A Court of Smoke and Shadow

Chapter Twenty Two: Selene

We evacuated the humans as quickly as possible.

It drained our magic but I thought it was worth it. Less innocent lives would be taken and there would be fewer casualties. We already had too many losses just from the attack on Velaris. I never had issues with taking someone's life – especially if it was self defense or to protect the people I loved – but I wouldn't take an innocent life. Especially not an innocent human's life.

I fought to protect them in the war 500 years ago. I was friends with humans. It was out of loyalty to Jude and Taryn, as well as all my mortal friends and my mother – both of them, that I chose to help the humans.

I knew loss very acutely. That is why I tried so hard to protect those I loved. The thought of losing another person would break me. I cannot handle the fact that I might lose someone else in this war, because I would snap under the weight of it.

I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. Calm. Once the humans were evacuated, we moved onto prepping strategies and began waiting for Hybern's army to march.

***

Hybern chose to station the battlefield on an actual field near the forest.

Exhausted as I was, I was ready for this fight. I once read a book that said war didn't determine who was right, it determined who remained and it stuck with me even now. Especially now, in the face of war with a cruel, wicked male.

Rhys, Cassian, Azriel, and I wore the black Illyrian armor that all of the others wore except our helmets had wings to distinguish us from the others. Not that it was entirely necessary for me to wear one. I was pretty easily recognized, but it would help Feyre, Nesta, and Elain see me from the campgrounds.

Guns would be drawn only as a last resort. Hybern didn't need to know about the guns since it would give them more of a reason to use the Cauldron. Ares, Falkor, and Ryoko flew into the fray, taking out half of Hybern's soldiers present on the battlefield. More soldiers marched forward, taking in their places.

The Bone Carver and the Weaver joined the fray, and Rhys revealed that it had been him and Feyre who convinced them to help. Bodies fell before them; bodies were left in their wake—some mere husks encased in armor. Drained by the Carver and Stryga. Some fled from what they beheld in Bryaxis—the face of their deepest fears.

Rhys winked at me as he extended a hand toward Hybern's army, now trying to adjust to the rampant havoc.

His fingers pointed.

Obsidian power erupted from him.

A massive chunk of Hybern's army just ...

Misted.

Red mist, and metal shavings lay where they had been.

I always forget just how powerful he is. We hadn't even stepped foot on the battlefield yet.

Hybern's army began to move, pressing ahead. The Weaver, Carver, and Bryaxis plunged deep into the ranks, but Hybern's soldiers quickly stepped up to staunch the holes in the lines.

A horn sounded to the north.

Both armies paused to look.

"Now. You have to go now," Rhys whispered to Feyre.

Because the army that broke over the northern horizon ...

Three armies.

One bearing the burnt-orange flag of Beron.

The other the grass-green flag of the Spring Court.

And one ... one of mortal men in iron armor. Bearing a cobalt flag with a striking badger. Graysen's crest.

Because Tamlin's small army, and Beron's, and Graysen's ... Now they were running and winnowing and blasting for Hybern's ranks. And leading that human army ...

Jurian.

But Beron. Beron had come.

I was shocked.

Eris, who had winnowed onto a knoll in front of us said, "Tamlin made him. Dragged my father out by his neck." A half smile. "It was delightful."

His brothers set wagons of faebane on fire. Blue flames burst forth. I knew it was my turn to join the fray. I saw Hybern soldiers firing arrows at my dragons and my wyvern.

Oh hell no, I thought, before winnowing onto the battlefield. That old wicked power rose to the surface and devoured the soldiers shooting at my babies. If I weren't in the midst of a war, I'd be horrified. Instead, I kept fighting.

In the distance, I heard Nesta screaming.

"CASSIAN."

I ran to the sound of her voice and found Amren and Feyre with her. Amren reached out to grab her but Nesta roared,

"CASSIAN!"
She scrambled to her feet, as if she'd leap into the skies. Her body lurched, and she went down, heaving again.

A figure shot from the Illyrian ranks, spearing for us, flapping hard, red Siphons blazing—

Nesta moaned, writhing on the ground.

The earth seemed to shudder in response.

No—not in response to her.

In terror of the thing that erupted from Hybern's army.

I understood now why the king had claimed those rocky foothills. Not to make us charge uphill if we should push them so far. But to position the Cauldron.

It was in the rocky outcropping that a battering ram of death-white light hurled for our army. Just about level with the Illyrian legion in the sky—as the Attor's legion dropped to the earth, and ducked for cover. Leaving the Illyrians exposed.

Cassian was halfway to us when the Cauldron's blast hit the Illyrian forces.

I saw him scream—but heard nothing. The force of that power ...

It shredded Azriel's shield. Then Rhysand's. And then shredded any Siphon-made ones.

It hollowed out my ears and seared my face and I knew Feyre felt it, too.

And where a thousand soldiers had been a heartbeat before ...

Ashes rained down upon our foot soldiers.

I stared in disbelief. If Nesta hadn't called Cassian away, he would've been killed alongside the other Illyrians.

The Cauldron's power was unleashed again not long after blowing the Illryian legions apart. This time, into Hybern's lines.

The Cauldron wiped out the Bone Carver with minimal effort.