1. Zakkai
Power rolled through the paradigm,electrifying my senses as the Source Architect.
One moment, I’d been indulging my mate in a flirtatious mental promise. And the next, I took off at a dead sprint toward where Aflora slept.
Constantine was here. I felt him in every breath, his Elite Blood aura tainting the paradigm with his malevolent presence.
I dove into the source, searching for his magical core. It throbbed brightly at the center, his powers fully engaged and suffocating everyone and everything around him.
What is he doing?I wondered, stopping cold in my tracks as I watched a volt of magic enter another soul. Oh, shit! Aflora!
I took off again, her aura screaming in agony at the unexpected intrusion of the dark enchantment.
Too much power, I thought. That’s too much power.
I tried to grab hold of it in my mind, to rip it away from my mate, but the source had already anchored itself inside her, pouring wave after wave of energy into the core of her being.
“Fuck!” I shouted, bursting into the cabin covered in wilting flowers.
Her earth magic was weeping at the intrusion, her soul fracturing beneath the wrongness of Constantine’s actions.
“He’s forcing her ascension,” I said, talking to no one and everyone at the same time. “He’s redirecting the source into her.” It came out on a growl, my fury palpable and violent.
I fell to my knees beside her, the inky lines spreading from her heart to her limbs decorating her as the source’s choice.
“That’s impossible,” Kolstov breathed. “That’s not how this works.”
I shook my head. Because he was wrong. “It’s entirely possible,” I replied, furious at myself for not seeing it before. “She’s mated to two royal lines and the Source Architect.” That provided Constantine with the access he’d needed to the core of her essence. It had allowed him to breathe the enchantment used to call upon new rulers, and redirect it to the rightful heir.
The fallen Midnight Fae Prince’s mate.
The Source Architect’s chosen other half.
The Death Blood Prince’s soul mate.
An Elemental Fae Royal.
All markers that would note her as a potential candidate.
“Shit.” I cradled Aflora’s face between my hands and attempted to redirect the heart of our power away from her, to rewrite the path and send it back to Constantine, but the source had already chosen.
Worthy,it whispered darkly. Fresh. Young. Honorable conduit.
The words weren’t real, just sensations that prickled my spirit and told me there wasn’t a damn thing I could do to stop this.
Instead, I reached for Aflora and tried to guide her, to ease her pain, to shift her into the ascension with a softness the source lacked.
Her screams echoed in my head, her confusion piercing my heart. She didn’t understand what was happening, had lost herself to the fog of the obsidian essence mounting inside her.
“Zakkai!” someone snapped. A deep voice. Harsh. Furious.
I lifted my eyelids to meet a pair of fuming green irises. “What?” I demanded, irritated by the interruption.
The Warrior Blood—Zephyrus—appeared ready to kill me. “Tell us what you’re doing.”
“Helping her ascend,” I replied shortly.
“Do we need to bite her? That’s what we did last time she exploded with power.”
I shook my head, gritting my teeth. “No. That was from my ascension.” The night I became the Source Architect. There hadn’t been an outlet for my power exchange, so everyone had felt it. Including the Nacht family. It had caused Kolstov to unleash his power in a rampage that had destroyed Aflora’s room. And then she’d come undone in the LethaForest.
I hadn’t witnessed it. But I’d sensed it. And I’d later learned about it from Shade.
“Biting won’t help her this time. Constantine is overloading her essence with dark magic and forcing an unwilling royal to ascend.” I locked gazes with the Warrior Blood. “I know how to help her, but I need to be able to focus.” And I couldn’t do that with him interrupting, something I told him with my expression.
“Do it,” he demanded.
I didn’t acknowledge his permission—because I refused to call it a command. Instead, I closed my eyes to return to my task.
Silence followed as I continued down my original path, only this time Zephyrus’s protective energy trailed after me. It served as a foreign taunt to my senses. I wasn’t used to feeling the warmth of a Warrior Blood. Of course, it wasn’t for me but for Aflora. Regardless, it created the aura of safety that I needed to dive further into Aflora’s psyche. Because I didn’t have to focus on my surroundings. Zephyrus had that part covered.
I dug deep into the core of her, flinching as her agony pierced through my mental shields.
Ascending hurt.
Like molten fire flooding the inner spirit. I’d experienced it when I’d accepted the Source Architect position. However, I’d gone into the situation knowing what to expect.
Aflora was neither willing nor expectant.
I should have seen this coming, but I would never have anticipated this from Constantine. He was handing her the source. Only because he intended for it to kill her. Still, she could survive—would survive—making it a huge risk, one I never thought he would take.
“I don’t understand how this is possible,” I heard Kolstov saying. “The ascension trial requires blood.”
“Nacht blood,” Shade replied.
“Yes,” I agreed, my voice slightly strained from trying to maintain a connection to Aflora while also talking to her mates. “Her connection to the Nacht family line—via Kolstov, and I suppose through Zephyrus’s Guardian bond—would have granted him initial access to perform the enchantment. Then the source accepted the link because she’s mated to a Nacht and a Morte.”
Morte being Shade’s bloodline. Though he rarely used the surname.
