Fordham regrouped near her as Alura made a second run, dropping onto Audria and Roake’s side of the wall and cutting down archers like picking daisies.

“Second run?” he asked.

She nodded. Fordham flew Netta in for another run of the archers. They were smarter this time, and only one was still up when he came through. That one managed to get an arrow into Fordham’s shield.

“Traitor!” The word echoed through the clash of battle.

Fordham used his air magic to nimbly grasp the arrow out of the sky. Then, he whipped around and threw it straight back at the Fae who had uttered that terrible word at him. The force of his throw, propelled by the weight of his magic, thrust the arrow straight through his throat.

Kerrigan gulped at the fury on Fordham’s face. He was a soldier. This was what he was best at. She just hoped she could get him back after all of this was over.

While Fordham engaged the archers, sending the majority of them scattering when they saw their prince in all his fury, Kerrigan took Tieran down to blow fire on the rest of the western docks. Fae were trying to stop the spread of the fire, to douse the decks to keep them from going up in flames. But it did nothing to dragon fire.

Kerrigan was pulling out of the next turn when a stray arrow hit her shield. She gasped, feeling weak in the knees at the poison. Then, just as she was about to pull the shield back up, something grabbed ahold of her.

She tried to turn to see what the hell was happening, but she couldn’t move. It was as if someone had grasped all of her limbs and frozen them in place. Then, with a yank like a rope around her middle, she was bodily pulled off of Tieran’s back.

She screamed as she free-fell toward the docks. She couldn’t even brace for impact because whatever had her was still locked on. Kerrigan prayed to the gods that she wouldn’t die.

Then, Netta’s body was underneath her, cushioning her fall and breaking whatever spell had hit her. Fordham grasped her round the middle, and the both of them rolled off of the dragon and onto the docks.

Kerrigan groaned. “What was that?”

Fordham shook his head as he came swiftly to his feet, pulling his magic close to himself.

Kerrigan was slower to get up. Whatever spell had been cast on her, it made her sluggish. She felt Tieran’s tug of concern, and she touched the bond to let him know she was okay.

“Well, this looks great,” Kerrigan muttered as she rose to her feet, the heat of the burning boats at her back.