Chapter 59
CHAPTER FIFTY-NINE
EVONY
But daughters take caution—Herrah lost all in the gods’ first fall.
– Eghan Family Stone.
Evony – Aedrialis, Sultira
Fear pulsed through my chest as I dropped to my knees, peering through the wide gaps of the balustrade where Ronan and Vander faced each other in the courtyard below. Another rumble echoed, this time shaking the very foundation of Mount Telum, my knees bumping against the stony floor.
I pressed my back against the thick curve of the marble post. My heart banged against my ribs as I slowed my breathing and strained my ears to hear what was being said below.
“—no reason for you to be near the sewers beneath Mount Telum,” Ronan continued, authority riding his low voice. “You’re hiding something.”
Light flickered from the torches lining the courtyard, and two captains flanked Ronan as they approached Vander. The fresh scratches near his eye were red and angry.
Vander straightened his shoulders as the soldiers approached, and he cocked his head. Marian’s face appeared in the shadows of the overhang below, and she stared at Vander. Her brows knit together as the blood drained from her face.
“Marian,” Ronan began, a question forming in his voice. “What are—”
Marian’s arm lifted, and she signed the words with a quick snap of her wrist. Her wide eyes were locked on Vander, who had stilled at the center of the courtyard.
“Messenger god.”
The hair on my arms rose, my blood stilling, as the final piece to some deadly puzzle clicked perfectly into place. The events of the past several months spun through my mind, confirming the devastating conclusion Marian had come to.
Sintarrak was here.
We knew enough from Lord Pavel and Nerissa’s short visit that the rubelline hidden in the construction of Mount Telum had activated when the gate of the world had opened on Kayj. And that the Embodied, the beings whose powers were stolen by the Bellators, were coming for them.
Lyvia had said the Messenger god, the Impostor, had been watching her for years now… Silver eyes appeared in weak minds. He was here, but he wasn’t just watching through Vander’s eyes…
I shifted, getting a better look at Vander’s gray eyes. His smile twisted into something ugly, and understanding punched me in the gut.
Sintarrak was inside Vander.
He was controlling him.
Sintarrak had to have jumped into Vander’s body before he arrived in Aedrialis, where magic no longer worked.
My breath came in quick huffs, and I glanced at the glowing walls of Mount Telum, suddenly grateful for the strange nullifying magic the rubelline stones gifted us.
Sintarrak might have arrived on the shores of Sultira, but he was powerless here.
Ronan’s eyes remained pinned on Vander, not a flicker of surprise in his expression.
If he hadn’t figured it out, he had suspected something was off.
His hand rested on the blade at his belt as he murmured something to the captains flanking him.
They took slow steps, tracking a long arc to either side of the man in the center.
Vander’s eyes ignited from dull gray to living silver as Sintarrak’s smile widened into a sinister grin. He turned his face to Marian and clapped his hands softly.
“I wondered if I should have put you down as well,” he murmured.
My stomach clenched. Father Marcus.
“His mind may have been flayed, but the old man certainly saw more than he should have.”
Marian’s face tightened, and Sintarrak took a slow step toward her.
“Sintarrak,” Ronan barked across the courtyard as his men flanked the creature, “You are under arrest for the murder of Father Marcus, and—”
Ronan’s words were cut off as a blast echoed across the stones. Mount Telum shook with unimaginable force, and I braced myself against the marble stone. My quiver of arrows tipped over.
Sintarrak turned slowly, his head moving before the rest of his body as his light brows pulled together, and he flashed his teeth.
“You have no power here,” Ronan spat, and he gave a nod to his men.
His blade sang in the silence that followed as he unsheathed his sword, angling it toward the Embodied.
The captains drew their blades, and I slipped the rubelline arrow from my quiver as I quietly adjusted my footing, balancing on the balls of my feet with my bow in hand.