“She’s also the Earth Fae Queen,” I added, swallowing as a volt of energy slammed into me from the source. It served as an order to mentally step away from Aflora and allow her to fully ascend. I responded by crafting an intangible wall around her and then made myself a proverbial door. The energy pushed against me, forcing its way through and turning me into a siphon of sorts.
It burned.
But I accepted the burden.
Because it was the only way to ease her into this… to give her a fighting chance.
“A royal by nature and blood,” Shade said, his voice oddly distant. “So all Constantine needed to do was recite the ritual?—”
“And the dark source went right for her,” Kolstov finished for him. “Shit.”
“Precisely,” I tried to say, my lungs squeezing with the effort.
A hand met my shoulder, the palm large and unwelcome. Then Zephyrus’s power rolled over me, his protective enchantment providing a foreign balm of sorts.
I shuddered, the tranquility of his touch… unexpected.
It granted me space to breathe and somehow shifted my burden to him temporarily. I studied his charm, curious as to what spell he’d cast. An absorption spell, I translated faintly. Not what I’d expected, nor anything I’d ever experienced before.
Zephyrus pushed more into me, forcing me to take it.
I almost shoved it back at him in retaliation. This group dynamic was going to annihilate my patience. I didn’t work as a unit. I preferred to lead and be followed, not collaborate.
But for Aflora… I’d try.
And as this helped me relax, I accepted his assistance.
“She needs to pass her first trial,” Kolstov said, answering some question I’d missed. Or maybe he was just thinking out loud. “Trust.”
I nodded in confirmation. She would have to rely on those closest to her to guide her. “But it hasn’t started yet. The source is still settling.” I could feel it filling every inch of her soul, blackening out her access to the elements. Or trying to, anyway. Her roots were fighting the intrusion, denying the dark source a proper home.
She gasped, still unconscious and yet fully awake at the same time.
The inky lines writhed in annoyance.
Her roots held.
“Fae,” I whispered, awed and terrified by the convoluted mix of magic dancing inside her. It was hypnotic and beautiful and so damn wrong. Cerulean sparks bonded to black lines, green flares, purple smoke, and deep red contours. But at the center of it all was a thriving tree, the branches a swirl of color and magic, as the dark source tried to penetrate her elemental home with a variety of cruel twists. “She’s fighting it.”
Perhaps not intentionally, but instinctively.
“Her earth source is refusing to release her,” I continued, lost to the stunning array of enchantments unfolding inside Aflora.
I’d closed my eyes again, the lightning display absorbing every ounce of my attention.
I was lost to it. To her. To the beauty of the sources dueling and marrying and dueling again. Every time the darkness found a new entrance, a strand of cerulean met the ends and untangled them, my darling little star learning and memorizing spells faster than I’d ever seen.
I felt her tugging on my mind, my power, my energy, and using it to craft and mold her reactions appropriately. So quick and nimble and alluring.
“She’s teaching,” I whispered, still utterly engrossed in the sight before me. “She’s teaching the sources how to join inside her.” That was why it looked like they were fighting, then connecting, and then fighting again. She was finding a way for both powers to exist inside her, to ground herself in earth and hold on to the dark magic as well.
Temporarily, I thought. This is your temporary solution.
“She’s giving us time,” I told the others, then frowned. “But we can’t stop the ascension.” I voiced that statement out loud and through the bond to Aflora. She didn’t comment, her mind lost to the power engulfing her spirit. I wasn’t even sure if she could hear me. However, she definitely felt me. Just as I felt her tugging on my essence to help ground her.
“No, we can only ensure she survives it,” Kolstov replied. “By passing the initial test.” He paused, and I sensed him looking at Zephyrus even though my eyes were still closed. It was a weird sensation, one that confirmed we were truly bonded. At least on the first level. Because I’d saved him, using my blood to bring him back to life. Thereby tying our fates together for eternity.
Perhaps that was why Zephyrus could help me as he did—my ties to Aflora and Kolstov, two of his fully bonded mates.
Blood worked in tricky ways, especially for Midnight Fae.
“It’ll evaluate her relationships, just like it did to me and mine,” he said.
“Which means it’ll involve all of us,” the Warrior Blood inferred aloud.
I’d undergone a similar trial as the Source Architect. My trials were different from those of a royal ascension—more convoluted and in the form of puzzles and riddles. Aflora’s would likely be a mix because of her ties to me.
“You had to rely on Tray’s instincts and my sight,” Zephyrus continued. “To make it through the blinding light.”
Kolstov’s responding shiver was palpable—something I again felt more than saw. “Yes.” It came out soft, the memory lurking in his voice. “The source will put her in a situation that won’t allow her to escape on her own.”
That sounded about right. Except my task had been completed alone. Because there hadn’t been anyone for me to rely on—my mating link had been cut off, and my father had insisted I master my source ascension by myself.
It hadn’t been easy.
But nothing with the source ever was.
Kolstov blew out a breath and repositioned himself beside me on the bed, causing my eyes to flicker open. He’d pulled on a pair of boxers and nothing else. Zephyrus and Shade remained naked on the other side of Aflora, their concern evident.
