32. Vessa
32
Vessa
W hile we rode into the Scarlet Gallows, we saw how quickly the word of war had spread. For the first time, the horrors heinous enough to make it far west bled before my very eyes. All those stories of the massacres told beside a campfire were now up in flames, with every noose to go with it. Emotions stormed through me, outraged that a place like this had existed all this time. I’d never realized how far Fang’s grip had reached, but now the remaining Elemental Fae were bringing justice to those who had stood on his side, regardless if they were fae or not. We were riding so fast, I only caught glimpses of Fire Fae taking their stances against them. Their souls be damned when they embarked on the Vale.
Fang was barely hanging by a thread when Pa tossed his body onto the ground, left to be ripped apart by those who sought revenge. Karmic justice was what I called it. All that had been lost would never be replaced; the peace our home once brought would never be the same again, but hearing Fang’s final cry before his life came to an end was more than a blessing. It was a calm that offered a small gift, enough for me to know the fight had been worth it. The Scarlet Gallows would now harness the blood of fae and humans—tainted with another horror that I hoped would be a reminder to anyone who dared to stake a claim upon this land again.
Our horses slowed to a trot as we followed the Serpent’s Path through Crimson Valley. It wasn’t long until we were further south, at the entrance of Blightstone Hollow.
Ryder had kept his vow—he’d ended anyone who had stood in our path.
The call to a divine place fluttered along my arms, sending the hairs on my neck to rise. Crimson birch trees lined the path as fog curled around the horses’ hooves.
The three of us rode side by side beneath the canopy of trees that arched the entrance above us.
“Raven.” I opened the bond. He coasted down with the next beat of his wings, vanishing into a shroud of shadow. He landed in the form of a male, casually walking alongside my mare, keeping his hand beneath her chin as he narrowed his eyes on the terrain ahead.
“Four able bodies are better,” I said.
This place was warm, as if hell itself was seeping through the cracks of the forest floor, creating a fog that felt more like steam. It still did not cease the chill that fluttered down my arms being in such a sacred place. The crimson leaves varied from shades of bright red to a deep maroon. The bark reminded me of bones with fear-stricken faces. The overgrown knots on the trunks were rough and jagged—haunting if I stared too long. But it was Ryder’s gaze I felt the most.
“Are you spooked, Desert Storm?” He smirked, eyeing me from beneath the brim of his cowboy hat, a pale-blue glow within its shadow.
I scoffed, but his words still tugged at my core.
“You can ride with me if you need a distraction.”
I watched the way his hips moved astride the horse, remembering his length pressed against my center when we’d been in the city. He knew exactly how to eradicate my negative thoughts with just a simple motion. He was a tease, and I wanted a taste. Warmth spread across my chest as I looked at this wicked and shameless cowboy. I?—
I felt the power of Nan before the release of an arrow as it whizzed by, but there was no time to act. It missed my head by inches. The rustling in the brush came from all directions as heavy footsteps charged from different locations. Time stilled as my mind reeled back to when our homes had been ambushed in Black Water Woods; back when I’d been defenseless and raised in a world without fear. I remembered what it had felt like to be stalked and hunted as I struggled to survive. It was all coming down around us. The only difference between the past and now was that there was no fear, only death awaiting those who dared to play with it. From the shrouds of fog, screams tore through the enemies’ throats, proof that karma would always have a place in the dark as Pa summoned the power of Ama. His shadows unfurled, and with them, he disappeared into the brush to become them.
Several more arrows flew into the air, coming out of the thick mist that hid most of the terrain. My mare bucked before she reared, and in the next breath, I was flying. Raven growled, the sound so shattering that pain broke through our bond as he shifted too quickly, not entirely, as he moved beneath my body to soften the landing. My head flew back against his chest, and my jaw slammed shut, biting my cheek in the process. He wrapped a firm arm around me. I caught sight of the top of his shoulders, barbed with long, stiff feathers. Their glossy, iridescent shine had blood beaded at the tips. I felt the length of his body, large beneath mine. I grabbed his forearms as my shadows reacted of their own accord against his hold, solidifying my nails into claws. They dug into his flesh, sending Raven to growl as the tendons in his forearms flexed until he loosened his grip.
