Strange that Devi should be his first thought as the world ended, and yet not strange at all, if he was right and he was under a spell.

His sleep was always light and restless, and he woke up with a start, sensing a presence that didn’t belong in his rooms. His unease didn’t decrease when he opened his eyes to see his mother at his door. It was the first time that the queen came in person to his tower; usually she sent a messenger. But he’d already begun to comprehend that this night wouldn’t be ordinary.

The queen wore tight black protector gear under her green coat. He knew this outfit. In fact, she'd worn nothing else for his first twenty years.

This was how she went to war.

“Mother.”

“You need your sword, bow, and a full quiver. Dress as warm as you can and go, now.” The queen moved to his wardrobe, pulling out leather shirts and coats as she spoke. “This will do.”

She’d settled on a skin coat lined with fur, something he’d only worn up north in the dead of winter.

“What is—”

“No time for questions.”

He opened his mouth, but suddenly the very floor vibrated as a thundering sound made them both snap their heads toward his window. High in his tower, Vale had a full view of the entire city. Usually at this time of day, the streets were asleep, quiet and peaceful.

Now the city was burning. A building around the square went first—the guard post, he guessed. Then three of their four main gates exploded.

“Devi.”

The name was nothing more than a whisper kissing his lips, but Shea heard it.

“I’ve ordered her to get out and head to Wyhmur through the portal of Daryn. That’s also your destination. You must get to safety. The realms depend on it, do you understand?” Shea had never talked that urgently, pleadingly.

He had so many fucking questions, but his body had acted on autopilot, packing his essentials. Daryn, then Wyhmur, with Devi. He got it.

“Kallan…,” he said aloud, his mind racing.

“He's getting your horses. Don't think of anyone else. Just go.”

There was an urgency to her words, and a certain vulnerability too. This was Shea Blackthorn worried—something he'd never thought he'd see in his life. And she worried about him.

“What of the kingdom? What of my home, Carvenstone? And—”

“I want you to listen to me very carefully. Your home will be burned to ashes within the hour. The city of night will fall. The world as you know it ends tonight. Safety, peace—forget it. They died with your father.”

His heart skipped a beat. The overking was dead? The god she spoke of not even twelve hours ago? It made no sense. Who could have killed someone like him? But even as he asked, Vale could guess. It took one monster to destroy another. One of his peers had done this. Someone in the realm of crystal. Someone in a position of power.

“Aurelius,” Vale guessed.

His elder brother, first son of Orin. No one else would have the authority to command his armies this way.

“I don't know,” was Shea's answer. “Much is yet clouded to me. All I know is that war is coming to us from enemies I cannot hope to defeat. I need one thing from you now. You must live.”

“Where are you going? I'll be of more use to you in command of a—”

Shea moved toward the door. “I’m going to join my armies, and you are going to the Elvendale, in Wyhmur. There, you will ask Elden, the elven king, for his aid. Without it, we're all lost.”

Everything in Vale wanted to protest against that order. He was no coward. His place was next to his queen and mother in battle, if that was where she was headed.

But the queen said the one thing that made any protest impossible.

“This may be how the Isle falls, unless we can unite the realms. To that end, you’re one of my best weapons. Stay alive.”

Valerius bowed his head, holding his hand over his heart in a sign of compliance. Again, the queen turned to walk away.

“Do not think that I send you always to safety, son. Every god, every assassin, every hunter, every spy against us will be after you. This fight ends with your death or your coronation.”

That made no sense. None whatsoever. But Vale had his orders, and he recalled enough of war to know that questioning them further would only result in delaying the inevitable.

The city of night was to fall. The court of sin was too far to think of saving it. His people would either manage to get to safety or they would perish.

If they did, Valerius Blackthorn would be prince of nothing more than ashes and ruins.

Kallan had the mounts ready, and they were soon on their way, holding nothing more than the essentials. They could hunt and find more water along the way.

"The eastern gate hasn't burned down yet. If we want to keep the horses, we'll have to take it."

This was problematic because it meant taking the long avenue all the way toward the square, where no doubt they'd have to face plenty of enemies. His mother's warning about the strength of the weakest among them fresh in thought, he wanted to put as much distance between them as possible for now.

The scions had entered the other gates and would no doubt be slowed down by the guards and protectors along the way. He and Kallan had a fair chance if they took small and direct roads. But they'd still need to cross the Square of Dawn, or what was left of it.

Vale led the way, his sword in his fist, holding the reins with his other hand.

The enemy crossed their path two blocks away from the square, but they were on foot. Outnumbered a hundred to one, Vale decided to make a dash for it. He yelled to Kal, “Don't slow down to take them out. We need to go.” His mother's words were vivid in his mind; he was part of a bigger plan, presumably a way to win this war in the end. He had to get out of there.

Another thought made him rush forward at high speed rather than slow down and kill as many of those vermin as he could, as part of him wished he could do.

Shea had said that Devi had her orders to go the same way. No doubt she'd also head east, as it was the last remaining gate. He shouldn't even have spared a thought to the young half-blood he'd met not a week ago now, as the city was under siege. Yet the thought of getting her to safety was paramount to his every move.

The foot soldiers were getting closer, somehow catching up, although they had no horses. Fuck.

Vale looked over his shoulder. The closest ones had almost reached him when an arrow shot straight, hitting the soldier right in the eye. The scion fell, and two of his peers tumbled with him.

Vale's eyes followed the direction of the shot, and he froze in horror.

Devi. She stood alone in the square, with a bow and arrow. What the fuck is she still doing here? Mother told her to get out over twenty minutes ago! She should be at the gate, or near it.

