32. If Defeating the Darkness Was My Destiny, Then So It Must Also Be His
32. IF DEFEATING THE DARKNESS WAS MY DESTINY, THEN SO IT MUST ALSO BE HIS
ELOWYN
Fuerin! I called through my thoughts as Rush settled fully between me and the deadliest danger in the hall, both hands clutching blades, scanning the immediacy of our other threats before returning to Talisa, over and again.
What is it, little one? Einar asked sharply. Are you safe?
Around Rush’s broad shoulders, I surveyed the narrowing distance between me and the crazy-bitch queen and snorted. No, I’m not safe. But I am trying to reach the other fuerin in the room with me. None of the others have answered. It had only been seconds, but I had none of them to spare. Einar, I snapped. Hurry.
His deep, rumbling voice arrived a moment later. It is the most likely path of all your destinies.
Whatever exactly that meant, I’d fucking take it. I disconnected from Einar, allowed Rush, a barefoot Xeno, Ryder, West, and even Ivar to barricade me as Talisa gobbled up the distance between her and us to not nearly fucking enough . It didn’t help that the snakes cleared a path for her or that she appeared to skim over the upturned glass floor as if she weren’t resting her weight on it at all. More magic, apparently. By blazing beams of sunshine, could she have less of it and not more? For fuck’s sake!
Xeno was hurriedly shedding his weapons belt and shirt, dropping them on the floor. Once he shifted, maybe he could rally the dragons if I couldn’t.
Talisa’s eyes were no longer a disorientingly pure, crystalline sky-blue, but a burning, blazing, furious red. No more pretending now, no more hiding the monster behind a pretty face, extravagant raiments, and palatial etiquette. Here was the beast on full display, not even a stitch of clothing to conceal her true nature.
Many of the nobles who crammed against the mirrored walls wore stunned, dazed expressions, as if they were seeing the full extent of their monarch’s evil for the very first time. Some of the royal guards, even, couldn’t keep the horror from their expressions. Would they still defend her?
To the room at large, Talisa crowed, “Elowyn’s death is mine. Rush’s death is also mine. No one kills the mates but me.”
Her emphasis was a mocking taunt that only emboldened me. I wasn’t at all alone in this fight. My mate stood right beside me, ready to lay his life down for mine.
“Yes, my queen,” said Braque, who was shuffling behind her with his short, wheedling, irritating steps.
Fuerin, I called out again. Despite my urgency, I received no answer.
Doing my best not to reveal where my attention was going, I leaned once more around Rush to pick out the sapphire-blue she-dragon who crouched all the way on the other side of the vast hall. When I’d vanished so abruptly from the Sorumbra to materialize in the throne room, it had been she who’d led the other dragons. There were a greater number of them now than there’d been then, and she’d only communicated with me when our foreheads had touched, but she was my best bet.
You, I said as I caught her pupil-less stare, wincing at the disrespectful address, though she’d been the one who’d refused to give me her name. Ah, you, majestic, powerful, amazing fuerin. I had no more time for diplomacy. Can you hear me?
No answer.
“Dammit,” I growled under my breath, drawing a quick glance from Rush over his shoulder.
I shook my head in a subtle “turn back around” while Xeno finished stripping, drawing Talisa’s attention for valuable seconds.
With a languorous lecherousness that made my skin crawl and my fists itch with the need to intervene, she trawled her gaze along his many, many muscles, skimming all that smooth, sexy skin. She paused, almost derisively, to lick her lips as she admired his chest, his tight abdomen, to trail down to the V I knew dipped between his hips. After a quick glance at his thick thighs, the soft red glow around her pulsed, and she groaned—a salacious, disgusting sound that delivered haunting memories of how vocally she’d desired Rush, how she’d forced him into her bed to pleasure her. I had to shake free the unbidden image of Rush’s purposefully blank face, hiding so much pain so Talisa wouldn’t witness him breaking inside as she did her best to break his body and his will.
When her openly ravenous stare—did she forget we were in a room filled to bursting with observing fae?—settled on Xeno’s dick and held while she licked her lips yet again, I had to force myself to look away and maximize her distraction.
There simply had to be a way to rid the world of someone so eager to abuse and torment. A silent, desperate sob bubbled through my chest. Come on, forces of the light, the land, anything, anyone! Help us. The world shouldn’t host such cruelty. Please.
I pushed my next pleas toward the she-dragon who’d heard me once before, praying touch wasn’t necessary to engage her. She herself had told me the most powerful of them didn’t need a physical connection to hear thoughts. By sunshine, please, please hear me. We need your help.
