The giant Coyote crouched, head angled up to watch Dal's flight, and as my lover dove, Brendallen launched upward and snapped at him. He caught Dal's tail, but Dal clawed the Coyote's ear. Brendallen snarled and backed up as the great bird hovered, fanning debris into his eyes. Shrieks blasted from the Hawk Lord's beak as the Coyote snarled and squinted. One massive paw lashed out and caught Dal across the chest. Feathers flew along with blood. I started forward but a hand grabbed my arm.
“You cannot intervene,” the Lion Lord said gravely.
I clenched my jaw as Dalsharan stabbed at Brendallen with his beak, aiming for the Coyote's eye. Brendallen shook his head and snapped his jaws, catching one of Dal's talons. Dalsharan hit the ground and was dragged several feet by the snarling Coyote. The Hawk Lord shrieked and bashed at the Coyote with his free foot, clawing Brendallen's snout until he let go.
The Hawk Lord rolled to his feet but limped forward, one leg barely touching the ground. With great flaps of his wings, he shot back into the air and circled the Coyote, looking for a weakness. He dove and struck, over and over, taking as much damage as he gave, until a paw caught him in the side of the head. The Hawk Lord tumbled to the ground and rolled to a stop.
The soldiers went silent as Dalsharan went still.
“No!” I shouted and surged forward.
Again, Hadrian pulled me back. “Look,” he pointed.
Dal was getting to his feet. One eye was closed and blood marred his feathers, but he turned to face Brendallen without hesitation. Limping forward, he set his good eye on his enemy.
Brendallen made a yipping laugh. “I will treasure the look on Ravyn's face when I kill you.”
The Coyote ran forward. The Hawk Lord went still, his bad leg settling onto the ground. I frowned. The eye that had been closed opened, completely unharmed, and the Hawk Lord leapt into the sky suddenly, seconds before Brendallen reached him. The Coyote hit the ground with a resounding crack, his nose crunching into the rocks Dal had been hiding.
Brendallen shook off the dirt and lifted his head, but it was too late. Dalsharan hit him like a javelin, his beak going straight into the furred neck, just as my beak had once done to the Coyote Lord. But this time, Brendallen wouldn't be allowed to heal. The Hawk Lord's talons latched onto the Coyote's back and when he pulled his beak free, he did so at an angle, tearing flesh away. Dalsharan struck again and again with blurring speed, rending the meat from Brendallen's neck until there was nothing but bone left.
With a cracking sound, the Hawk Lord snapped Brendallen's spine and severed his head.
I gaped at my lover as he lifted his bloody beak to the sky and screeched in triumph. The crowd of humans and faeries roared, yipped, cheered, and shrieked with him. Then Dalsharan walked over to me, shifting as he came. I shifted too, and when he grabbed the back of my neck and pulled me into a conqueror's kiss, I wrapped my uninjured arm around him and kissed him back.
As the armies continued to cheer, Dalsharan eased away to look at me. “And now, we can go home, Consort.”
“Yes, Hawk Lord.”
Chapter Forty-Six
Despite Dal's declaration, we didn't head back to Stalana right away. Instead, the leaders of the armies gathered around a rekindled fire pit and argued while their soldiers gnawed on dried meat and passed around jugs of water. Now that the battle was over, the humans seemed to be comfortable around the Unsidhe and lounged among them companionably. Fighting beside someone will do that—remove the differences between you, no matter how dissimilar you might be.
I wasn't with the soldiers. I stood beside my warlord watching and listening to the other leaders. Dal was quiet too, his arms crossed as he pondered the flames before him. Some of the fae officers and the Unsidhe commanders wanted to stay on Alantri and fight our way across the continent, laying waste to their cities and taking their fortresses. They wanted to push our advantage now that we were all there. But the Sidhe warlords argued against it. Now that Gremara was dead, the Farungal would be weakened, and the Sidhe hoped it would make them more open to peace. The Unsidhe especially didn't like this idea and argued that we should end the Farungal while we had the chance.
“Our soldiers are tired and our rations will only last a few days,” the Wolf Lord—a thickly built man with shocking red hair cut to his shoulders, practically a buzz cut among the Fae—said. “We are not prepared to extend this battle. And although our numbers are great, we're on Alantri. The entire Farungal race is here. I vote we go home.”
“But we'll have them quaking in their boots!” a Red Cap warlord growled, his hat dripping blood over his thick hair. “We can end this war at last!”
The Unsidhe around us murmured in agreement while the humans and Sidhe shifted uneasily. I stood still. My arm had been healed by an army doctor, but I wasn't about to pick up a sword. Sure, ending the war would be great, but we were on their soil and if we gave the Farungal enough time to rally, they could surround us. As the Wolf Lord had said, their numbers were greater than ours here, and they had the home advantage.
Then the crowd parted and the Lynx Lord, who'd been notably absent, strode up with a beautiful man beside him. They were both dressed in pants and boots but nothing else. My gaze was briefly snagged by the intricate tattoos that covered the Lynx Lord's chest and swirled down his arms, but then I realized who his companion was. The hero. The man who had died to save us. He wasn't human anymore. The Beasts and the Goddess had accepted him, as I knew they would.
Gone was the gauntness. His body was slim, much thinner than the Lynx Lord's warrior build, but had filled out to a healthy thickness enhanced by sleek muscles. His dark, blond hair gleamed bronze in the firelight, sweeping back from his freshly fae face in a civilian style, and his pale, green eyes glowed with magic. Soldiers whispered around us, one word on everyone's lips—Valorian.
But it was the Lynx Lord who spoke in a clear, resonant, deep voice, “We will not win the war today. We don't have the advantage here and, frankly, I don't have the heart to exterminate a race. Not now that the Goddess has given me a Valorian. Who can look upon him, on the love that he represents, then turn around and slaughter children? Not I. Not even Farungal children. I say we take the win and the gifts the Great Mother had granted us and go home.”
The Sidhe warlords nodded in agreement and the Unsidhe grudgingly gave in as well. As quickly as that, it was decided, and the warlords broke off to wrangle their soldiers. But I went straight to the new Valorian with a smile on my face.
“I'm Ravyn,” I said as I extended my hand. “In a way, we're brothers.”
“He's like you,” the Lynx Lord explained to the man.
The new Valorian's eyes widened as he shook my hand. “You were human?” His voice was hesitant but had a rich timbre to it.
“He was,” the Hawk Lord declared as he stepped up beside me. “Now he's a Hawk and he's done well in our world. You will too, I'm sure.”