“Fucking hell, Vessa,” Raven cursed, his voice heated raw. I wordlessly jumped to my feet, watching my mare take off as Ryder reared, turning back to get me. He held out his hand, reaching for me. His hold was strong, but his Nai was the extra pull to haul me up behind him. I grabbed onto his sides and held on, catching sight of the arrows protruding from the ground with steam curling up through the broken soil.
I’d seen these arrows before. “The arrows are tipped with poison,” I called out, seeing Raven’s silhouette flying above us in his full bird form. I sensed the heaviness within each beat of his wings; his heart was beating erratically. Something felt off, but Ryder’s words pulled me from thought.
“I need to get you to Earth’s Fall,” Ryder said, calling out to his horse to ride faster.
“No!” I yelled, squeezing his sides. “I’m not leaving Pa.”
“He told you to never look back.”
But I did, and he was nowhere in sight. Pain seared my eyes. I blinked back the tears that fogged my vision as the urgency for me to go back swelled in my chest. “We need to go back. My gods, Ryder, if you don’t turn back, I will end you,” I said.
I felt the hesitation in his thoughts, racing through a thousand scenarios before he finally bit out a curse. Raven disappeared between the trees as Ryder and I veered off the path and disappeared into the haze.
In the distance, I heard the blunt force of arrows blasting into the tree trunks. As we drew near, shards of bark littered the ground in passing.
“These arrows belong to the Earth Fae,” I said. We braced ourselves as Ryder’s stallion jumped a fallen log.
“Friends of yours?” he called out, gripping the reins.
Once upon a time, maybe. I couldn’t remember, but now, seeing their arrows doused in poison aiming for us, “No.”
I knew they could kill from a distance. Their arrows could surpass my shadows’ reach. With a call to the power of Ano , I held on to Ryder as I leaned down, reaching for a satchel full of arrows and a lost bow as tendrils lifted it to my grip. I strapped the satchel to my back as he leaned forward. I saw an Earth Fae garbed in emerald green but wearing a hat like men in the city, which told me they worked for Fang. They weren’t known for being a part of society. Like us, they kept to their own territory, the island north of Black Water Woods. Now, it was evident they wanted to die.
Upon an exhale, I released the arrow, followed by a cry cut short as it protruded between the eyes of the enemy. One by one, I shot them down. Ryder’s lasso pulled them out of their hiding places. The onyx rope yanked them from the brush and into my line of sight. I inflicted them with their own venom, reveling in the sight of their bodies littering the ground, but my heart nearly stopped at what lay ahead.
In the clearing, the silhouette of a man was on his knees, salt-and-pepper hair matted with blood that clung to his neck.
“Vessa, stay back,” Pa yelled in a futile attempt to protect his kin.
I dismounted Ryder’s stallion, feet landing in a plume of fog curling up as shadows coiled around me. Fear jolted down my spine seeing Pa handcuffed with a lawman beside him. I tossed the satchel off my back and narrowed in on the older man. He wore a gambler’s press to his hat, but the silver star pinned to his dark blue coat drew my attention.
The sheriff.
My heart sank to the pit of my stomach, and I paled. The tie around the sheriff’s neck was loosened. His brows sagged as he scowled. Those deep eyes had a claiming look as he glanced down at Pa. His beard was a dark blonde, and he looked like a miserable, grumpy bastard.
“The Umbra herself has finally emerged from the shadows,” the sheriff said. “It looks like somebody just pissed on your grave.” His voice coiled like a snake.
“Well, asshole, I’m about to piss on yours,” I retorted, feeling the sensation of darkness drifting up my wrists. His men stepped into sight, aiming guns and other weapons at us as they chuckled.
The sheriff tsked. “My, my, you have a mouth on you. The name is Sheriff Dawson. You’re under arrest for…Well, let’s see here.” He smirked, giving me a final look before he pulled out a paper marred with blood. His eyes narrowed on the words as he read aloud.
“‘Wanted for the murder of forty-five harmless civilians and counting at Grand Dusk’s Tavern. Wanted for shooting an unarmed man, point blank, in the face. Wanted for larceny, murder, arson, carrying unregistered weapons…’ The list goes on. ‘Last seen heading west in the company of an old man and a pet… blue jay .’” He laughed, flicking the paper before tucking it back into his coat pocket.
