Chapter 34
Thirty-Four
KYRON
“Fuck,” I hiss, guiding Raelle behind me and sending Terro and Greer a silent demand. They don’t even question it, moving closer to my parah. My head tips back as I assess the abomination before me.
It’s as if the Statera mended together the head of a wolf with sharp tusks jutting up from its lower jaw and the body of a tiger.
Its jointed fingers are tipped with needlepoint claws.
Tucked close to its body are massive brown-black wings that will have no problem keeping it airborne.
The creature is like something out of the stories Abrum told me as a child.
The kind of stories that kept me awake at night.
“You took what’s mine.”
I stumble back at Zekel’s growling voice. It is alarming to hear him talk in this form... unnatural. The tusks muffle his words, but his meaning is loud and clear. He believes my parah is his, like a pretty trinket he can snatch up and keep in his pocket.
Raelle belongs to no one, not me, not this kingdom, and definitely not Zekel. She is hers and hers alone. I will fight until my final breath to keep it that way.
“Raelle is not yours, just like the Cyffreds weren’t my mother’s to give,” I say, raising my voice so the monster hears me.
“The treaty was bound, and you broke it!” Zekel roars, spit spraying from his maw.
I relax my shoulders and slide into that careless facade that served me well for the better part of my life.
The four of us are in no position to battle Zekel in this new form or combat the shifters who remain standing.
We are so fragile compared to them, so small, and they know it.
They circle us, ready to pounce on their king’s command.
It has been some time since I found myself without a plan. The unknown makes me feel helpless, leading me to lean into stall tactics to buy some time.
Tapping my finger against my lip, I stroll the length of the schoolhouse steps.
“Did I break the treaty you forged with my mother? Not that Raelle was hers to give to you. Besides, she and Ulric had already escaped their prison when I found them. I just happened to be there to give them a ride home. And before you say it, any act of war you think I committed on your land was in self-defense. We were not the aggressors, just a rescue team.”
Zekel snorts and his eyes home in on me. “You’re twisting the truth!”
“Am I? Or did I just work within the loopholes you and my mother left in the treaty? It was my mother you came to terms with, after all. She was notorious for leaving gaps that were advantageous to her. Can you blame me for bending them to my self-serving purpose?”
He snarls in response, and I keep poking with one precisely aimed word after another. “But you... you’ve disregarded the treaty,” I say, spreading my arms out toward the destruction he has brought to my city. “I wonder what the Statera’s punishment is for that. Do you think it will be your crown?”
The monster’s nostrils flare and a feral rumble passes through his bared teeth.
“Did I hit a nerve?” I click my tongue and shake a finger at him.
“It doesn’t feel so great when someone backstabs you with a tiny technicality, does it?
It’s a violation of trust and an abuse of power.
..” My display of arrogance slips as a conversation from earlier replays in my head.
I hear Rowan’s questions so clearly: What are the chances of using the stone to conquer the Allaji?
Can you make their ability to shift dormant?
Raelle’s answer now sends shivers down my spine.
They are following the orders of their king.
Even though what they are doing is morally wrong, they’re under his sovereignty.
To strip them of their gift could be considered an abuse of our power.
My gaze darts to Raelle and I lift a brow, ensuring I have her attention before I speak to Zekel again. “Let’s be honest, you are using your power as king to bend me to your will. Even now, you have taken the life of my people with no just reasoning. You just want to control us.”
Her fingers slip up her sternum to the Imperium. She rubs the smooth stone and nods.
“Look at me,” Zekel bellows. “Do you think you stand a chance against me in this form? All I need to do is stomp you under my foot.” He slaps his massive paw down on the step, the stones underneath cracking. Just as swiftly, he swipes four-pointed claws at me.
I jump back, avoiding any damage. The shift gives me a new perspective and a cluster of movement at the end of the street draws my eye. I recognize several faces in the crowd…our reinforcements. They won’t be enough, but they won’t need to be if this works.
My hands go up in flames and I glare at Zekel. “You want my kingdom? Come and get it.”
No sooner do the words leave my mouth and the shifters waiting on the sidelines attack.
The elemental gifts of my friends buzz around us.
A block of ice as large as a small house forms between us and the Allaji, shielding us from their attack.
