Page 121 of The Last Storm
I sat this way for a moment, taking deep breaths when I felt the tickle of energy at my fingertips. Hesitantly, I let my magic reach out and follow it, gasping when I realized it was the collective energy of the men before me. It was moving its way through the ground to me.
Pushing out farther, I continued until I reached the tree line and paused. It felt different—dark and twisted. The energy was slower, the humming deeper. It was ominous. Edging dangerously close to what I imagine death would feel like if there was an energy to it.
Pushing forward, I felt the slicers, moving in groups, and there were several.
There was also something else nearby. Something large and powerful.
I snapped my eyes open, searching the woods, but it was still pitch black. Goosebumps pricked my skin as it continued moving through the forest.
While we couldn’t see it, it could see us. That much I knew.
Taking a deep breath, I urged my magic farther, past the forest. I didn’t feel anything at first, but miles from the forest, there was a wisp. A movement just out of my grasp. But for me to have felt anything from this distance, the amount of energy would have to be massive.
It had to be the army.
I swallowed hard, staring into the forest as if I would miraculously see anything.
“What are you looking for?” Rogue asked and I jumped.
“Nothing, I… I can feel the army. They’re still a few miles away, but they’re nearing the forest.”
Rogue’s face was tight as he turned to the tree line. “They’ll stop to rest before crossing. With the absence of light, the forest is impassable at night.” He chuckled lightly, sitting beside me. “Hell, even during the day, it’s hard to pass through.”
I nodded in response and pulled my knees to my chest.
“You know you don’t have to be here, right?” he whispered, and I turned to him. “I know how… haunting the last war was. I don’t want you to have to go through that again.” He paused, sighing before lifting his eyes to me. “I just want you to know you have the choice. No one is forcing you to stay, fight, or even witness what is coming.”
The choice.
He was offering me the choice.
The man who had kidnapped me and held me hostage delivering freedom.
Fate did have a sense of irony, but I was grateful for it nonetheless.
I laid my head on his shoulder and glanced at the men, recognizing several from Nautia. The same men who stood by Vaelor, believed in him, and now believed in me. Pledged to me.
“No…” I shook my head. “No, I need to be here.”
It wasn’t a need out of obligation. It was more than that. It was a need to stand at their backs, just as they were mine. A need based in earning and returning loyalty. A need to prove to them that their pledge meant something to me because it did.
They deemed me worthy and I wouldbeworthy for them.
Not only that, but this is where Vaelor and Elora would be given the chance. Fighting for those who needed it, against those who would threaten to dismantle everything they worked for, and while they couldn’t be here, I could.
I would.
I felt him nod as he settled an arm around my shoulders.
“We’ll be ready.”
Chapter Thirty
Ara
Iwoke before Rogue, a knot of uneasiness forming in my gut. Carefully sliding away from him, I strolled to the edge of the cliff and sat with my feet dangling.
A tiny beacon of yellow light lit on the horizon beyond the forest, shifting the black sky to indigo. My hands gripped the ledge as the sun slowly peeked its head and red flames devoured the sky. The entirety lit a vibrant, violent red.