“Sounds like someone you shouldn’t be fucking with,” I bit out.
The sheriff’s presence brought a sense of betrayal, one I couldn’t place until I saw Raven step from the shroud of fog behind them. He strolled up to the man on his knees—the one who had raised him as his own—with a malicious grin on his face. My next breath left my soul as the air around me thinned.
“More of a raven, if you haven’t noticed,” the prick said, squaring his shoulders as sharp feathers still sprawled across them.
Raven looked my way, the truth suddenly unveiling the reason I had always rejected the bond and why my shadows had reacted so violently when he’d caught me falling off my horse.
“Flustered, Vessa?”
My jaw clenched. I couldn’t breathe as my eyes bounced between him and Pa. I felt the heat of Ryder’s body as he stood beside me with a lasso of shadow in his hand.
“An Umbra with Donia’s most wanted bounty hunter. This is going to go down in history,” Sheriff Dawson said.
“Fuck you all,” I spat.
“End’s Wrath needed no guns, arrows, or magic to bring him to his knees. It’s funny when you think about it,” Raven interrupted, sticking his hands into his pockets. “A man can love so hard that it’s the one thing that fails him in the end.”
“Why?” My voice broke while something silent flashed behind Raven’s eyes as the betrayal carved a line between us.
“I want out. I’m done being your fucking pet.” The muscles in his arms flexed as his jaw fluttered. Hurt and pain hid behind his eyes. We’d never needed a bond to know how one another felt.
I reached out through the connection as unseen hands stroked his face. “Lies,” I whispered, sending both our eyes to gloss through the threads that bound us. He closed his eyes as his next breath stilled at my touch. Still affected, still the same man beneath this beast he’d been forced to become.
“Don’t do this to us,” I said.
“US?” His eyes flicked open—a daggered glare toward the cowboy who stood beside me. Then Raven looked my way.
Caged. Trapped , is what his eyes read. He closed his end of the bond cold, nearly sending me to blink back.
How many times had we looked at one another, feeling confined within the spaces we’d been forced to live in? The eyes of the one I trusted with the entirety of my soul had now betrayed it. A swell of tears lined my lashes, but now I finally knew.
“As soon as End’s Wrath heard an ambush was waiting at Earth’s Fall, he bucked so quickly, it was almost embarrassing for how legendary he is. I thought it would be enough to take him in, but now with the three of you…” Sheriff Dawson just laughed.
“You have a shitty way of fucking with fate. Now here you are, desperate to see how the Umbra Fae can get out of this one,” Raven spat in anger, probably because I’d come back when I wasn’t supposed to.
There were no questions or other thoughts that formed in my mind. I reached into my vest pocket, ready to throw the Eternal stone at their feet in exchange for the only one in this world who could keep my chaos at bay.
“Vessa, no!” Pa gritted out, his plea so loud, it nearly shook me.
“Fuck this stone. It means nothing to me without you.” My voice cracked with the last words as tears stung my eyes. “Nothing is worth any of this.” I was tired of fighting. Tired of sleeping with one eye open. I remembered the quiet mornings when Pa would play cards. I was afraid to face another day of silence without him in it.
He’d given himself up for me, and I’d come back. I’d always come back to any hell for him. Damned be the ones who ever tried to take him from me.
Though the sun was setting above the trees, I felt the faint energy of the moon barely breaking sight. The center of my mark thrummed as the air around us constricted. I willed the darkness to come, the same one that often felt like it was at my throat; now, it was wrapped tightly around theirs. Only this time, they knew where it was coming from. Black, inky swells of shadow snaked around their necks. My fingers curled into tight fists, clenching as the pain bit into my palms while their eyes bulged from their skulls. Bows and pistols fell to the ground with the sound of gasps breaking out. Pain tinged my eyes as the moonlight silver took over. I was harnessing too much of the Umbra. A crimson tear brimmed the corner of my eye. My evil was unyielding, unbending, a true power rushing through my body.
Here I was again, death chasing at their heels. But weapons were always wrongfully drawn, pointed at one another, magic or guns. There would never be any peace. They were not going to survive this, not while the very last of my blood was shackled to the ground. I was so consumed by the fear of losing him that I didn’t see Raven’s arm flying up, unaffected by my force because we were bound, a bond forced by the very man who was on his knees. From the corner of my eye, I watched as Ryder moved, but time nearly slowed.
