Page 107 of Obsidian Throne

The enemy soldiers must have seen the same thing, because the sound of a horn rang out along with an order to retreat. I raised my arm, shouting for my own men to fall back.

There was no need for anyone else to die if the defeated troops were leaving.

There were tense moments while they fled, but I had eyes only for the Bear soldiers on the other side of the field.

For one of them, in particular. It didn’t take me long to spot him, my eyes drawn to him by the same force that always seemed to tie us together.

It wasn’t until I actually saw Evander, though, removing his helmet and running a hand through his midnight hair, that I realized part of me had believed I never would again.

My heart seized in my chest as I stared at my husband. He hadn’t noticed me yet, tucked behind several of the towering Unclanned.

I had a moment to soak in the sight of him, to reflect on how, even exhausted and blood-spattered, he was gorgeous.

To feel an intense, knee-weakening relief that he was alive.

Then that moment was gone, and a cold, quiet rage washed over me.

Because I might have never seen him again, if he had anything to say about it. Because he had left me without a voice, without a say, without so much as a single stars-blasted goodbye.

He had left me, after I had told him I didn’t want a love that could break me, that I didn’t want to live in a world where he wasn’t.

Despite my bone-deep fatigue, I stalked across the field. My fury propelled me forward, one leaden step at a time.

I couldn’t tear my gaze from his face, so I registered the moment Evander noticed me.

His lips parted in a rare display of shock and what might have been awe as I picked my way across corpses and severed limbs to stand directly in front of him.

Churning gray eyes met mine in disbelief. Amazement. Confusion.

My gaze burned into his, and my heart beat furiously in my chest. Plunging one of my blades into the ground, I took a step toward him.

“Lem--”

But he didn’t get to finish the word, because I reached up my hand and slapped him. Hard. Right across his perfect face.

While he was still stunned by that, I turned to pull my blade back out of the ground and stepped around him to enter the castle.

CHAPTER SIXTY-FOUR

EVANDER

Iknew it was over when they breached the walls.

The fortress of Bear Estate hadn’t been penetrated in over a century, but here we were, less than a year into my illustrious reign as Duke.

Still, I wouldn’t stop fighting as long as my men were, even if we all knew a lost cause when we saw one. On the off chance that we could win and save my people from Iiro’s tyranny, I would keep going.

But then the strange fog came and the odd bolt of lightning, and I should have known.

On some level, perhaps I did, when the contingent of soldiers I thought were coming to back up the enemy started fighting against them instead.

But it was impossible. Or, at least, it should have been.

Whatever it was, I took advantage of their distraction to switch up tactics, relentlessly going on the offensive.

I had been fighting without respite for nearly eighteen hours when the sun finally rose and the soldiers retreated. My eyes were bleary, my vision swimming with fatigue, and I began to wonder if I was hallucinating the entire thing.

Especially when I saw that the soldiers who had come to our aid were the Besklanovvy.