Nothing.
You told me we’d need each other before this all was over, and in case you haven’t noticed, the shadow’s looking pretty invincible. It might all be over in the next few minutes. With a terrifyingly easy slash of her hands we had no way of preventing. We either stand together, and we do it right now , or we fall together.
Rush took a protective step backward until his broad body blocked me from Talisa’s view.
Please don’t let me watch him die. Another sob I wouldn’t release gurgled around my insides. That would be … unbearable. Unsurvivable, even.
What was my own death compared to the prospect of such agonizing loss? He was the blessing for which I hadn’t dared to hope. The man I was intended to share the rest of my life with—until it was time to share the next and the next. Would our time together this incarnation be cursed to be so fleeting? Here and gone as if it had been nothing more than an unattainable dream?
The she-dragon’s stare seemed to hold mine, though I couldn’t be certain at this distance. Regardless, she remained silent. No help was coming from these dragons, not even now that they were free from the dark shadow that bound them.
Then I would seek support from the land. I stood several stories removed from the ground, but perhaps that was no impediment to a magic so powerful it fueled the entire Mirror World.
Talisa was reaching for a naked Xeno when I denied my instincts to chop off her encroaching hand and willed my eyes closed, already searching for some sign of the land’s magic.
An agonizingly slow, measured, and ancient voice I’d last heard in the throne room filled my mind: I hear you.
My eyes shot open to stare blankly at Rush’s back. I clamped down on the magnitude of my relief lest Talisa suspect I was up to something her disembodied spies weren’t picking up on. For now, Xeno’s impressive equipment continued to hold her attention.
Silently I exclaimed, Thank the Ethers. Why did you take so freaking long to answer me? Were you trying to save the shadow the effort and kill me with a heart attack? I bobbed my head out from behind Rush to stare down the length of the hall at the sapphire-blue she-dragon. Are you all now free of the shadow’s control? Even in the dungeon and cells far below?
We are. Thanks to your intervention. It is as I foresaw of your destiny.
It was, of course, Ivar who’d directly released them, but this wasn’t the time to split scales. Awesome. Great. Well, she’s gonna kill us all in a few seconds here, once she’s finished perving on my friend, so can we speed this up, please?
Always in such a hurry, you fae.
Yep, absolutely. Now, will you roast her? I winced before schooling my features for the spies floating overhead, just beyond my reach. Actually, can you burn her to death if she’s immortal?
With a quick wave of familiar magic, Xeno shed his man for his dragon.
The shadow was never immortal. She only believed it to be so.
My heart thudded.
“Ooooooh,” Talisa purred at Xeno’s dragon. “You are a mighty specimen, aren’t you?”
Are you sure she can die now? I asked the she-dragon. Because I tried a while ago, and it didn’t stick.
“Such a magnificent male and a magnificent dragon,” Talisa was saying in a voice that was sickly sweet. “You’ll make an excellent addition to my collection.” She laughed huskily. “And to my bed. You and Rush can join me together. Won’t that be a beautiful sight, Elowyn? The two males you love the most, servicing me? Maybe I should keep you alive just long enough to see that. Or…” She canted her head. “I could kill you now, then bring you back to have you watch us at my leisure.” She smacked her lips. “Aye, that’s much better, wouldn’t you say, stupid, bothersome girl?”
It took a moment to fully register what the nasty bitch was saying—and that she was trying to get a rise out of me. Before she could follow the line of my attention, I jerked it to her and spat out the first thing that came to mind.
“You wish.” Lame, but I surely didn’t care. I was already pressing the she-dragon. If I slice off her head, will she die now?
As if we had all the time in the world—which the she-dragon obviously didn’t realize we absolutely didn’t—languidly— fucking languidly —she unfurled from her crouch beside the throne and began stalking toward us with graceful, powerful, and certain steps that made so little sound Talisa didn’t turn. Instead, the false-queen shook her head at my “comeback,” her crown fixed in place despite the movement—so much magic wasted on her.
“And you think you have what it takes to rule my kingdom? You’ve lost whatever senses my foolish husband might have given you through his useless seed.”
A wave of muffled gasps were a sharp reminder that we had a large audience—and that the false queen, who’d always appeared to care what her courtiers thought of her at least to some degree, no longer did. There was nothing holding her back anymore.
She dragged a finger—the same one she’d used to slice off my father’s and Dashiell’s heads—between her full breasts, where she paused … then continued on to trail it down her stomach, where she rested the tip of her finger inside her belly button.
