Page 216 of A Kingdom of Wild and Power
It sliced clean through Alina’s arm just below the elbow.
Alina screamed.
The pain was blinding, unbearable, worse still when she stared at the severed limb lying in the sand beside her.
Saren let out a triumphant cackle.
Then her eyes rolled back.
Her body collapsed beside Alina.
Dead.
Alina lay where she had fallen, gasping for breath, her eyes wide and unseeing as she stared at the arm no longer attached to her body.
‘Breathe, amira,’ a soft voice urged as black spots began tobloom across her vision. ‘Your friends are coming for you. Breathe. In… and out.’
Alina tried.
She tried to stay awake, tried to turn her head to look at Hessa, but her body refused to obey.
All she could do was stare at the arm in the sand, her screams fading into ragged breaths until, at last, the worlddissolved into darkness.
Velunthar apparently is a stronghold that can be shut down from within. The Fae constructed it many years ago. It is said that in times of war, they are able to close it completely, shielding themselves inside. It is impenetrable.
Tabitha Wysteria
Bryn Wynter stood upon the balcony that overlooked the vast expanse stretching before Velunthar, a sword resting at his hip and a deep frown carved across his face.
Below, the witches marched.
An entire army spread across the barren land like a dark tide rolling steadily towards the mountain. Bryn had never seen so many witches and warlocks gathered in one place before. Their numbers were far greater than anyone had expected, and he suspected the Fae queen had realised the same grim truth.
Velunthar alone would not be able to stop them.
Hours had passed since Kage had vanished, and Bryn found himself repeatedly glancing at the empty space beside him, wondering where the wyverian prince had gone.
He was glad to know the truth now.
But knowingit had not softened the blow.
Kage Blackburn was dead.
And nothing could change that.
A thought tugged persistently at Bryn’s mind. The next time Kage appeared, he would ask him to search the Underworld to see whether Bryn’s family had reached it safely, whether they were there somewhere, together.
Whether they were at peace.
Bryn’s blue eyes narrowed when a small group of witches dragged two figures into the open.
The first was a Fae man—dark-skinned, with antlers rising from his head. At such a distance Bryn could not clearly make out his features, but he heard the soft gasp that escaped the Fae queen when she recognised one of her own being hauled forward like a prisoner.
Then Bryn saw the second figure.
A young woman, perhaps in her early twenties, with silver-white hair and skin marked by familiar runes.
A valkyrian.