I follow the thick spears of ice protruding from the back of the wall until it narrows and ends at Raelle’s palms. Her arms shake with the strain of holding them back, but her gift doesn’t waver.
I run toward her only to have my legs knocked from beneath me.
My back slams into the stone step, and a groan leaves me as my head lolls to the side.
I get only a second to see Abrum leading the charge down the street before Zekel jabs at me again.
I roll out of the way, but I’m not quick enough.
Two razor-sharp claws rip through my jacket, slicing across my upper back.
The adrenaline pumping through me overwhelms the pain, and I jump to my feet, ready for the next blow.
Pain-riddled cries, crunching bones, and the wet sound of steel through flesh merge to create a symphony of death.
Every beat turns my stomach, and each crescendo breaks my heart.
This song reminds me of the torture Zekel so happily imposed upon Raelle and Ulric.
It fuels my hatred for him. He will never have the chance to do it again.
A blast of flame shoots from my fingers, aimed at my enemy.
Zekel’s fur ignites, searing the side of his body.
The fire doesn’t last long, but leaves behind bubbling, angry skin.
It smolders along his ribcage as he staggers back.
His head tilts toward the star-dusted sky and he howls.
A cocky grin takes residence on my face as all the ways I will make him pay flip through my head.
I crack my neck with two sharp twists of my head, calling my flames in full force to my fingertips again.
I lift my hands to unleash my wrath when a boulder plows into my gut.
Not a boulder but Zekel’s gigantic fist. I skid across the ground on my ass, my head craned back as he rears up on his hind legs, looming over me.
I hold my hands out, preparing to blast him again, but stop short.
Raelle, soaked in blood and heaving for her next breath, moves around the bodies littering the ground. One careful step at a time, she creeps forward. She locks eyes with me and places a shaking hand on Zekel’s leg.
I’ve faced death time and time again, but nothing compares to the dread pulling me under when Zekel glances back at her. She doesn’t so much as quake under his stare. Her eyes flutter closed and her other hand wraps around the Imperium. He spreads his fingers, his eyes narrowed in on her.
My heart hammers in my chest, pounding nails into my stomach. Regret bombards me, churning until it’s climbing my throat and suffocating me. I shouldn’t have let her do this, I think while scurrying forward.
Zekel’s claws cut through the air, aiming for my parah. She has seconds at best before her life is ripped away.
Light explodes, casting everything in a pure white glow. The flash burns my eyes, but I forge on, unable to see.
“Raelle!” I scream, her name thick on my dry tongue. My hands pat the ground, searching for anything to let me know she still stands.
A dingy figure crawls through the bleached fog, her brown eyes wide and her forehead creased with worry. War rages on around us, but I know peace at the sight of her round, freckled cheeks and parted pink lips.
I glance past Raelle’s shoulder to Zekel’s naked body twitching on the ground. His shoulder-length golden hair is drenched with sweat and his face is contorted in pain. He is done. No longer a threat.
“You did it,” I whisper to her as if saying it too loudly will reverse the Imperium’s power.
She kneels before me and runs her fingertips under my eyes, brushing away the tears that pooled in them from the Imperium’s blast of power. “I had a fantastic teacher,” she says with a chuckle. “Are you all right?”
I release a long breath. “Ye—”
Zekel rolls to his side and grabs the sword of a fallen Pliris warrior.
Life slows almost to a stop he lunges at me at the speed of light.
I thrust Raelle out of the way. The blade plunges forward, aiming for my heart.
My flames burn in my palms. They won’t stop the impact, but I’ll take him down, burning with me.
A blast hurls me to the side. My head slams into the cobblestones.
The pain travels down my spine and spreads to my chest. A bloodcurdling scream rings in my ears as something wet falls on my neck.
I mindlessly brush it away as my gaze wanders to the side where a black spotted jaguar stands on Zekel’s chest. Ashavee clenches his neck between her sharp teeth, growling as she bites down.
His cries transform into gurgled attempts to breathe while he beats his fists against her ribs.
With the slick sound of tearing flesh, his arms go limp at his side.
No sooner has death washed over him and she snatches the Theria from the dead king’s mauled neck.
It’s done.
Ashavee has ended the war.