An unholy laugh ripped through Sintarrak’s lips, the sound like the cracking of bone, as his head tipped back. The soldiers converged, and I drew my bow. The muscles in my upper back burned as the familiar scrape of the bowstring pushed against my calloused fingertips.
Sintarrak stretched Vander’s long arms to either side of him as he looked to the skies, still dark and ominous as night refused to give way to the approaching dawn. A bellowing roar cut through the air, and I fell back as the stone below me rumbled.
I regained my footing, and my bow slowly fell as my eyes landed on a turret in the distance. The blazing red of the rubelline stones suddenly guttered out as the massive, speared section of Mount Telum crumbled.
Screams erupted in the distance.
Another roar echoed from deep beneath the castle, and Ronan’s words replayed in my mind. Sintarrak had been in the sewers…
“What have you done—” Ronan’s voice was cut short by the bellow of another beast, its scream tearing through the air as another small section of Mount Telum crumpled.
My head slid against the marble balustrade as I stole a glance over the edge once more. Marian had taken cover under the overhang as dust and stones slipped over the edge.
Sintarrak was destroying Mount Telum, deactivating the massive magic nullifier by breaking through the castle.
My face snapped to the edge of the battlement, where a massive, winged creature crawled up the side of the castle walls.
Its membranous wings flared to the sides before it slammed its spiked tail into the high walls.
I caught myself as the stone exploded, and the glowing red color flickered out as it fell.
The creature screeched and lifted itself through the air, swooping overhead and landing behind Sintarrak before letting out an earsplitting roar. My hands slapped over my ears, and I pinched my eyes shut.
Another rumble echoed from beneath the castle, and I peered over the rail.
Ronan’s captains hadn’t balked, and more soldiers now surrounded the Embodied and his creature.
A fearless line of warriors surged forward with their blades.
Ronan gripped his longsword with two hands, stepping one foot slowly in front of the other as he faced down a god.
I blew a tight breath through my lips as another turret collapsed in the distance, an explosion of stones blowing out from its weakest point. A different creature ripped through the base, a horror of tentacles and gnashing teeth, its black scales glowing blue.
I blinked.
Its massive, bulbous body sprouted a head of eyes as its tentacles reached through the remaining windows.
It was breaking out of the castle. My mind spun, doing quick calculations and retracing the schematics of Mount Telum, before coming to a devastating conclusion—that these creatures were quietly clawing their way beneath the castle… through the sewers.
My stomach tightened as it twisted, and guilt cut through me.
Vander’s questions about the construction of Mount Telum…
Lyvia’s escape through the sewers. Oh gods, I’d given him every detail of Mount Telum’s weakest points, and now these creatures were destroying the biggest weapon we had against the Embodied.
A sick, plunging feeling melded with a stab of disgrace that arrived with my own stupidity. I’d been despondent, so lonely, that I’d thrown myself at the first friendly face, the first man who had ever shown an interest in me. Gods, I’d been so stupid! Devastation swarmed me.
I did this…
My eyes swept over the northern section of Mount Telum. A faint wave of lightheadedness washed over me at the gravity of the destruction. Dull, white stone scattered in huge piles of debris. Mount Telum was drained of blood.
But not all of it.
The four remaining turrets, including the largest we stood beneath, shone bright red, the rubellines still blazing strong. Only about a third of the castle had been destroyed. I didn’t know how much rubelline was needed to keep Sintarrak at bay, but I didn’t want to find out.
The scent of blood shoved into my nostrils, and a scream ripped from the training yard.
I pulled my head out of my ass and heaved a focused breath.
Soldiers cried out from below as the beast attacked.
The sound of battle merged with the gurgling roar from the tentacled creature in the distance and the cracking of stone.
I crept along the balustrade as soldiers began rushing along the battlement, barking orders and arming themselves. I paused as I reached the other end of the courtyard with a better vantage point. I gripped the rail, and I risked a glance, keeping my head low.
