Chapter 38
Lexi
“We got company!” Lexi yelled, not moving.
Not even looking away from Daisy. Instead, she started using her increased power to pull her spirit people to her.
They were in that mishmash of fae spirit, with the strange magic and odd storms, but she had figured out enough to learn the lay of the land.
She used that now, since the god blocking her way was currently busy.
“Lexi, are you animating these cadavers?” Bria called in. “I really hope so, because their power feels intense.”
“Fuck,” Lexi muttered, working on those prongs. She would not leave her kid. They were so close. “Bria, get active. Get those spirits out of those cadavers!” she yelled. “What’s the story with Daisy’s body?” she asked Faelynn and Kieran.
“She’s close,” the female fae said, sweat beading her brow. She held one of the items—a chalice. It glowed in her hand. “The body suffered extensive magical trauma and has been shut down for a long time, but she’s coming along. She’s coming back.”
“I’m trying to will myself, for what good that’ll do,” Daisy’s spirit said, holding on.
The prongs of her soul kept breaking, the body trying to give up and get her out. Lexi fixed first one, then the other, docking her tightly and putting as much spirit into the prongs as she could.
“Jack!” Kieran yelled, pumping Daisy’s chest to get her heart working. They were moving toward the red line. Healing her needed to happen now.
Jack jogged in, his eyes tight. “Yes, sir?”
“Take over.” Kieran jerked his head to bring Jack over. “I’m needed out there.”
“Of course.” Jack kicked the other chalices out of the way and slid in beside Daisy. His hand moved in as Kieran’s moved away. “Come on, Gremlin,” he murmured through clenched teeth. “Come on. You don’t die, remember? You don’t get saved. You save yourself. Save yourself.”
“Can you tell him that that is very unhelpful right now?” Daisy drawled. “I don’t have hands with which to pump my own heart.”
Lexi repeated it, and the handsome fae at Daisy’s side looked at Lexi hard. “You can actually hear spirits?”
“Don’t you start,” she muttered as Jack pumped and Faelynn did…whatever it was she was doing.
“It is not uncommon to hear spirits,” the old fae in the room said, looking on. “But repairing the body to accept the soul…that is uncommon. How very interesting. I have so many questions.”
“He’s like a smart version of Frank,” Lexi mumbled. “Equally as annoying.”
“I heard that!” Frank said from just outside the door. He’d definitely run away from that god the first time and was now keeping his distance.
“Come on, Gremlin,” Jack pushed, bending to blow air into Daisy’s mouth. “Come on. Don’t stay a spirit. It is not fun. You’ll hate it.”
“Also not fucking helpful,” Daisy said, which Lexi repeated, minus the swear. Daisy chuckled.
A grin worked up Jack’s face. “She’s got fight. She can do this. Just hang on, Daisy. That was my problem. I didn’t hang on long enough. Lexi will fix you. Just hang in there.”
“It’s Faelynn we need,” Lexi said as yells rang through the halls. “Fuck.” She was needed out there. An army of undead required a Spirit Walker. “What the fuck is up with that god? Usually they are happy to have their people live. Mine is ecstatic I can save people as well as kill.”
“These gods aren’t like yours, and fae aren’t like people,” the handsome male said. “The gods here are using me for sport in their mundane existence. And now…they are using you as well.”
“As the gods will it,” the older male said.
“You should go, Tarian,” Faelynn told the handsome male. “You’re needed there more than here.”
He leaned down and put his forehead to Daisy’s. His eyes closed tightly, his words whispered but impassioned. Urgent. “C’mon, little dove. Fight your way back to me. Back to your family.”
“This isn’t the time, and I know that, but we’ve got a score to settle regarding her,” Jack told the fae—Tarian.
“She won’t let you settle that score,” Tarian told Jack without moving away from Daisy. “We’ll just have to ask forgiveness rather than permission.”
“I can fucking hear you,” Daisy groused. Lexi didn’t bother repeating that.
“Hack up those bodies!” Bria yelled. “Hack them all up. Now is not the time for a weak stomach, Jerry. Get in there!”
Mia popped out from behind the veil, followed by John.
“Go!” Lexi shouted. “Help with the spirits coming our way.”
They didn’t need to be told twice. Mia disappeared, and John ran for the door.
Daisy’s body gasped. She started coughing, and Tarian cupped her cheeks, nearly knocking Faelynn out of the way.
“Wait, Tarian,” Faelynn scolded him. “She’s not out of danger yet. Back off.”
To his credit, Tarian did, giving her space, though his eyes didn’t leave Daisy’s. He cared about her very much. Very, very much. Lexi’s heart softened.