“You’re fucking insane,” I blurted. “You know that, right?”
Her frame went rigid. The snakes had begun hissing softly again, a constant that faded into the background din. Now they silenced.
“You made everyone believe my mother was the one who lost her sanity, but it was you all along.”
Her other hand joined the first at her waist. The fingers hooked into claws.
From the walls behind the empty throne, goblins materialized in great numbers. My heart skipped with fear that Talisa would turn and spot them .
She didn’t, baring her teeth and growling at me, her breasts jiggling with her mounting rage.
The goblins were armed with nothing but their magic. By a dragon’s life, I prayed it was enough for them to all survive.
I blinked, and Talisa was extending her hand toward Rush. Dragon-Xeno, fully transformed now, batted at her with his tail.
Talisa jumped Xeno’s tail and threw both hands wide—knocking Dragon-Xeno and Rush off their feet to opposite sides, where they landed hard. Rush bowled into West and Ivar, who went down too.
Some creatures I’d last seen in the gardens emerged from the seamless door in the wall that led from the tunnels. Two black bears, a wolf with silver fur, a hog with tusks as large as its head, and a tall, bloodied man barreled through, skidding to avoid slamming into the goblins.
The mirrors that lined practically every vertical surface began to undulate—as if they were … fuck— as if they were coming to life.
Einar roared through my mind. His thunderous roar vibrated in my ears.
She can die, said the she-dragon, who now towered behind Talisa, into my speeding thoughts. But before then, you must finish what you started.
What? I shouted to the dragon. What did I start?
Thanks be to a healthy clan of dragons, her answer came quickly. Your light overcame her darkness. Your power must finish battling with hers.
Talisa was several feet away from me. I blinked, and she was in my face, nose to nose—beast to fucking beast. Her eyes swirled with silver just as the mirrors did. Whatever was about to come out of those mirrors, the many hundreds of fae stuffed into this room would have to battle it out without me. The raw, untapped power that lived within me was shaking the foundations of my being—showing the fuck up, answering the challenge that was staring me in the face.
The red glow pulsed along her skin as if in time to her heart. I was going to stop that. Her heart would never beat again when I was through with her.
I could have used some instructions from the she-dragon, but the time for deliberation and caution was over. My magic surged, shaking my body. My teeth vibrated down to their roots. If it was just my own power, or also the land’s, I didn’t know. It didn’t matter. I’d use all of it—even if it killed me.
As long as I took her with me.
Talisa’s glow intensified then darkened, until it appeared viscous, as if real blood coated her eyes, her hair, her skin … seeming to drip with it.
“Blood magic,” I grunted, my voice suddenly rough and blunt, beyond words.
Teeth still bared, she smiled some. But she, too, seemed beyond words. She growled like an animal and reached for me with both hands. Vaguely, I heard Rush screaming for me. Xeno bellowed .
Her hands didn’t alight on me, however. The instant before she would have touched me, my body pulsed with a light as shockingly bright as the sun itself, as intense as a dragon’s flame.
When it receded enough for me to see past it, I found myself hovering several feet off the floor.
Talisa was rising to her feet—she must have fallen with my blast—her eyes wide even as they swirled with blood, making me wonder if she really saw me. The blood magic that circulated along her flesh moved faster, growing thicker, darker, stronger.
Soon, her shapely physique was swallowed up by an amorphous, ever-flowing fountain of blood that still didn’t leave a trace on her surroundings.
Braque said something. I didn’t register what, only his wheedling tone.
People and creatures screamed, growled, and grunted as they traded blades and magic. Flashes of light burst here and there around the room. Some fae flew, some fell. Some didn’t get back up.
“Gyuuuu,” Talisa said in a thick gurgle behind all that blood.
It took me a few moments to realize she was saying you .
Words—useless, fleeting, trivial trinkets used by people who would come and go from this world while we would remain.
It was then that I first understood: the magic of the land was composed of all the elements and of all aspects of existence—both the light and the dark—ever working toward a balance of both, of every beating pulse of this realm. Life and death here merged as one, each an inconsequential passing from one stage to the next and back again.
“Gnoooo,” Talisa burbled.
I glowed so brightly I struggled to make out the far reaches of the hall.
Yes, little one, Einar said. Whatever you are now doing, it is how you defeat the shadow.
My light seemed infinite, like it would never cease, like nothing could overpower it.