Chaos erupted below. The beast tore through soldiers, hurling their broken bodies across the courtyard. Ronan’s captains had been downed, one with his head decapitated and the other with a large gash through his abdomen, his intestines spilling out.
Ronan’s curly hair dripped red, and a large gash cut across his forehead. His lips curled into a snarl as he stepped with steadfast precision, angling his blade at the Embodied, before he lunged.
Sintarrak held a single longsword in Vander’s strong hand, blocking the blow too easily. He shoved the high steward back, and then the Embodied paused, his eyes fluttering shut as he tilted his head back.
At that moment, a lightness swept over me, as if a veil had been lifted.
My eyes caught on the ribbon-like whorls of the courtesan’s colorful white band that wrapped around my finger, and I brushed my thumb along its edge, feeling comfort, feeling safe, despite the real danger I was in.
A flash of blue and violet light sparkled from my chest, the colors of the noctilux drawing my attention.
My hand pressed against the lucky arrowhead glowing wildly, and a moment later, it gave off a gentle… something.
What the—
A punch of air burst from below, and my ears hollowed out.
The center of my eyes reeled as a blast of light followed in its wake.
The force of it knocked me on my ass, and I blinked against the stars forming in my vision.
I scrambled back to my feet, gripping my bow and nocking a rubelline arrow before it was too late.
Everyone in the courtyard had crumpled.
Ronan, the soldiers, and even the winged serpent had fallen to the ground as the light settled in the air like dust. Heads lifted slowly, their faces drawn back in horror as they fell on Sintarrak.
Vander’s body pulsed with power. A sheen of ribbon-like oil emanated from his form like the heat rising from a stone surface in the middle of summer. His eyes blazed an unholy silver, like a light shining on a thousand daggers in the dark.
Sintarrak dropped the longsword Vander held and stretched his hand out to the bleeding winged serpent. A line of blue light encased the creature before it began to stir again. He was healing it…
The Embodied whipped his head to the side, where Ronan struggled to stand. The high steward reached into his cloak for what looked to be a rubelline dagger.
Sintarrak curled Vander’s lips into a sinister smile, and a whorl of white flames formed at the center of his palms. The air around me heated as the Embodied gathered more and more fire-like power in his hands, those sinister silver eyes still pinned on Ronan.
The bow pressed against the soft spot between my thumb and forefinger.
The familiar yew wood slid into that calloused space like it was a friend shaking my hand.
The fletching slipped through my middle and forefingers before they landed on the bow’s hard string, its feathers a soft, reassuring caress.
I murmured the rubelline spell beneath my breath, the only bit of magic I’d ever mastered, and I straightened.
Sintarrak’s silver eyes landed on what had to be the Celestyn Bone at my chest, carved down and disguised as an arrowhead all this time.
He stretched Vander’s lips into a gut-churning grin.
As he turned to face me, my bloody foot hit the top of the balustrade, and I leaped.
The squeezing burn of the center muscles down my back steadied me as I brought the fletching to the center of my nose and chin. My eyes never left the searing silver of the living god standing below.
A stripe of moonlight cut through the courtyard, and a cry tore from my lips as I let the string slip through my fingers, the blazing red arrow tip flying straight for the center of Sintarrak’s chest. Time stood still as I fell. The red arrow cut through the air, but Sintarrak’s smile widened.
A muffled bang pressed against my mind, like someone pounding from beneath a layer of ice, like someone was trying to get in, and my body continued to fall to the broken courtyard below.
The arrow followed my intent, its point heading straight for the broad chest of Sintarrak, and my breath waited on the edge of relief.
Sintarrak’s silver eyes ignited, flashing for a glimpsing moment, before they vanished completely, and his body shuddered. Horror sliced through me as Vander blinked, his eyes melting from silvery gray to a soft, light green.
Lyvia said Vander had grayish-green eyes.
The soldier’s soft eyes widened. His light brows pinched up in confusion and pain as my arrow ripped straight through Vander’s heart.