Chapter 60
Chapter
Sixty
Gerard struggled against his shackles. Elias writhed on the stone. His face twisted and spasmed. His mouth opened on a silent scream.
The metal bit into Gerard’s wrists. Hands on Gerard’s arms and shoulders held him back. With a yell, Gerard got a foot beneath him. He started to rise. But another soldier stepped forward. Once again, he hit Gerard in the gut with the butt of his spear. Gerard doubled over.
But Gerard would not give up. With every bit of strength he had, he fought and strained against the soldiers’ grips but to no avail.
And all the while, Elias kept writhing in pain.
“Elias!” Gerard shouted. “Elias!”
Why does he not fight back? Why does he not try?
Gerard could not comprehend it. If Elias were an archmage, than surely now was the time to fight!
His stomach sank.
I was wrong. I was wrong. And now I will watch him die.
A strangled cry choked Gerard. “Elias!” he screamed.
The lightning stopped. The sorcerers stood still, at attention, gaze on the empress, waiting for her next instruction.
Elias twitched on the stone.
“How was that for round one?” The empress stepped forward, boots echoing. She stood over Elias.
Elias gasped. He rolled onto his back.
She pulled a dagger from her belt and held it delicately between the black metal claws she wore over her right fingers. “Are you ready for the second round?”
Elias choked and tried to move away from her.
She just smiled down at him. She leaned towards him. “Before you die, Elias, I want you to know something.” She paused. “I murdered your mother.”
A strangled sound escaped Elias’s lips.
“She was so difficult to negotiate with.” Her smile stretched wider. “She kept disagreeing with me and pushing back. She was so annoying. Just like you. So I ordered her death. It was easy enough. A simple gust of wind as she was coming down some stairs. The fall looked like a horrible accident.”
She gave an exaggerated pout. “Then I swiftly married your father. So I could control him. The negotiations went very smoothly after that.”
For several moments, Elias’s heavy breathing was the only sound he made. Then he rasped, “It must pain you that you still can’t beat her.”
The smile left her face. “What nonsense are you babbling about? I killed her! I beat her!”
Elias shook his head. It flopped from side to side.
“The lightning empress is still adored even after all these years,” he said, voice hoarse.
“Everyone still talks about her. Everyone says how she was so much more beautiful than you. How she was much more powerful than you. How she was so much kinder and more graceful.”
Elias lay wounded and bleeding on his back, but his gaze remained rebellious. “Dead twenty years and the people still love her far more than they ever have or ever will love you! Even my father still loves her, no matter how hard you try to erase her memory.”
And despite everything, Elias smiled. “It must be horrible to feel the need to compete with a woman who has been gone for twenty years. To keep competing and keep losing. You’ve only ever been second best. Everyone knows it! You’re just a pathetic empress, rightfully jealous of a dead woman.”
She snarled and kicked him.
Elias grunted. Then he laughed. “You need to erase me, to erase the kingdoms’ memories of her, to erase my father’s memories of her. But it won’t work! You and your children will never be adored or loved as you so desperately crave! You’re all just so fucking pathetic!”
“Pathetic! I’ll show you pathetic!” She reached down and gripped Elias’s long white hair. She yanked. Elias cried out, eyes scrunched closed.
“Open your eyes. Look at your husband,” she hissed. “Look!”
Slowly, Elias opened them. He gazed at Gerard with his beautiful purple eyes.
“I know you care for him,” the empress whispered.
And Gerard hoped with all his heart that it wasn’t true. Then his death couldn’t hurt Elias.
“I will kill him. Just like I killed your mother.” She spoke directly into his ear. “You will watch him die, knowing you are too weak a sorcerer to save him. Then I will kill you.” She released his hair with a shove and rose. She turned towards Gerard, holding the dagger between her clawed fingers.
But when the empress released Elias, although he swayed, he did not collapse. Chest heaving, he stayed where he was.
“Will you grant me one last request, Empress?” Elias asked, voice hoarse.
The empress turned to him with a scowl.
