Page 107 (2/2)

Down the line, ht his eye--just as a fuzzy, massive head poked between Prince Galan and one of his rehost leopard

Green eyes slid toward him, drained and bleak

Aedion looked away first This would be bad enough without knowing she was here That Lysandra would undoubtedly stay until she, too, fell

He prayed he went first So he wouldn’t witness it

Morath drew close enough that Ren’s order to the archers rang out

Arrows flew, fading into the snows

Morath sent an answering volley that blotted out the watery light

Aedion angled his shield, crouching low Every ih his bones

Grunts and screams filled their side of the battlefield When the volley stopped, when they straightened again, many men did not rise with them

It was not arrows alone that had been fired, and now peppered the snow

But heads Hu Ansel of Briarcliff’s roaring wolf insignia

The rest of the ar for

They must have intercepted Morath--and been obliterated

Shouts rose froh the ranks One female voice in particular carried over the din, her h Aedion’s helmet

The milky, wide eyes of the decapitated head that had landed near his boots stared skyward, the mouth still open in a scream of terror

How st the queen, to offer his condolences Not when neither of theht be the heads of his own soldiers that were launched at Orynth’s walls

Ren ordered another volley, their arrows so few co of rain compared to a downpour Many found theirdown But they were replaced by those behind theht as one," Aedion called down the line, forcing hinore the scattered heads "We die as one"

A horn blared froan its all-out run on their front line

Aedion’s boots dug into the mud as he braced his shield ar into the horizon

He counted his breaths, knowing they were lihost leopard’s snarl ripped down the line, a challenge to the charging army

Fifty feet Ren’s archers still fired fewer and fewer arrows Forty Thirty

The sword in his hand was no equal to the ancient blade he’d ith such pride But he’d make it work Twenty Ten

Aedion sucked in a breath The black, depthless eyes of the Morath soldiers becaled their swords, their spears--

Roaring fire blasted from the left flank

His left flank

Aedion didn’t dare take his focus off the enemy upon hihtered thehtered their stunned companions, too, as they whirled toward another blast of flame

Aelin Aelin--

Soldiers behind him shouted In triumph and relief