Page 168 (1/2)

Aedion could barely draw breath, could barely keep his legs under hi out Morath had sent a second ar princes--lots of the

Ren shouted down to hietting as roup and rally before ate still open, Morath teeet the gate shut Aedion and the Bane stabbed and slashed, a wall for Morath to break against But it would not be enough

A wyvern caround as it rolled toward thee body to shatter through the last of the gate

Yet the felled beast halted, squashing soldiers beneath its bulk, right at the archway

Blocking the way A barricade before the western gate

Intentionally so, Aedion realized as a golden-haired warrior leaped fro there, throat gushing blue blood down the leathery sides

The warrior ran toward theer Ran toward Aedion, his tawny eyes scanning him from head to toe

His father

CHAPTER 108

Morath’s soldiers clawed and crawled over the fallen wyvern blocking their path They filled the archway, the passage

A golden shield held theht thes of their waterskins, to pluck up fallen weapons

Aedion panted, an areway Behind Gavriel’s shield, the eneed

"Are you hurt?" his father asked His first words to hied to lift his head "You found Aelin," was all he said

Gavriel’s face softened "Yes And she sealed the Wyrdgate"

Aedion closed his eyes At least there was that "Erawan?"

"No"

He didn’t need the specifics on why the bastard wasn’t dead What had gone wrong

Aedion pushed off the wall, swaying His father steadied him with a hand to the elbow "You need rest"

Aedion yanked his arrip "Tell that to the soldiers who have already fallen"

"You will fall, too," his father said, sharper than he’d ever heard, "if you don’t sit down for a ht back

No bullshit, no rooument The face of the Lion

Aedion just shook his head

Gavriel’s golden shield buckled under the onslaught of the Valg still teeain," Aedion said, pointing to the two cleaved but intact doors pushed against the walls Access to the to break past Gavriel’s shield "Or they’ll overrun the city before our forces can regroup" Getting behind the walls would ate ide open

His father followed his line of sight Looked upon the soldiers trying to get past his defenses, their flow forced to a trickle by the wyvern he’d so carefully downed before theriether"

The as ether As father and son As the tarriors they were

Gavriel--his father He had co at those tawny eyes, Aedion kneas not for Aelin, or for Terrasen, that his father had done it

"Together," Aedion rasped

Not just this obstacle Not just this battle But whatever would coether

Aedion could have sworn so like joy and pride filled Gavriel’s eyes Joy and pride and sorrow, heavy and old

Aedion strode back to the line of the Bane,the soldier beside hireat push now, and they’d secure the gate Their arh the southern one, and they’d find some way to rally before the new army reached the city But the western one, they’d clear it and seal it Permanently

Father and son, they would do this Defeat this

But when his father did not join his side, Aedion turned