Chapter Nineteen
Reign
Noxus, for a terrifying moment I thought I’d lost her again.
Sweeping a lock of platinum hair behind Aelia’s ear, I tightened my hold around her waist, nestling us deeper beneath the warm blanket of my bed.
A soft sigh parted her lips, her breath skating across the undone laces of my tunic and skimming over my chest, and I forced the suffocating fear aside, unwilling to wake my cuoré.
We survived.
More than that, she’d been incredible. Not only had she managed to summon a radiant shield around the entire campus, but she’d also tossed the Night Fae King right out of her mind.
When Aelia’s eyes had glazed over in the middle of the battle, I knew Helroth had taken control. I could feel him through the cuorem, that invasive, sickening zar surging through the mystical strands that connected us.
The only good thing was that if I could feel him, it meant I could fight him.
The first time he’d stolen into her mind, I hadn’t been aware of it. Now, everything had changed. The cuorem was growing stronger, our bond more resilient. At this rate, I was certain we’d soon be able to overpower him all together.
Aelia stirred beside me again.
Brilliant light seeped into my chamber, bathing the dim room in Raysa’s glory. As if nothing had happened last night, as if nearly half of the campus and dozens of students hadn’t been razed by Helroth’s resurrected Court.
Glancing around the room, I took them all in, a blur of limbs, blankets and utter exhaustion.
With half of the student dormitories destroyed, I’d taken them all in: Rue, Symon, Liora, Devin, and even Ariadne.
The latter had begged me to allow Belmore in, but after all that Aelia had suffered at his hands upon her arrival at the academy, I refused.
The arrogant Fae slept outside the door, and he’d been lucky I’d given him a blanket.
At Aelia’s insistence. Ruhl and Gideon had returned to their side of the Luminoc once the Night Fae had retreated.
It was only when the invaders realized they had no hope of permeating Aelia’s impenetrable shield that they’d scurried off into the Wilds.
They’d been left with only two options once my mate had let loose her power: retreat or die at the fangs of Solanthus and Phantom. A few of the other skyriders had joined the fight, as well, but most were powerless against the serpentine beasts of smoke.
Gods, it had been a massacre.
If Aelia hadn’t managed that shield, the Conservatory would no longer be standing. By the time King Elian’s Royal Guardians arrived, there would have been little more than bones and ash remaining.
Which reminded me, I had a bone to pick with that dawdling bastard.
I’d sent word of the attack before we left Arcanum and still, it had taken his forces nearly a half hour to arrive. Had he held them back on purpose?
A part of me hated to even consider that, but how could I not? The untimely death of the true king’s heir would be very convenient for the Light royal.
“Morning…” Aelia’s rough voice dismissed all further contemplation.
I peered down at my mate and pressed a kiss to her forehead.
“It certainly is,” I whispered, attempting not to wake the others.
After the chaos of last night, I would give anything for a few private moments with my cuoré.
I needed the reassuring feel of her all around me, but this would have to do for now. “How do you feel?”
“Not bad, considering.”
“Considering the enormous amount of energy you must have expended last night.” And continued to expend, maintaining the wards around the academy.
She nodded, nuzzling into my chest. “Do you suppose there’s anything left of the banquet hall?”
“I’m afraid not.” The Hall of Elysia had been one of the first reduced to rubble. “Hungry, starlight?”
“Starved.”
“I’ll send word to Ruhl to see if he and Gideon can pilfer some food from the Arcanum reserves.”
Aelia glanced around the chamber at the sleeping Fae stretched out across the floor. “There will be hundreds of hungry mouths to feed, Reign, not just mine.”
“But your mouth is the only one I care about.” Gripping her chin, I pulled her face to mine and captured her lips.
The kiss was much too short, but I couldn’t risk the moment becoming too heated with a roomful of my students.
Reluctantly pulling away, I whispered, “I’m sure Elian will send supplies along with the extra healers he promised today. ”
Last night, once the campus had been secured, I’d found Draven blockaded in his office.
He trembled beneath his desk like a coward while the students he was charged with died at the hands of the ruthless Fae.
He, too, claimed to have sent for reinforcements when the battle had begun, but who knew if he spoke the truth?
At least, the king’s healers had arrived shortly after his Royal Guardians.
They’d been just in time to help collect the wounded. The dead still littered the academy grounds.
Today would be a grisly day.
Ash coated the courtyard like snow. It clung to my boots, my leathers, and the bloodied wrapping on my palm where hellfire had met my flesh.
Every breath tasted of smoke and loss. The sun was high in the sky, but its golden light couldn’t quite cut through the deathly pall that hung over Luce.
Not with so many voices silenced. Not with the scent of charred flesh still curling through the air.
I stepped over the cracked remains of the Hall of Elysia, careful not to jostle the scorched beam that hung precariously above.
Somewhere beneath the rubble, Symon had heard groaning earlier.