A flash of red, nearly as bright, possibly as bright, slammed into me. I toppled, smacking against the uneven floor, and as I fell a shard of glass pierced my calf.
I didn’t examine it. Talisa was a coiling, slinking, streaming blob of scarlet, hovering a foot off the floor. At its center, dark lines, much like the black veins that had woven beneath Ramana’s skin, undulated like writhing worms. Red flashed intermittently around them in jagged lines like lightning.
The person part of me was freshly horrified. The power that thrummed inside me only rose to the newly defined challenge.
Ignoring the twinges in my calf, I gathered myself and stood, pushing the power gathered within me toward her. It heeded my command, rolling forward in a wave as powerful as a tsunami.
In a wall of magic, we collided, my magic against hers. Hers held then pushed back. I shoved. She shoved. A whooshing as of the ocean or my pulse or the overwhelming madness of so much power, I had no idea what, thumped in my ears, through my head. I sensed Einar and the she-dragon both speaking to me. I wanted desperately to receive their guidance.
But I could access only myself, the land, its energy, and the eternal balance of life and death, of light and darkness, beating unrelentingly, mercilessly, within me.
Squinting against the blinding brilliance of our battling magic, I urged my power to smack hers down. It pushed through my skin out toward her, gaining some. But it wasn’t enough.
Oh fuck . It wasn’t enough!
All the life force and essences she’d stolen and taken into herself fed the darkness to which she’d given herself. It had grown large and strong and ravenous. It wanted only more. It wouldn’t give up its host.
As that darkness—her darkness—rammed me so hard I nearly faltered, it was suddenly there.
Not an it .
Him .
Rush.
My mate.
The bond between us that was ancient, eternal magic, that had chosen me as its steward.
My mate possessed so much light that it spilled out onto his skin in the looping lines of his tattoos. He’d been chosen for me by whatever force created our essences in the Etherlands, making them a perfect match .
If defeating the darkness was my destiny, then so it must also be his.
I tugged on Rush’s magic. Eagerly, it flowed into me, as if Rush himself had been waiting for me to seek it. He gave and it poured forth so abundantly I feared he might not be saving any for himself.
And yet I took it. I channeled it and forced it into the blood queen. I pushed and shoved and pulsed and crammed the light into her fucking body—the vessel that sought to contain so much darkness she dragged down an entire realm with it. I pulled all I could—forcing every bit of it into her. She might have screamed, long and prolonged; I didn’t really know. All I could sense anymore was the power—so much power. I was barely more than a vehicle, pushing, pushing, and fucking pushing…
Light into the darkness.
And then again.
And again.
And fucking again.
Until.
Finally.
The roar that drummed against me like a brutal surf … released me from its tumbling grip. The pounding in my head quieted slowly, then faded, replaced by the cries and grunts of people and creatures fighting to the death.
I could feel my body trembling like a leaf clinging to the tip of a branch, weathering the storm of a millennium. I dropped to the floor—from only a couple of feet up but pain shot up my leg. I felt it, but not much, for my sight had landed upon the blood queen.
Or whatever she now was.
The blood had vanished, as had the red glow, as if they’d never existed at all. Where the monstrous queen of blood and darkness and brutality had once stood, teeth and claws baring her for the monster she was, lay a female—bare, skin clean and pale, and shaking as hard as I was.
Her crown slid along her shiny dark hair.
It toppled from her head.
Despite the chaos that clanged and screamed all around us, I heard the gold clatter against upended glass. It bounced to ding a serpent, who arced around in a whip of strength, hissing at she who’d once been its master.
For a few brief moments I just sat, catching my breath, staring at her body—her very killable-looking body.
Deep like a steady, flowing river, Einar spoke into my mind. The dragon queen. Not a queen of fuerin, of course not that. But a queen of the fae. You did it, little one.
The sapphire-blue she-dragon, as ancient-feeling as time itself, said, The dragon queen. Fierce like the fuerin of old. You claimed your destiny.
Their words merged to echo inside me, growing steadily fainter.
Like macabre hail, the former queen’s many disembodied spies—eyes, ears, and even some mouths— became suddenly visible to everyone, before plummeting all at once. With squelching splats and dull thumps, they smacked people, creatures, and the floor. Startled cries rang out in horrified offense.
We fuerin will carry out our justice on the shadow, the she-dragon said.
I whipped my head up to find her towering over Talisa’s prone form. The dragon smiled at me until her every sharp tooth was on display. Saliva slid along them.
Huuuuh. Huuuuh. Huuuuh , Einar chuffed.