Chapter 24 Rose
ROSE
Achill ran down my spine at the sight of the town being swallowed up by shadows.
I could make out the shapes of buildings and houses, but they were enveloped in a thick darkness that seemed to suck in all light around it.
The inky thing covering the entire area was blacker than anything I’d ever seen before.
Even the night sky on a moonless night was bright in comparison.
The darkness had a presence too, one I couldn’t explain or deny.
As I stared at it, I got the sense it was staring back at me.
Watching me as I watched it. I stepped back involuntarily and swallowed the fear in my throat.
This was what Raith fought night after night.
It was a wonder he’d kept his sanity this long.
But there was beauty in the darkness too.
Shadowy wisps curled and danced through the air as if reaching for something, while thicker patches of black gloom gleamed like fresh ink under the moonlight.
The darkness called to me in a way I couldn’t deny, whispering of hidden knowledge and dark secrets I might uncover if I was only brave enough to step into the abyss.
My husband’s voice rang out in a sharp cry and jerked me out of my thoughts, drawing my attention to the other side of town.
“Raith!” I sprinted forward as best I could in my long black gown and slippers.
The darkness shot out a shadowy tendril and tried to catch my leg, but I managed to narrowly avoid it.
Fear boosted my speed as I headed through the nightmare, but the dark shapes confused my vision.
The buildings were so black it was hard to tell how big they were or how far away.
I called forth a ball of light beside me, but the surrounding darkness nearly absorbed it right up.
I spotted Raith standing in the middle of the cobblestone road, throwing lightning bolts at shadowy beasts that looked like no animals I’d seen before yet had borrowed parts from many of them.
A claw here, a tail there, and some even had giant bat wings.
They sprang up from the darkest corners around him and battered him relentlessly, but he fought them off with nothing but his magic and resolve.
There were too many. Soon he would go down—unless I helped him.
I drew runes in my mind as he’d taught me, summoning lances of fire that turned the black monsters to ash.
They screeched and howled as they burnt up into the night, and I drew closer, letting my need to protect Raith overcome my fear of the beasts.
I burned them all down with a vehemence I didn’t know I possessed.
This was my kingdom now too, and these creatures did not belong in it—and they would not touch my husband.
As the last of the monsters turned to smoke, Raith turned my way and froze, like he couldn’t believe his eyes. “Rose? What are you doing here?”
“Making sure Ilidan still has a king tomorrow.”
He stormed over to me. “Are you mad? You shouldn’t be here. It’s too dangerous. How did you even get here?”
“I taught myself teleportation,” I said, with a casual shrug.
“You did what?” He gaped at me. “Of all the foolish, dangerous, reckless things—”
I cut him off by pressing my lips against his in a desperate kiss full of urgency and relief. His hands gripped my upper arms and he let out a low groan as he kissed me back with the same passion.
But then he pulled away and his face was hard again. “You need to get back to Varlock Castle immediately. That was only the first wave of shadow beasts.”
“I’m not leaving without you.”
“You must.” He ran a hand through his black hair, exhaustion coating his features. “I have to send the darkness back, but I’ve never seen it this strong before. If you stay, you’ll only be in the way. I insist you return to the castle, Rose.”
I glanced around at what was left of the town, but it was little more than a black void around us. “Come with me. There’s nothing you can do here.”
“I can’t abandon Bellsover.”
My voice softened. “Raith, it’s already gone.”
He turned away from me, his long black cloak flaring in the wind. “I’ve saved this town four times already. I can do it again.”
“Then I’m staying to help you.”
He glared at me as if he wanted to throttle me. “Sun and Moon, why are you so stubborn?”
I planted my hands on my hips. “Because you need someone as stubborn as you are to be your wife. No one else would put up with you.”
He scowled in reply as the darkness began to move again. From the east more of those shadow beasts emerged and began loping, shambling, or flying toward us. Dozens of them.
Raith and I gathered our spells and began casting at them, over and over, but they kept coming. Soon we were surrounded. A claw tore at my skirt. A fang ripped through Raith’s arm. And the darkness only grew stronger.
“There are too many of them,” I called out. “We have to make our escape!”
Raith sent a lightning bolt through a flying beast. “We can’t leave them here! They’ll find another town, one that hasn’t already been abandoned.”
I bit my lip and nodded as I threw another lash of flame at a crawling shadow beast. When it was nothing but dust, I reached out and took Raith’s hand. “Then we’ll do it together.”
Power flared between us, filling us both with renewed energy.
We summoned fire and lightning together, blasting through all the beasts around us and sending them up in smoke.
The magic was so strong it couldn’t be contained, and we unleashed it on the rest of the dark-covered town.
The fire ate at the shadows like corrosion, burning the darkness away until the buildings underneath were revealed, which instantly burst into flame.
The fire spread quickly across the town and took out the darkness, which let out shrill, inhuman cries. It wasn’t long before the entire town was nothing but cinders and smoke. Bellsover was destroyed, but at least the darkness was gone.
“They came from the east,” I said, after catching my breath. “Do you think there are more that way in the forest? Should we follow their trail?”
Raith shook his head. “The east is already lost. There’s nothing we can do there.”
“Are you sure? Perhaps together we could—”
“No!” he snapped. He ran a hand over his face, looking more exhausted than I’d ever seen him. “You’ve done enough tonight. It’s time we returned to the castle.”
“All right,” I said, though I got the feeling there was something about the east he wasn’t telling me. Was that where this darkness had originated from? Perhaps it truly was too dangerous for even Raith to venture into, but if we didn’t confront it, how would we ever stop it?
“You need to get some rest anyway.” I slid my arm through his. “I’ll teleport us back.”
He leveled a steely gaze at me. “You? You’ll get us trapped in the Shadow Lands.”
I rolled my eyes. “I got here, didn’t I?”
“Beginner’s luck,” he muttered.
I snorted and called forth the spell, calling the darkness to me.
With Raith at my side it was even easier, as if the shadows were drawn to him.
As it covered us whole and blocked out all light, I closed my eyes and pictured my bedroom with its red and black decor and the large windows looking out over the garden.
Home.
When I opened my eyes, we stood a few feet from my bed. I flashed Raith a smile. “See? Not a problem.”
Raith stared at me with his brow furrowed. “I can’t believe it,” he finally said. “You have an affinity for shadow, like I do.”
I blinked at him. “I do?”
“That explains how you were able to cast the teleportation spell so easily, a spell that many of the strongest fae never master in their entire lives. And you taught it to yourself in what, a few hours?”
“Less than that,” I said. “But are you certain?”
He rubbed his stubbled jaw as he considered me. “I’ve never known anyone with the same affinity as me, but yes, I’m sure. That explains why our magic is stronger together too.”
It also explained why the darkness had called so strongly to me, and how it had seemed both beautiful and horrifying. “But fire is my other affinity. Doesn’t that seem contradictory?”
“That’s always how it is with fae magic. My affinities are shadow and lightning. Yours are shadow and fire. The High Queen’s are stone and air.”
Two affinities? It was hard to believe. From what I’d read in Raith’s books, very few fae had more than one—something like one in a thousand, and fae were rare as it was.
Those that had two were among the most powerful of all.
I’d never expected to be one of them, but excitement bubbled up inside me along with a sense of satisfied contentment, as if I’d always known this was my destiny.
I was royal and fae, like Raith and my mother, and I was going to make them both proud.