“Any second now,” Kolstov said after evaluating the obsidian lines crawling down Aflora’s arms.
I agreed with a nod, the energy seeming to settle around her, preparing for the next phase. It had all passed through me now, leaving her to battle the remainder on her own.
Silence fell as we all held our breaths.
A scratch at the door disturbed the momentary peace. All three men took up defensive positions, their wands seeming to appear out of thin air.
“Relax,” I said, aware of who had made the sound.
Zimney.
My arctic wolf familiar nudged open the door with his big white muzzle, then shoved it wider to allow Clove to fly through. The falcon’s wings nearly clipped Zephyrus and Shade as she soared between them to land right beside Aflora.
It was a familiar’s job to protect the fae who had conjured it. And Clove clearly sensed Aflora’s unease, just as Zimney had likely sensed mine. Or perhaps he’d followed Clove. The two were bonded in a unique manner since it’d technically been my magic that Aflora had tapped into to create her familiar. It meant Clove responded to me, too. Which she would have anyway as Aflora’s mate.
I eyed the two creatures and frowned. “They sense something.” I couldn’t quite hear it, but I felt the knowledge of it traversing through my connection to Zimney. “They’re here for the first trial.”
A bat entered next, settling on Shade’s shoulder.
Followed by the hiss of a three-headed snake that magically manifested around Zephyrus’s neck. Three sets of creepy eyes went to my wolf, the slithering creature clearly agitated by my much larger familiar. Zephyrus muttered something to the reptile, ending with the name Raph.
I glanced at Kolstov, curious to see what animal would appear for him. But none did.
Because Kolstov had died.
Which meant his familiar had perished as well.
Shit.
“That’s the test,” I realized out loud, my heart skipping a beat. “Something with your familiar.” Would Aflora have to bring the being back from the dead? Conjure a new one? Work through a puzzle involving his fallen familiar? There were so many options. Too many options.
I ran my fingers through my hair, the ash-blond strands falling into my face for just a moment and hiding my reaction from the males around me. A reaction underlined in momentary uncertainty.
Had we all bonded enough for Aflora to successfully pass this test?
Because I didn’t trust any of them. Not really. Only my little star.
However, what if the test wasn’t just for her but for all her mates as well?
Would I be forced to rely on the others? To put my faith in those who had mated Aflora? Saving Kolstov from death had been trial enough. Except that I hadn’t even hesitated in helping him. Once I’d seen what it would have done to Aflora to lose him, I’d known he’d had to live. Would this be all that different? How much was I prepared to sacrifice to ensure Aflora’s survival?
I wasn’t given a moment to consider the answer to that because in the next breath, Aflora started to shake.
I pressed my palm to her breastbone in an attempt to hold her down, only to have my skin burned by the power radiating off her.
Zephyrus cursed.
Shade winced.
And Kolstov collapsed beside her on a violent shudder.
Clove released an agonized caw, making Zimney growl. Then magic spilled in through the room, fracturing the paradigm around us. Shade jumped to his feet, spells spewing from his lips as he tried to hold the enchantment in place. I immediately bolstered the edges, giving him the leverage he needed to repair the breaks, and Zephyrus underlined it all with his Warrior magic.
A natural team effort.
One being threatened with every passing second.
The trial had begun. Aflora’s first task was to wake up.
And the only one who could help guide her through the test was the fallen royal beside her.
If they failed… she’d die.
Another thunderous hit against the paradigm sent a shiver through my being. “Constantine knows where we are.” Because he’d used all of this as a distraction to locate us, knowing we’d be weakened while Aflora attempted to pass her first trial.
Clever bastard, I seethed, sending up a massive wave of power to rewrite all the spells surrounding the exterior of the makeshift dome. It wasn’t visible, just an alternate use of space that Constantine had clearly located by using Aflora as a beacon of sorts.
Thatwas what I’d felt last night, why I hadn’t been able to rest.
He’d been close by, his power a fiery blade against my senses that had alerted me to his nefarious whims without providing the finite details.
And then he’d distracted me by forcing Aflora’s ascension.
Zephyrus cast a defensive spell that captured my awareness, the Warrior Blood proving incredibly capable in the moment. I memorized his enchantment and echoed it throughout the paradigm, bolstering it with a little Quandary Blood twist that would make it a bit more difficult to undo.
Shade added his own flavor of Death magic, allowing the three of us to craft a unique shield that would hopefully buy us a little more time.
“I need to find somewhere for us to jump to,” Shade said quickly.
“Go,” I replied, power deepening my voice to a rumble.
Zephyrus sent up another enchantment that I immediately copied as Shade disappeared into a cloud of black smoke.
“He’d better come back,” Zephyrus said under his breath.
“He will.” If there was one thing I could count on Shade for, it was his protection of Aflora. “Keep bolstering the paradigm.”
Zephyrus grunted in response but did exactly what I’d told him to.
Although, I doubted it had anything to do with my demand and everything to do with the unconscious pair on the bed.
They were the owners of his heart.
And so he did what a Warrior Blood was trained to do—guard.