down her spine, but they shattered on her armor just like the sword.
The thunder of a cavalry approaching from the woods made her loosen her grip on one of my wrists so she could look at the road. Our reinforcements had arrived.
I used the distraction to try the most desperate thing I could think of—attacking her vanity. I gripped a generous handful of her fair hair and yanked as hard as I could, ripping a whole patch out by the roots.
When she squealed, she sounded exactly like the Ambrosine I knew, the Ambrosine who could be more easily manipulated by threats to her beauty than threats to her life.
The diversion allowed me to kick her away and stagger to my feet. I had to warn our reinforcements to turn back, to take up shelter in the armory. I had to tell Sev and every other ambusher left alive to go with them, to keep resisting, to try to find another way to banish the Fallen.
I materialized to the tree line and stumbled into the shadows. So many bodies sprawled over the battleground, and I was afraid to see a familiar face among them. Most of the ambushers had retreated and scattered to hide in the forest. Had Sev left too?
Setting my back to a tree, I peered at the road and saw that Navara was leading the reinforcements. I spat a curse. She was supposed to have doubled back and returned to the safety of the armory. Why hadn’t she? She wasn’t ready for this.
“Glisette!” I turned to see Sev kicking through the snow toward me. Watered-down blood stained his face and neck, but he didn’t seem to be wounded, at least not gravely so. My heart leapt with joy at seeing him alive, but fear gripped me anew. He needed to go back with the other mortals.
When he reached me, he cupped my jaw and winced at my face.
“That bad?” I asked.
“You can’t outlast her,” he said. “We have to retreat and regroup.”
“I have to stall them while you get Navara and the others to safety.”
“I’m not going to—”
“Go!” I splayed a hand on his chest and pushed, but he didn’t budge. “Go, or it will be too late for everyone. They need you, Sev.”
He shook his head, but I could see my words wearing down his obstinacy. We both knew there were things far more important than the way we felt about each other.
With a sigh of surrender, he gently kissed my bruised, bloodied lips and ran off to intercept Navara and the reinforcements.
Buttressing my resolve, I turned and saw traces of a glimmering magical shield through the trees. I materialized back onto the open field and found Devorian, Kadri, Mercer, and Tilmorn combining their elicrin shields to protect the mortals in retreat.