Page 10 of Ignite
“No,” I growl and snap my eyes to Vidaris. “I know Lunaria is still alive. What did you do?”
The memory is gone—whatever happened the rest of that night has just…vanished. Replaced with a horrible lie of me stabbing Lu.
“You altered my memory,” I continue, fire dancing in my veins. Even as the words come out, I can feel my memory of that night fading altogether—transforming into something new.
Vidaris cocks her head to the side and glides in a circle around me. Shadows billow off of her, whispering jumbled words I can’t understand.
She leans in, her face a breath away from mine, as she whispers, “In time, you’ll learn to hate the woman you’ve come to love.”
My nostrils flare. I could never hate Lunaria—no matter what tricks Vidaris tries to play.
“You didn’t get what you wanted, did you?” I huff a laugh, finding joy in the way her eyes narrow. “Instead of getting Lunaria, you got me. So torture me—fuck with my memories and do your worst. But you’re still here. With me and not her.”
A hungry smile slips across her face as she says, “You think Ididn’t have a backup plan? And then another backup plan in case that one fell through? Along with hundreds of others in case those failed?
“I’ve been around a long time, Aegis. You might not have been my goal, but I can use you all the same. It doesn’t mean we can’t have a little fun in the meantime, though.”
I would damn well like to see her try.
Four
Aventurine
The calm nightsky doesn’t match the chaos that’s broken out below me.
I watch as a massive fleet of wyverns gets lost in a blur of wings, tails, and talons. Dust flies into my face, and I shield my eyes. The sounds of snarling beasts mix with the war cries of wild fae.
“Brielle?” Leda’s voice slices through the noise from beside me. “Do you recognize these Riders?”
I turn to them, watching as Leda clutches Brielle’s back from atop her wyvern.
Brielle shakes her head. Her mouth moves, but her answer is lost beneath the rumble of magic tearing up from the ground as shadows crash into large slabs of clay.
The strange woman disappeared into the fray almost as soon as it started. The world is moving in slow motion around us—asif we’re outsiders that have stumbled upon a battle we weren’t invited to.
If these aren’t Riders from the palace, then who are they?
Zephyr cuts to the left, nearly knocking into Brielle and Leda as a massive boulder hurtles past us.
“Look,” Calix shouts from somewhere behind me.
My gaze shoots to the ground, watching as a whirring circle of shadows spins around a figure. Daimon.
The Riders attacking him are fae of all kinds, spears of water attempting to break through Daimon’s shield from the Undines, spheres made of flames coming from the Aegis, and natural elements from the Woodland bombard him while Nocturna create shields of their own to protect the fleet from Daimon’s offense.
The muscles in my stomach tighten, and my eyes flicker to the skies above. We could leave Daimon to a battle of his own while we get away safely. If we go…what happens here? What happens to those who stepped in to save us? Though I doubt it was truly to saveus. Everyone has their own agenda, and we certainly don’t know theirs.
The safest thing to do is leave them to their own war.
But that decision is taken from me as a torrent of Daimon’s shadows barrels into the sky.
Even as he shields himself and attacks the Riders, he hasn’t forgotten about us.
A rope of darkness wraps around Zeph’s hind right leg, yanking both of us toward him. She fights against his magic as I shoot shadows at the makeshift shackle.
More tethers lash out, wrapping around Brielle’s wyvern beside me.
I grit my teeth, pushing all that I have left at Daimon’s shadows, but they don’t release us.