We were not quick enough.
The cutting edge of the knife slammed into Pa’s lower back. He coughed, a slew of blood spilling down his chin and onto the ground. Raven rammed the dagger so deep, it cut clean through, tearing the front of Pa’s shirt.
A cry seared my throat, snapping all their necks at once—a blast that swept through the surrounding trees, splitting them in half. I fell to my knees as a strangled sob expelled from my throat.
Raven stood in place, watching the way Pa’s body slumped forward. I could have sworn regret flashed in his eyes, watching me break. The same person who had counted the stars with me in the early morning hours. The one who had stood by my side when night terrors consumed my dreams. But in front of me wasn’t the man I’d thought I’d known. His eyes shifted into someone I could no longer see. A numbness swept down my body, but I somehow managed to rush forward toward Pa.
Ryder went for Raven, but the traitor disappeared into a shroud of shadow, only to reappear as a raven flying off.
“End’s Wrath never told you that his death would free me. As I said, Vessa, you would always be my demise.” He spoke to me one last time before I felt the end of his bond cut clean and run cold, void like the death pool of darkness I had always given him.
I pulled Pa onto my lap, shaking him until I saw those deep-set eyes look up.
“My Vessa…my daughter, I have always known my fate. I knew this was where I’d take my last breath. It was a nightmare chasing me for so long, but after your mother died, I couldn’t run any faster to this moment. I was destined to die here to save you and give you the life you always deserved to have.”
I hung my head between my shoulders and sobbed. My gods, his words were so unveiling. For the first time, I didn’t want any of this to make sense, but it did. It really did.
“Take the Eternal stone to its resting place. There, you will find your peace.”
“There is no peace without you.” My voice was raw and ragged, begging. He had known all this time and never told me.
How could he?
“Don’t do this to me.”
“This was our last ride, Vessa. Never lose that freedom you have when you ride into the night. That’s how I will always remember you. Wild…and free. My Shadow.”
I shook my head, fighting for the tears to stop falling so I could see his face one more time. The warmth of his blood bled onto my clothes and dripped down the sides of my legs.
“You must fight for what’s left. Don’t look back. Ride fast. Your life depends on it… To Earth’s Fall…”
I saw the moment his sight vanished into a void, a vacant expression that saw beyond what my lavender eyes could.
Silence had never been so earth-shattering. My breathing stilled. The air no longer existed in the space that left us empty. The ringing in my ears grew to a throbbing pulse. Before I could fully grasp what was happening, I heard the most terrifying of sounds, ones that ripped my soul to shreds. I didn’t realize at first that it was me screaming out in anguish. The life had left his eyes, and he gazed into a void, into nothing, nothing as I shook his body. My world had blurred and ended in one breath. I could bend the dark, manipulate power, and harness the moon’s energy, but I couldn’t bring him back. I was powerless to the otherworldly things that bound me here. For the first time, I felt useless. My mind fell into despair as I leaned over his body.
Still warm.
Maybe he will breathe again. Maybe we can save him.
I waited for that subtle rise of his chest, the thrumming beat of his heart against my ear as I rested my head against him. I waited, praying to the stars my heart would still so I could hear him .
Breathe…breathe, breathe, I begged.
Voices sounded off with gunfire in the distance. The clamor of horses’ hooves rumbled through the ground, an echo in the sway of my entire world shifting.
I strained against the strong arms that wrapped around my waist. My shadows unfurled in all directions, losing sight of where to go. I was trapped inside my racing mind as every muscle tensed.
He was gone, he was gone.
The thoughts rang out until they were screams for all to hear.
“Come back!” My cry ripped from my throat as I looked to the canopy of the trees, screaming for his soul to return. A curse tore from me as I thrashed in Ryder’s arms.
“We are running out of time,” Ryder pleaded.
We always had been.
I didn’t know how I moved, but I managed. Every step heavy until I placed my foot into the stirrup and mounted Ryder’s horse. He got behind me, reached between my arms, and gripped the reins.
I turned back one last time, watching Pa’s lifeless body until he disappeared from sight.