Now, Rue and a few of the Arcanum students Ruhl had gathered this morning were digging through it, their fingers raw and faces grim.
Aelia knelt nearby, her hands wrapped around the body of a fallen student. Light Fae, a first-year. The boy’s face was frozen in shock, mouth parted like he hadn’t expected to die so young. None of them had.
Her brow furrowed as she eased the boy’s arm across his chest, lips moving in a silent prayer I couldn’t quite make out. The cuorem hummed low between us, laced with sorrow and exhaustion, but also resolve. She was still fighting. Even in the face of all this destruction.
“Let me,” I said softly, crouching beside her.
She didn’t argue. Just leaned into my shoulder as I lifted the boy and carried him toward the long pyre being constructed at the edge of the training field. Dozens of students were already laid to rest in rows. Some wrapped in sheets, others barely more than scorched bones.
Aelia followed silently, fingers brushing mine as I set the boy down alongside the others.
“I hate this,” she whispered. “The stillness of it. The way the training field has gone silent, and suddenly you realize how many voices will never fill it again.”
“I know,” I murmured, looping an arm around her waist and pulling her close. “But they died protecting something worth saving. And we’ll make damn sure it wasn’t in vain.”
Aelia’s head dropped against my chest. Her hair smelled like smoke and starlight. “I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to forget their faces.”
“Don’t,” I said, tipping her chin up to meet her eyes. “Remember them. Every single one. We owe them that.”
A soft snort left her lips. “Gods, Reign. Where did the cold, ruthless Shadow Fae I met all those months ago disappear to?”
A small smile tugged at my mouth despite everything. “I suppose that’s your influence on me.”
“Mm. Must be.” Her fingers slipped easily into mine. “Come on, Professor Darkthorn. There’s still much to do.”
We made our way toward the shattered remains of the dormitory in the Hall of Luminescence.
Most of the roof had caved in, and part of the eastern wall lay in ruins, a cascade of glittering stone and wood littered with ash-soaked bedding and half-burned scrolls.
Ruhl and Gideon were already there, grim-faced as they shifted debris aside.
“I thought I’d never see the day,” Ruhl muttered, hauling a scorched bedframe off a collapsed stairwell. “The infamous Shadow Fae professor, willingly participating in manual labor.”
“I was about to say the same to you, my prince,” I replied dryly. “You’re right though. You’ve caught me. This is all an elaborate ploy to improve my image at the Conservatory.”
Aelia rolled her eyes. “He’s had worse plans.”
“I’ll take that as a compliment.” I leaned closer and brushed soot from her soft cheek.
Symon and Rue reappeared with a trio of Arcanum students, dragging out a still-intact weapons rack and a collection of salvaged books. Rue looked relieved to have found something not burned beyond recognition.
“There’s still some hope for the library in the Hall of Enlightenment,” she said, hugging the stack like a lifeline. “Most of the Night Fae went after the dorms and the classrooms. Maybe they hate the professors’ boring lectures too.” She turned to me with a smirk. “Present company excepted.”
A hollow laugh rippled through the group.
Even amidst the ruin, there were moments like those. There were flickers of warmth, of light. They didn’t erase the horror, but they softened the edges.
We worked for hours. Hauling bodies. Clearing paths. Binding wounds. Elisa coordinated efforts from what remained of the infirmary wing along with the healers the king had sent. Phantom and Solanthus kept watch in the skies.
By the time the sun dipped low along the horizon again, the pyres were ready.
Draven stood atop a dais, murmuring a prayer to Raysa, or perhaps he was cursing Noxus—either was plausible with that male.
Aelia and I stood shoulder to shoulder, the rest of Flare Squad behind us, and Ruhl, Gideon and the other Shadow Fae students lingering nearby.
The headmaster ticked his head at Aelia. “Will you have Solanthus do the honors?”
Her head dipped slowly and, seconds later, a torrent of dragonfire lit up the sky. The scorching heat razed over our heads, warming the tip of my nose.
“They deserve more than fire and silence,” Aelia whispered. “More than their remains sent home in a gilded urn.”
I reached for her hand. “Then we give them more. We give their remaining families and friends a future.”
She turned to me, eyes shadowed but steady. “Do you think this will be enough? Do you think Elian and Tenebris will finally see the truth now? That the Night Court won’t stop until all of Aetheria burns?”
I looked past the flames to the broken ruins of Luce.
“I think this is the moment that forces them to choose,” I said. “There’s no more pretending. No more neutrality. Either they stand together or we fall apart.”
She squeezed my hand, and I felt the bond between us settle, a steady thrum of belief.
“Then we make them see,” she said. “Together.”
“Always.” I leaned down, brushing a kiss to her temple.
The fire roared in front of us. The dead would not be forgotten. And from their ashes, we would rise. Light and Shadow, side by side.
And gods help Helroth when we did.