He didn't even have to think it through. Vale turned his horse and headed to her. She took his hand and jumped on the back of his horse.

While he'd diverted his course, Kallan had halted and was shooting as many enemies as he could.

They had golden helmets covering their skulls, mouths, and noses, and their armor had few weaknesses. Other than a small slit around their eyes, there were softer points under the arms, at the groin, and knees, but that was it. Kallan managed to take down a dozen in half a minute. Now the rest were upon them.

Vale blamed Devi for this entirely.

“Fucking idiot!” he yelled. No doubt she'd remained out of some misplaced sense of obligation, risking her life. He lowered his voice and whispered calming chants to his horse, compelling it to go forward. Now that his mount didn't need attention, he turned to Kal and outstretched his hand, pushing as much energy as he could muster toward the soldiers approaching his friend.

They all froze in place for a few precious minutes, allowing Kallan to catch up.

“What was that all about?” Kal screamed over the racket. “Are we to also stop for tea?”

“Shut it. This isn't over. They know they haven't blown the east gate.”

They were close enough to see plenty of red and gold soldiers posted before the gates, butchering their way through the civilians who'd gone that way in hopes of finding a path to safety.

Shit.

“Valerius,” Devi called from his back, “can you feel if there are any of our guys on the gate?”

“What?” he shot back.

“Can you?”

Using his energy for so pointless a task seemed wasteful, but it wasn't strenuous, so he scanned the towering gate and the brick wall surrounding it.

“No, just theirs. They've killed all our guards.”

He'd only just said that when he felt a pressure on his shoulder for one short moment. Looking up, confused, he swore out loud.

What the fuck was she thinking? She'd used him as a stepping stone and launched herself at the goddamned gate.

Halfway up, when gravity would have seen her fall, bright golden feathers exploded out of her back, shredding her uniform. She extended the longest, largest pair of wings he'd ever seen on any fae, him included.

Devi didn't beat them, but a sudden, unnatural wind pushed them up, leading her to the very top of the gate.

She landed on it, ignoring the hundreds of arrows shooting her way. Some hit their mark, others didn't.

With a scream, Devi Star Rivers punched the marble gate, sending a resounding jolt of energy that hit Vale harder than a punch in the teeth, although he was at a distance.

The stone crumbled to pieces, destroying the gate as well as the wall around it for half a mile on each side. The soldiers on and around the wall didn't have a chance. They fell, along with some unseelie fae. The remaining unseelie took advantage of the new overture and ran outside the city.

“She's a power to be reckoned with,” the queen had said. Only now was Vale beginning to comprehend what she'd meant.

Devi was an elemental mage, that was obvious. He'd clearly identified air magic; she'd made use of it to get on the gate. Then things got complicated. He couldn't tell whether her blast had been earth, fire, or water magic. His senses had picked up characteristics from all three. Which was downright impossible.

He'd never heard of one person who could master more than one element at all, and yet she'd at the very least used two.

It made no sense. Individuals could pick up more skills along the way, like his mother had, but elemental magic was tied to the bloodline, implemented in a person's very genes, like the color of their eyes or their height.

And yet he was certain he'd observed at least air and earth.

“Okay, so all things considered, I guess I get why you had to stop to get that one,” Kal said. “Fucking amazing rack.”

Oh, that. Devi was still topless. She herded the people toward the new entrance, encouraging them to go faster.

Vale held up his middle finger to Kal, trotting to the ruins of the gate until he’d caught up with the female.

She was wincing, obviously in pain and exhausted, but none of that, or the fact that every male obviously eyed her firm boobs, stopped her from trying to help.

“Come on up, little elf,” he said, holding his arm outstretched.

She hesitated.

“You should go, and fast. No one here is a target. You are. I'll stay with them and take them somewhere safe.”

“Safety, peace—forget it.”

“You, without a shirt, against a whole army when they rain down on these plains?”

She set her jaw stubbornly, intending a no doubt well-prepared argument he had no intention to listen to.

“This wasn't a question, Devira. My mother made it clear that she wanted you to go somewhere, did she not? Would you defy the will of your queen?”

He saw her resolve falter and didn't let her think of it any longer, extending his hand and pulling her up when she took it. This time, he made her mount the horse in front of him, where he could hold her.

“There's a shirt in the bag at my side,” he told her. “And if you look, there'll be some dried meat. Eat. Get some rest. Good job, protector.”

Vale would have fought his way out and dashed to the Graywoods of Wyhmur, get to Daryn as he was instructed. Whoever made it out of the city tonight would do it because of her.

“Don't think of anyone else.”

Those were the queen's orders, and for a while, he'd tried to let them direct his course.

Then he'd seen Devi in the square, shooting at those who came at him, rather than protecting herself. He'd seen her trying her best to help this little group of irrelevant fae who were, for all intents and purposes, already dead. They wouldn’t survive the next assault. They wouldn’t survive the winter outside of the city.

But still, Devi was trying, because such was her duty.

And if a half-breed, half-naked youngling could think of them, Valerius, protector of the realm, heir to the throne, would not forsake them.

“Kal, ride ahead of the townsfolk. I'll take the back.”

Both Kallan and Devi turned to stare at him, eyes wide.

“The army is concerned with taking the city for now. I doubt we'll be followed within the next hour or so. We're leading this group to Elham before going on our way.”

This would eat into the precious hours they had to put as much distance between them and their enemies, but it would also give him a chance to think and prepare himself for what was coming next.

War.