“Where will the dragon king be killed?” he asked. “I want to know … so that Gerard can die knowing where his father will die. Grant me this small mercy. Please.”
Gerard frowned. Why would that be Elias’s last request?
She huffed. “I will grant you no requests or mercy. You deserve neither. I will grant you only pain and suffering.” She began to turn towards Gerard. Then she stopped.
Because Elias got to his knees. He lifted his bound hands. His fingers wove in the air.
Empress Emmeline gaped. Then she laughed as the sparks danced. “Are you really going to try your little sparkles again, Elias? And you call me pathetic.” Her bubbly laughter rang out in the night air.
Then lightning burst forth from Elias’s fingers. It struck the empress directly in the chest. Her laughter morphed into a strangled scream. Her head flung back. The dagger dropped from her hand.
But already soldiers and sorcerers turned towards Elias. He cut off his attack on the empress and wove his fingers once more.
The soldiers guarding Gerard dashed forward towards Elias. But Gerard jumped to his feet. He kicked one of them in the back. The man yelled as he stumbled. Gerard kicked him again. The man fell onto his face. Gerard came up and lifted his foot. He stomped on the man’s neck. It crunched.
He turned and knocked another soldier, slamming into him with his full body weight. The man stumbled and turned on Gerard with his spear. The man thrust the spear at Gerard. But Gerard dodged the point.
He lifted his foot, kicking the man’s gut. The man fell to the ground. Gerard kicked the man over and over until he lay motionless on the ground.
Gerard really wished he had use of his hands.
He turned to Elias. The lightning zapped in the air around him. He flung it at soldiers and sorcerers. As it hit, their bodies went rigid. Cries and screams tore from throats. Weapons dropped. People fell, still twitching, to the ground.
However, others remained standing. A group of wind sorcerers flung their fingers at Elias. Elias flew through the air with a shout. He landed with a thud against the stone. He skidded. Even before he’d gotten to his feet, Elias’s fingers wove.
But the wind sorcerers had also begun to weave their magic again, preparing a second attack. With a loud yell, Gerard ran at them, trying to get their attention away from Elias. It seemed to work, as several turned towards him instead.
And that gave Elias the time to cast again. He propelled his hands forward. Lightning exploded and crackled as it hit the wind sorcerers. Lightning zapped between them, tearing through their bodies in flashes. The scent of burned hair and skin wafted in the air as they fell.
But the lightning sorcerers were already casting. Jagged lightning flashed towards Elias.
However, Elias didn’t even look towards them. He just reached out a hand, as if he could sense the lightning. Then, with a wave, the lightning changed trajectories, looping around him.
He flung it straight at the sorcerers who’d cast it. The lightning exploded as it hit them. They screamed and shook and fell.
Breathing heavily, Elias stood in the middle of the tower, bloodied, hair tangled, clothes askew, and his hands still bound. His features set in grim determination. Gerard had never seen the composed and immaculate man so dishevelled.
Magnificent. He’s magnificent.
All Gerard could do was watch and see the power and beauty and chaos of Elias in all his wonderous glory.
The lightning answered Elias’s every command. Enemy and foe ran towards him, whilst others fled down the tower steps in terror. Those who remained Elias felled with a flick of his wrist and a twitch of his fingers.
And maybe Elias had lied. Maybe he’d betrayed Gerard. But in that moment, all Gerard could do was be awed by the lightning prince in his true ferocious brilliance.
This is who he is. This is the real lightning prince. The real Elias.
Then Empress Emmeline, who’d been lying motionless near the edge of the tower, pushed herself to her feet. She breathed heavily, gaze flicking around.
He saw the word no appear on her lips. On trembling legs she rose. She reached for the daggers attached to her belt. She pulled one out in her clawed fingers.
She stood directly behind Elias, out of his line of sight.
Her left fingers began to weave. The dagger and her clawed fingers glowed.
Gerard had no idea what she was doing. But he knew it wasn’t good. He didn’t give himself time to think. He just ran at full speed towards Empress Emmeline.