I begged against his mouth.
He held me tighter as he tried to get up once more, but too many of them were pinning us down. “See you in the stars, Blue,” he swore, his lips brushing mine.
Thunder cracked overhead and a flare of lightning ignited the stands before a crash sounded as something was hit. I felt death leaning closer, surrounding us like a cloak.
“Arggggghhhh!” a woman cried from somewhere beyond us and the crowd gasped and cried out just as four enormous white paws slammed into the Nymphs holding us down. The front two were clad in Phoenix metal and fire blazed out from his claws, killing two Nymphs in quick succession.
We were knocked over and Orion pulled me to his chest, surrounding me with his body as Seth leapt over us and ripped through another Nymph with teeth alone. Geraldine was riding him, dressed in some kind of gleaming bronze warrior armour complete with pointed silver boobs.
She whipped her flail around her head, smashing through Nymph skulls as shadow and dust burst from the Nymphs as they fell. Through the pain and the weakness in my body, I could barely summon the strength to hope.
“For my most glorious majesties!” she cried. “Peril calls my name and my name is Geraldine Gundellifus Gabolia Gundestria Grus! Hear. Me. Roar!”
Caleb tore into view, dressed in black, dropping down into the sand before us and pressing his hands to my back where the Nymph’s probes had cut into me. I whimpered in pain as he healed me before moving to heal Orion whose fingers were locked around mine. When it was done, Caleb jammed a needle into my arm without a word and I gasped as the Order Suppressant antidote rushed into my veins.
“I got you,” he growled, unlocking my cuffs with a key before tossing it to Orion.
“Thank you,” I said breathlessly.
“Up, fight, run, that’s the plan – oh and don’t die,” Caleb said, taking a huge sword from his back that I recognised as the one I’d made for Orion. He passed it to him before tearing away in a blur.
Magic rushed to my fingertips and I pulled Orion closer while the Nymphs were distracted by our friends, drawing his mouth firmly to my neck. He hadn’t fed since we’d been at Stella’s house and he must have been starved for magic.
“Drink,” I commanded as I cast an air shield around us and he did, his fangs slicing into my throat as he recharged his magic with my own.
I barely had time to be relieved as chaos descended around us and the shadow of a huge Storm Dragon flew overhead. The crowd were screaming and death was spilling through the amphitheatre on furious, ravenous wings as Dante’s lightning powers blasted the stands and more and more of our friends appeared.
“For the true Queens!” Hamish charged through the crowd, pulling his clothes off before shifting into a huge black Cerberus and snapping his jaws at the Fae who’d come to watch us die. There were Tiberian Rats, Minotaurs, Wolves. It was beautiful, terrifying havoc. And I drank it all in with hope building in my chest and my strength returning in a furious wave. I couldn’t see Lionel behind a swarm of shadow as Clara fought to hold back anyone who dared try to get near him. But my sister was up there. And I had to get to her.
When Orion was done, we hurried to our feet, healing our wounds and I raised my hands as Phoenix fire rippled through my being. A dark and vengeful smile hooked up my mouth. The shield was down above the pit and our friends were here to save us. Fate had offered us a second chance. And I was going to make the most of every second of it.
As Seth and Geraldine tore through the Nymphs ahead of us and Orion shot forward to cut more down with his sword, I held out my palms and released a huge burst of Phoenix fire, letting it carve through Nymph after Nymph until half of them started running to try and escape. But I would show no mercy. It was time for the King and his army to fall. And the Vega Queens to rise.
M y deep blue scales coated my body as I launched myself up above the amphitheatre on a gust of wind and held myself suspended above the crowd of screaming, fighting Fae.
Dragons roared as they shifted and took to the sky