Page 118 of A Trial of War
I didn’t dare show my true emotions. Our people couldn’t see my trembling hands or hear the shudders in my voice. If I revealed these doubts to them, we would crumble faster than a tower of glass.
Lost in my thoughts, I almost missed Nyssa’s touch. I tilted my head and noticed that her eyes were wet. Through the bond, her emotions were a whirlwind of fear and sorrow. But at its core, the strongest one I could sense was hope.
Releasing my arm, she stepped past me.
“Nyssa?”
She walked into the clearing, where the trees ended and death began at the outskirts of the battlefield. The chaos spread out before her… broken bodies, smoke, and creatures of shadow creeping closer.
My heart thundered in my ears like a brooding storm cloud. “Nyssa, come back!” I roared.
But she didn’t. She turned, faced the enemy, lifted her chin, took in a deep breath… andsang.
There were no words to her song. Instead, it was a powerful melody that wrapped around my soul like a warm embrace. A sound too beautiful for a battlefield. A sound that shouldn’t have survived in a place like this.
And gods, Ifelther magic.
Through her song, emotions poured into me. Courage burned hot in my chest, hope shimmered like lantern light on water, floating along the current of blood in my veins. Love, such pure love, took root through the soles of my feet, connecting me to the land we were striving to save.
It filled every crack inside me. Erasing every doubt, every fear.
Warriors lifted their heads as if waking from a long sleep. Shifters inhaled sharply, their fur bristling with new fire. High Fae straightened, magic sparking over their fingers. Humans pressed fists to their hearts, courage burning bright in their once dulled eyes. My throat tightened so hard it hurt. She was singing once again, and it was more beautiful than I could have ever imagined.
I moved to her side, lacing my fingers with hers. Her song vibrated through my bones, and into my every heartbeat.
“Nyssa,” My voice cracked. “My love… you’re inspiring hope in us all.”
She turned her face toward me, and gods, the determination in her eyes sparked a fire in my soul. She inhaled deeply, her last note spilling into the skies above, with one final bout of strength. And when it faded, silence hung for a single breath.
Then… like rolling thunder, a roar rose from our ranks on all sides.
“For Valdor!”
“For Valdor!”
“For Valdor!”
Shaw shifted mid-yell, and Zola vanished into the shadows with a warrior’s smile. Gunnar donned his shield and axe, ready to spill blood, while humans lifted their blades with renewed strength.
Nyssa squeezed my hand, giving me a firm nod.Go.
I released her and lifted my twin swords. Ice exploded down the blades in brilliant blue veins.
“For Valdor!” I shouted. “Charge!”
Nyssa’s final note still hummed in my soul long after we broke through the tree line and headed back into the fray. It was like carrying a piece of her heart inside my chest. Every breath I took tasted like her courage. Every heartbeat pounded with her strength. Every swing of my sword echoed with the remnants of her voice.
I sidestepped a cloaked fallen’s attack, ice gathering instinctively along my blade as I slashed through its shadowed torso. The beast howled in pain, but the scream was short-lived as Gunnar appeared at my side and severed its head clean from its shoulders. Its body disappearing into nothing but smoke and ash.
Another human soldier charged us, eyes wild with desperation. My blade met his, sparks flying.
Focus, Castor. Don’t lose yourself.
I disarmed the soldier’s blade with a twist of my wrist, ice crawling up his fingers and onto his arm. He cried out as my frost bit deep, and I sliced the tip of my sword through his throat. He dropped to the earth, blood joining that of his kin.
“Cas!” Gunnar’s voice roared somewhere to my right. “Come on. Keep up!”
“Wouldn’t want to miss out on all the fun.”