Daisy coughed and clutched the pretty item held against her palm. She pulled it tightly to her chest before reaching back for Tarian’s hand.
“That’s it,” Jack said, backing off now. “There you go.”
Magic pumped—Lexi could feel it. She wasn’t sure if it was spirit or in the air around them, but she could feel it building higher. The items all around them started to pulse. They hummed in waves, a throbbing sound.
“No, what are you doing?” Tarian sounded panicked. “You didn’t survive it the first time.”
“Trust me,” Daisy wheezed, and they stared at each other for a long moment.
He nodded, as if she’d said something else. Reading her mind. She seemed to be okay with that.
She closed her eyes, and that strange current moved around them. It was so like the feeling of spirit that Lexi wondered why she couldn’t see it.
“We’ve got it,” Faelynn said with a smile. “She learns fast. Thank the gods she learns fast.”
“Yes, she is very astute for their kind—” Eldric intoned.
“Fuck your gods,” Daisy interrupted, laboring through a scratchy throat.
Tarian laughed and brought her hand up before turning it over and kissing her pulse point. He breathed an immense sigh of relief against her skin. It must’ve been an inside joke, though Lexi didn’t see the humor in it. She wholeheartedly agreed. Tarian laughed harder.
Tarian
I feel like I’ve been chewed up by a darkrend and spat out again, Daisy thought. Fuck.
She cataloged her issues, from her body and head aching to her limbs feeling like they were numb and tingly.
But she was alive. She was fucking alive! Tarian couldn’t believe it. He couldn’t be more grateful. Somehow, Daisy’s human guardian had worked spirit in a way he’d never heard of. She’d even ripped her out of Nvran’s clutches.
I’m not in any shape for what fuckery is going on out there, she thought, and he couldn’t help chuckling despite the situation. She’d just returned from the dead, and she was still as surly as ever. She was still his little dove, delicate and beautiful and a vicious killer. Perfection.
Her family and Tarian’s Fallen yelled directions and warnings at each other out in the hall. They weren’t working together. Tarian needed to unite them, or Daisy’s rescue would be in vain.
“Okay, let’s go.” She struggled to sit up.
“Not yet. You aren’t healed enough yet—” Faelynn started.
“Her soul will hold.” Daisy’s guardian—the angel of the stars—sat back and wiped sweat from her forehead. Lexi, they called her. Alexis, maybe for him, given he was a stranger. Her gaze was watery, but she appeared relieved.
“Why did you come for me?” Daisy demanded. “It’s dangerous here. You shouldn’t have done that!”
That was supposed to come out angry. Her mind pinged with anger, anyway. She’d thought she was the weakest link in their family. She hated to think they’d put themselves in danger for her. Instead, her tone was heavy with emotion. Love that filled her whole body.
I’ll forever be grateful, she thought, looking upon Alexis. Grateful for my family’s extreme power that helped them survive getting here, and for giving me my second miracle. For reuniting me with Tarian. For giving us a chance to stay together.
Now it was Tarian’s heart that filled his whole body. He held her hand tightly, barely stopping himself from pulling her into his arms. She needed to speak to her guardian angel right now.
“Don’t be a fucking idiot,” Alexis told her as a tear overflowed. He barked out an unexpected laugh. Yes, they were family. “Of course we were going to come for you. We will always come for you.”
“I owe you a punch in the face for swearing,” Daisy rasped, laughing.
“Do as I say, not as I do.” Alexis reached forward to grab Daisy’s hands, and Tarian let her. She helped her up. “Jack, can you carry her—”
“I’ve got it.” Tarian scooped her up and stood, hugging her close. He looked down at Alexis, ignoring…Jack, his name was, looming close. Thoughts of vicious actions filtered through Jack’s mind. They were justified, so Tarian didn’t pay them any attention.
“Thank you,” he told Alexis. “For saving her. I know you didn’t do it for me, but thank you all the same.”
Daisy tapped him. “I’m fine. Kieran needs your help—”
“Thane, go active!” Kieran yelled from the hall.
Daisy startled, and Alexis jumped up.
“Thane is…” Daisy let the pure, absolute destruction that was Thane play through her head. He seemed like a darkrend in human form but without the direction. Without a shred of control.
Tarian started to jog toward the hall, but Alexis grabbed his shoulder and turned him.
She put her finger in his face, and her eyes flashed.
“You keep her alive, do you hear me? As a gift to her, I am not killing you, but if I suspect your ill intentions for one moment, I’ll rip out your soul, stuff it back in, and make you dance. ”
It’s her favorite threat, Daisy told him. Also, she will do that.
He didn’t need to be told. Various examples of her doing just that flashed through her mind.