Chapter Thirty-Five
CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE
‘We used to play in here all the time.’ Tilting his head to the ceiling, Lukas lifted himself off the bed. Elara had already moved protectively in front of Sofia. She was weaponless. Powerless, Ariete’s venom sizzling through her blood, overpowering Eli’s.
‘Remember that game? Nightkeeper. The three of us would pretend we were the famous mythas, with our shadows.’ He pointed a finger to the rendering of the draguns above him, a spew of shadows running from his fingers. ‘Not that you could conjure a single one, Lara, after your little “incident” with that lightwielder.’
Elara’s hands flexed by her sides.
‘Shut the fuck up, Lukas,’ Sofia spat.
He turned slowly then, pure, unfiltered hatred in his stare, now held on Sofia.
‘You know, I never understood why you were so loyal to this bitch, Lara.’
‘What do you know of loyalty?’ Elara seethed, as a wave of nausea swept over her.
The shadows in Lukas’s eyes eclipsed him for a second. ‘About as much as you. Consorting with our enemy.’ He sneered. ‘Who was the Helion?’ he asked softly.
Sofia’s head whipped to her, and Elara gritted her teeth, fighting past Ariete’s venom. ‘I don’t know what you’re talking about,’ she said, summoning up every inch of bravado and royal arrogance that she could.
‘You sold us all out, Lukas,’ Sofia said, and Elara could hear that familiar temper in her tone. The shadows grew on the walls, and she could not tell if they belonged to Lukas or Sofia. ‘ You betrayed us to the enemy. To Ariete. ’
‘Lies,’ he hissed, striding forwards. Elara looked around the room wildly.
‘I saw the card, Lukas,’ Elara said. She had to keep him talking. ‘I know you summoned him.’
He released Sofia. ‘No, I didn’t.’
‘You’re on my fucking throne,’ she shouted. ‘Do you think me a fool? Of course you did. You planned this all along. All you want is power.’ The room began to spin but she held on to her rage, begging it to anchor her.
Lukas’s mouth worked, as though trying to grasp at a lie. She exchanged a glance with Sofia—the only person who knew her inside out. And Sofia read the plan in her gaze, following it to where it landed on the sapphire crystal ball on her nightstand.
Elara approached Lukas as Sofia’s shadows drifted towards the ball. ‘I wanted you , Lara,’ he finally said.
‘And when you couldn’t have me, when our betrothal was in danger, you decided instead to hurt me,’ she replied quietly.
‘No,’ he implored. ‘I didn’t want to hurt you, I—’
His mouth worked again, and he made a sound of frustration. Inky shadows began to pulse from him, and Elara knew he was lost to them.
The ball lifted gently up from where it lay, carried upon Sofia’s magick towards Lukas.
‘You, what? Love me? Didn’t mean to have my parents killed ? Didn’t mean to usurp my throne ?’
Lukas pressed a hand to her cheek, and she balked at its familiar coolness. ‘Help me, Lara,’ he whispered, and she blinked. For a moment, the shadows had cleared in his eyes, leaving them the dove grey she used to know. She staggered back from him. ‘Please help me,’ he said feverishly. ‘My shadows—’
The crystal ball cracked over his head, and Lukas slumped to the floor.
Cool, night-jasmine air greeted Elara as she clung to the vines outside her bedroom window. Sofia had pushed open the window and now clutched Elara, her shadows wrapped around the two to support them as they scaled down the palace walls.
When the vines grew thinner, making way for only solid stone, Sofia’s shadows formed into ropes that reached up and hooked around the windowsill, allowing both her and Elara to ease their way down the wall.
Elara’s hands shook as she gripped on to the shadow ropes, cold sweat dripping down her back. ‘I don’t know how much longer I can fight this,’ she breathed.
‘You’re doing so well, Lara,’ Sofia said. ‘We’re nearly there. One step at a time. We’ll be safe soon.’
Sofia’s words gave her the strength she so desperately needed, and she held on to them.
They continued to descend carefully as Sofia’s shadows wrapped tightly around Elara, supporting her further.
‘My illusions aren’t going to work,’ Elara wheezed.
‘Then we will stick to the shadows,’ Sofia replied calmly. Some of her own drifted towards the ground as they approached it, and out into the night. ‘Only a little further,’ she said.
Elara took a deep breath, descending the last few metres, until she landed in the spongey lavender bank below. The lake yawned out beyond it.
‘Quick now,’ she murmured, and Elara looked back up to the palace wall, to her home, unsure when she might see it again.
‘I know,’ Sofia said beside her, understanding. ‘But home is not a place, Lara.’
Elara nodded, turning even as tears filled her eyes.
‘We’re going to have to swim,’ she continued firmly. ‘Once we’re across the lake, we’ll head through the Shadow Woods. If we can get to those, and through, we’ll be free. The wolves will protect us. Ariete won’t be able to find us.’
‘Helios,’ Elara croaked. ‘We push through the woods to the Goldfir Forest. We’ll have asylum as soon as we cross the border.’
Elara stumbled and Sofia cursed. ‘I’ve got you. Come on, I’ve got you.’
Black started to fill the edges of Elara’s vision as they ran to the shore. She’d swum the moat before. She could do it again. She thought of Enzo as the darkness crept in, as she stumbled into the icy cold water.
The silver fish swirled frantically in pairs as Elara got up to her waist, teeth chattering.
‘Come on, Lara,’ Sofia urged. ‘Don’t think of the cold, or the water. Come on.’
‘I-I can’t,’ Elara gritted out as the pain became unbearable. She tried to take another step, but her limbs wouldn’t move.
‘Okay, you need a distraction,’ Sofia muttered, wrapping an arm around Elara’s waist as she pulled her further in until water reached Elara’s chest. ‘Um…what about this prince?’ she asked. ‘Is he as dashing and charming as the ones we used to read about?’
But before Elara could respond, red light flooded behind her, making the moat look like blood.
‘Oh no,’ Sofia whispered, and Elara turned, as the King of Stars strode towards them, Gem close behind.
‘Swim!’ Sofia screamed.
But Elara’s body was done. Though her mind pleaded and begged, the pain and the venom finally won the battle for control. She tried to swim, but instead fell under the water.
‘Lara, come on!’ Sofia’s plea was muffled beneath the water. Elara reached out blindly, unable to speak, to breathe.
A hand plunged into the water, gripping Elara by the hair and dragging her above the surface.
Elara spluttered and coughed up water as, to her horror, Ariete hauled her back to the bank. She saw Gem pounce upon Sofia, holding a blade made of starlight to her neck.
Ariete finally let go, and Elara collapsed on to the grass, sodden. He slowly crouched before her as she gulped in lungfuls of air between coughs. ‘I do love these cat-and-mouse games,’ he crooned. ‘And you’ve been a bad little mouse, haven’t you, Elara?’
Her throat burned, poison and water crawling up it as she tried to scream, to plead. She looked behind to where Sofia was struggling against the goddess. ‘Get the fuck off me,’ her friend screamed. ‘Lara! Lara! Leave her alone. I swear to the skies I’ll kill you all. Leave her al—’
‘Take her away,’ Ariete said.
‘So-Sofia,’ Elara rasped. She tried to crawl, but starlight was already lighting around Gem and Sofia as they began to disappear. She swayed on her knees.
‘It’s all right.’ Ariete gently gathered her in his arms. She didn’t have an ounce of strength left in her to fight him as he lifted her. ‘You’re starting to understand that there is no hope. You will never escape me,’ he murmured into her hair. ‘Wherever you run, I will find you.’
When the darkness came, for the first time in Elara’s life, she tried to fight it.