Chapter 165

Draven’s POV

From the mountain’s summit, we watched Valerius’s warriors thunder across North Central like an unstoppable tide. I hugged my horse’s reins, drawing a sharp breath as dread trickled through my veins. This was the moment we had been waiting for: fight for our lives, and either stand victorious against fate or fall.

I lifted my worried amber eyes to the obsidian sky and the full moon lingering above. Maeve had vanished, and nearly half of the Council’s forces were combing the land for her. They feared the darkness had claimed her vessel. I exhaled, wishing it were not so, and prayed that Seraphine and Marcello fared better than we did. Zephyra had urgently demanded their presence—something to do with Shota’s magic. I longed to join them, but Maeve was missing, and we had to find her before the red moon rose and this war spilled its fir