Chapter 21 Svenn #3
Once they are free, Coinneach turns upon the carriage itself. Darkness pours through every gap in the woven branches, forcing them apart from within. Wood cracks throughout the throne room as the living cage splinters. Its thorn-covered walls collapse, and the great root wheels break beneath it.
The suppressing symbols flare once, then vanish.
Coinneach does not release the shadows.
The darkness holds for three more heartbeats. It’s long enough for our allies to arm themselves and find their footing.
Light begins to seep back into the throne room. The green flames inside the suspended skulls flicker through the darkness first, revealing broken branches scattered across the floor and the prisoners standing free among them.
“What—” Ruth’s voice cuts through the dark. “What is this?”
“A change of plans.”
I hurl one of the iron shoes through the fading darkness. It strikes Ruth across the mouth, the white-hot metal searing his lips before dropping to the floor.
Ruth roars, one hand flying to his burned mouth. His flesh is already beginning to heal.
He is Strigon. Pain will slow him, but it will not stop him.
I launch myself at him with the wrath of a thousand stolen years behind me.
“Hello, brother,” I whisper.
I don’t wait for him to answer. We collide in the center of the room, a tangle of fangs and claws and pure hatred. Ruth was always more vicious and creative in his cruelty. But cruelty is all he has.
His claws rake across my face, opening furrows that heal almost instantly. My fist catches his jaw with a crack that echoes off the stone. We’re snarling and trading blows across the throne room, two beasts wearing human skin.
“You always were so righteous and foolish,” Ruth hisses as we grapple, our faces inches apart. “The noble prince. It made me sick.”
“And you were always a rabid dog that should have been put down,” I growl back.
Around us, I sense the others engaging their own battles. Rhianelle’s presence burns like cold fire as she goes after Lilith.
My brave little fawn.
The Fae King moves to intercept her. Rainer throws himself into the king’s path before he can reach her. He is still weakened by the Nevrin poison, but fury keeps him standing. Their blades meet hard enough to send sparks across the floor.
Shade joins him a heartbeat later, attacking from the Fae King’s blind side. Eirik turns to meet him, forcing both Shade and Rainer back, but they hold his attention. Between them, they keep the king away from Lilith and, more importantly, away from Rhianelle.
Wolf and Garrett peel away toward Cedwyn, the last Aeonian.
The throne room has become a battlefield.
Ruth tears my attention back to him when he drives his shoulder into my chest and sends us both crashing through the edge of the table. We hit the floor together and roll, each fighting to gain the advantage. His claws close around my throat. Mine sink into his arm.
We are evenly matched in strength and speed. We always have been.
But I have something he does not.
Purpose.
I wrench free and drive my fist into his jaw, snapping his head back. Before he recovers, my claws tear across his chest, leaving wounds that steam as they begin to close. Ruth answers with a strike to my ribs that would have killed a mortal. Pain flashes through me, but I remain standing.
He fights with all the cruelty that once terrified a kingdom. It is not enough.
I am fighting for Rhianelle.
I feel Bas moving toward us before I see him. His body is jerking involuntarily. The force of resisting Lilith’s control must be monumental. But he’s moving toward us.
“Bas!” Lilith shrieks, and I hear the fury in her voice. “Sebastian, I command you—”
“No,” Bas grits out, and the single word sounds like it’s being torn from his soul. Blood drips from his ears and nose. The effort of defying her is tearing him apart. “Not... anymore...”
He reaches us at lightning speed and his hand closes around Ruth’s throat from behind.
Ruth’s eyes go wide. “Impossible.”
“You never did understand loyalty,” Bas says, his voice strained but steady. “Real loyalty isn’t born from control or fear. You broke Andras. You betrayed us all.”
“I’d do it again,” Ruth spits. “Lilith deserves to walk this world again and to rule it.”
Bas tightens his grip until Ruth’s next breath emerges as a strangled rasp.
“You locked me in that labyrinth for thousands of years,” I say quietly. “You murdered everyone in our kingdom.”
Ruth’s mouth twists despite Bas’s hand around his throat. “I’d sacrifice you a thousand times over for her.”
I strike him hard enough to break through his guard and drive him to his knees.
Ruth laughs. “You think you’ve won? We are Strigon. You cannot kill me.”
“No,” I say. “But I can make you regret healing.”
Bas tears him backward while I drive my hand into Ruth’s chest and wrench out his heart. I throw it across the chamber as Bas rips open his throat. Ruth’s body collapses between us.
The wounds are already beginning to close. They will not keep him down for long. I release a weary breath.
Behind us, I hear a sharp gasp.
I risk a glance over my shoulder and my heart stops.
Shade.
The Fae King’s sword protrudes from his chest.
“Shade!” Rhianelle’s scream tears through the throne room.
The ground beneath our feet begins to crack.