Chapter 48 Eviana #3
“I suppose it’s the cunt’s you share with the dragon?”
Eviana gasped when Theon shot forward, gripping Valter’s hair and yanking his head back. Valter opened his mouth with a pained groan, and Theon poured his drink down his throat, Valter coughing and gagging.
“I told you not to speak of her again,” Theon snarled, that control gone. “The only one who deserves to claim your death more than me is my mother.”
“Your…” Valter’s eyes flew to the other side of the room, and so did Eviana’s where she found Caris standing just inside the door.
The stone on her upper arms was gone, and darkness flowed around her like a midnight mist. She glided forward, and as she passed Tessa, the female handed her a gold dagger.
Not a blade of black to end the former Arius Lord, but a blade of light.
Caris stopped in front of Valter, and the male stared back at her.
“Finally taking your vengeance then?” Valter sneered, holding himself up with his desk as his legs trembled from Axel’s blades.
Caris said nothing, but she looked over her shoulder, locking eyes with Eviana. Caris glanced at Priya, then back to her, and Eviana gave a nod of her head, smoothing her hand down Priya’s hair once more.
“It’s almost over,” Eviana whispered, even though Priya couldn’t hear her over Lange’s magic.
But Lange heard her.
“It is, bellana,” he said. “You’re almost free.”
“You took my place in this kingdom,” Caris said, her tone strong and unwavering. “You took my son. My love. My life.” She lifted her other hand, her fingers covered in her darkness, and she reached inside Valter’s chest and gripped his heart, squeezing.
Valter gasped, his knees giving out, but Theon and Axel were there, holding him up. Making him face his comeuppance.
“And still this is not for me in the end,” Caris said, her voice taking on the edge of death she came from. “It is for everyone who suffered because of you. Me. My sons. The people of the kingdom you stole from my family.”
Her hand tightened again, and Valter’s eyes rolled back before she loosened her grip.
“But in the end, this is for Eviana and everything you stole from her,” Caris said, and then she yanked her hand back a moment before her other hand sank the gold dagger into the muscle.
Axel and Theon released him, letting Valter drop to the floor as if he were nothing, and they stepped back, turning away. Eviana knew they would never think of the male again.
She nodded at Lange, and he pulled his hands back. Priya shifted, and Eviana sucked in a sharp breath as her chest tightened. She reached up, smoothing her daughter’s hair back from her brow before taking her face in her hands.
“It’s over, Priya. You were so brave,” she murmured softly.
The girl’s eyes were haunted, her face tearstained as her gaze bounced around Eviana’s face.
Eviana was doing the same. Taking in her turquoise eyes. The scattering of freckles across her nose and cheeks. Her wild auburn hair.
She sucked in a shuddering breath, her chest constricting even more. “You are such a bright and beautiful flower,” Eviana murmured, her hands slipping from Priya’s face.
The world tilted a little, and Lange caught her shoulders. “Easy, bellana,” he said, brow furrowing in alarm. “Let’s get these off you.”
He gently pulled the bands from her wrists, her power springing forth at being free. The few potted plants in the room reached for her, leaves stretching, and she smiled.
But removing the bands wouldn’t do what Lange thought it would. Her power wasn’t going to replenish. It wasn’t going to heal her or strengthen her.
Eviana lifted a shaky hand and turned her palm up, a seedling appearing in the center. Priya gasped, staring in amazement as the seedling opened and grew. Sprouting and unfurling until a perfect bright pink bellana flower formed.
Priya reached for it, twirling it between her fingers. A wide smile spread across her face, and Eviana marveled at it.
Until her chest tightened further and she was sinking down, her head in Lange’s lap.
“Eviana? What’s wrong?” Lange demanded, eyes darting from her to Priya and back.
“Take her,” she rasped. “Don’t let her see.”
“See what?”
But someone was there, lifting her daughter into strong arms. She blinked as the room blurred, finding Corbin’s features tight with grief as he stared down at her.
“Don’t tell her,” Eviana whispered. “Don’t tell her who I am.”
“What? Why?” Lange demanded, trying and failing to keep the panic from his voice.
“I don’t want her to remember…this,” she rasped, each breath becoming harder. Shallower. “But you swore…”
“Eviana, stop,” Lange ordered, her face in his hands as he leaned over her. “Stop. We’ll get a Healer. Cienna. Someone. We’ll—
“You swore she would be part of your family,” Eviana forced out. “That she wouldn’t…be alone.”
“Eviana!”
Corbin was there then, leaning over her, and Eviana could just make out Caris holding Priya in her arms, softly discussing the flower. Priya was none the wiser, listening intently to whatever Caris was saying. She was a mother. She understood.
“It’s okay, nightmare,” Corbin said gently, taking her hand in his. “We’ve got her.”
Eviana gave him a weak smile. “Thank you.”
“No,” Lange snarled, shaking his head in denial. “No, you didn’t… You hauled us all over the continent for her and now… No.”
“She always knew it would come to this, Lange,” Corbin said softly, ever the observant one. “It’s why she took us with her.”
He understood. Good. That was good.
“Make sure…she knows the trees,” she rasped.
Corbin nodded, his throat bobbing with emotion. “Yeah, nightmare. We will.”
Because there was always a cost. For every good, there was an evil. For every light, there was a dark. For every sacrifice, there was a reward.
And hers was getting to watch her daughter admire a flower, bright and beautiful, as she took her last breath. Not as a Source on her knees for her Master, but as a mother knowing her daughter would never have to be what she had become.