Like the gravitational pull of the sun, I lock eyes with Raelle. She’s safe, perfect, and so fucking beautiful. My relief vanishes as her lips part with a sob. Her sword falls to the ground as her legs give out beneath her.
I open my mouth to ask her what’s wrong when another wet drop falls on my cheek.
I finally take notice of myself and the weight pressing me to the ground.
My gaze slowly moves to above me, to the wide jade eyes staring back at me.
The breath I take lodges in my chest and my brain becomes foggy.
For seconds, hours, days, I exist in nothing but warm mahogany, fierce loyalty, and unwavering strength.
“Greer?” I choke.
“Ky?” she breathes.
I turn us to our sides and look down as my chest pulls away from hers. The crimson tip of the sword that Zekel held protrudes from the center of her torso. The impact it had on me is barely a scrape, but Greer...
“It’s all right. You’re fine. You’re fine.” My voice doesn’t sound like mine. It’s laced with naivety and false promises. Words I have no right to utter but can’t stop from slipping out of my mouth.
My hands move of their own accord, first attempting to stop the bleeding at her chest. The tip of the sword pierces my skin, adding to the scarlet stain spreading across her tunic.
Frantically, I reach behind her, sliding my palm below her shoulders.
The blade slices into the flesh between my thumb and index finger.
It doesn’t hurt, not in comparison to my crumbling heart.
Every beat pulverizes it into shards—little specks of dust that slowly drift away.
“You’re going to be all right,” I say again, willing my words to come to fruition.
“You are a,” she takes a deep, labored breath, “terrible liar.”
“It doesn’t matter. I always got by on my good looks anyway,” I say with a hollow laugh, trying to draw a smile from her. Anything to show me that matters aren’t as bad as they appear to be.
She lays her hand over my chest. “It is your heart. You won everyone over… with… your… heart.”
“Don’t. Don’t you fucking dare, Greer Rojas. Don’t talk to me like you’re leaving.”
Tears well in her eyes and slide down her cheeks. In all the years I trained and fought at her side, never has she cried. This woman has been the epitome of strength and resilience. She is my rock and so many things I aspire to be.
Her chin trembles and she croaks, “Goodbye was always inevitable.” She gasps for breath. “Hazard of the job, but I don’t regret a single moment of it.” A cough rattles through her and a trickle of blood flows from the corner of her mouth. “Especially since you became my best friend.”
I grit my teeth and grip the braid running down her back like I can hold her to this world if I don’t let it go. “Your friendship is vital to me, Greer. I am who I am because of you, and I still have a lot to learn. I need you to stay and teach me more,” I say, the last words catching on a sob.
She weakly shakes her head. “I’ve always followed you, Kyron. You were the best of us from the start. I always knew that.”
“No, that’s not true.”
“Yes. It is. And it was my greatest honor giving my life for Pliris’ king… for you.” She brushes my hair back from my face with trembling fingers. “Go on now, say what you must. Don’t let me go with regrets.”
Fuck this. Fuck final words and letting go.
My voice is unsteady as I fulfill her final request. “Thank you for always standing at my side, for kicking my ass when you knew I could do better. Thank you for listening and trusting me.” I push past the sorrow building in my airway, but I don’t fight my tears.
They flow freely. “I can never properly tell you just how much your friendship meant to me, but fuck, I’m trying, Greer. I’m really trying.”
With shallow breaths and heavy-lidded eyes, she whispers, “I know.”
That’s the only peace I find in this moment. If she is to leave this world, she knows how much she means to me. She won’t leave not knowing that she was needed and that the last thing I wanted was to let her go.
I kiss her forehead, her skin clammy against my lips. “I love you. I love you so fucking much.”
“Love. You. Ky.” She releases all the air from her lungs and the light vanishes in her eyes.
I pull her to my chest as my body rattles with grief.
She was the keeper of my secrets and the force that pushed me to do better.
We slayed the monsters together and remained each other’s cornerstones through every trial life hurled at us.
Many have physically tested me, helped me to become strong on the battlefield, but Greer.
.. She made me stronger in ways only a best friend can.
I hold her to me, rocking her limp body. Everyone may not feel it, but I do. The fragment of her light is missing in the world. The sun will never warm in quite the same way and the darkness will settle just a bit deeper. No day will ever be just right again because she is missing from it.