Gaius Lucius Domitus made his way to their side, his recently arrived mate, Kachka, on his back. “Do you feel that?” he asked. “Coming from underneath.”

“From out there.” Kachka pointed with her sword from Gaius’s back. “Something is coming from out there.”

“Uh,” Gwenvael asked, “are the Northlanders running?”

It was true, the Lightning dragons were exiting the forest as fast as they could run or fly.

“Ragnar Olgeirsson is running? That can’t be good.”

And Fearghus knew he was right when he saw the first one come over the hill and then he, too, wanted to run. He wanted to run for his life.

“By the gods, Salebiri,” Fearghus accused. “What have you done?”

Blinking at Fearghus, Salebiri slowly turned his odd body around and watched the demon thing that came over the hill. First one, then two. Then more. Many, many more.

Salebiri stumbled back, his army moving with him. None of them seemed to care that they were moving right into their enemy.

“Those things are not with him,” Briec guessed.

And Briec was right. Salebiri was terrified by what was coming over the hill. Giant animals with tusks and horns and black eyes. Something not of this world but clearly coughed up from one of the hells. And running behind them until they veered toward Salebiri’s castle was an army of demons, weapons brandished, horrifying battle cries polluting the air.

“Daddy?”

Fearghus heard his daughter’s voice and looked over at her. She pointed and he followed the direction of her hand . . . and his breath caught in his throat, his knees went weak.

“Holy. Shit.”

Annwyl sat on one of the animals as she would a horse, holding on to it by the fur at its neck. The animals moved slowly, waiting until she’d passed them and was now in the lead. Blood covered her face and chain mail. Bruises seemed to cover the rest of her.

She appeared calm, but Fearghus knew better. He knew his mate better than he knew himself sometimes. And while she appeared calm, her eyes told a different story. A long, painful, angry story.

Bercelak looked at Fearghus over his shoulder and, with a small nod, Fearghus told his father to move back. They all needed to move back. Now.

Salebiri pointed one of his tentacles at the queen. “Annwyl!”

Annwyl gazed down at Salebiri, her head turning first one way, then another.

The sight of him, like that, seemed to trigger something in her that many had not seen in years. Her unrestrained rage. A rage with no questions. No concerns. No doubts.

“Kill it,” Annwyl said, her voice carrying on the wind. Then she bellowed, “Kill them alllllllllll”

The demon things suddenly charged down the hill right toward them.

“Fucking move!” Fearghus ordered, using his tail to grab hold of both his children as his wings took him to the sky.