Chapter 78 Nox
Nox
Icould taste my own blood, a sharp, metallic tang coating the inside of my mouth. The blade had partially slid across my neck when Scarven froze, eyes wide.
He looked down in shock. He gritted his teeth and dropped the dagger as the veins in his neck and temple bulged, then slowly darkened to a thick, green sludge. The toxin Devora had injected herself with was also working its way through his system.
But I couldn’t care less about him.
Behind him, Devora crashed to the ground. Her body spasmed as she cried out my name.
All thoughts splintered. There was only the pounding in my ears and my heart ramming into my ribs. Even the immense pain from my wounds dimmed as I watched the agony of the fatesprig injection consume her.
I let out a roar as my dragon took over. My back arched at an unnatural angle, blood spurting from my neck and rolling to the ground before the wound could fully heal. Scales burst from my skin, and my wings ripped out of my back, lifting me into the sky.
The shift was slower, sluggish, battling through waves of anguish as my body attempted to heal itself from so many fatal wounds. My limbs elongated, my claws sharpened, and my horns emerged, all while the battlefield and Scarven’s mansion shrank beneath me.
And then there was her.
Two of Scarven’s men were holding Devora’s limp body down, those black cuffs wrapped tight around her wrists and dark green veins running over creamy skin. She writhed on the ground, her hair billowing around her like a cloud of blood as she screamed.
I felt her pain. Fates, I remembered that night I’d injected myself with fatesprig, how every single cell in my body burned and wished for death. My dragon flinched away from the memory. When she shrieked again, it cut a gaping wound down my chest, worse than any dagger Scarven could stab me with.
I’d promised to protect her, and I failed. She had done this for me.
I was tired of people I loved paying the price for my life.
When the cloaked figures behind her reached for her again, I dove without thinking. My wings flapped at my side, sending a powerful gust of wind over the field, and I snatched both men in my teeth in one fell swoop.
I clamped my jaws over them, severing their bodies in half, then jerked my head to the side to send the pieces flying into the forest. The bitter taste of their blood made my bloodlust hum with pleasure.
A muffled shout rang out from my feet. I craned my long, snake-like neck back to find two more of Scarven’s lackeys detaining Vera and Everett with the same black cuffs.
Another knelt to the ground next to Tessa, whose blood stained the earth red.
Her features were ashen, and her head sagged to one side as she clutched her shoulder.
I hadn’t seen many injuries that severe on a Shifter before. I knew we weren’t invincible—there were some wounds that even powerful Shifter blood couldn’t heal.
But she would be fine. She had to be fine. I refused to lose anyone else.
A growl rumbled from deep in my throat as I opened my maw, inches from their assailants’ faces. The scent of piss filled the air as the one reaching for Tessa went slack-jawed in horror, while another thrust Everett at me and raced off in the other direction.
I let him get several yards away. Let him think he had hope.
Then I lifted one of my legs and brought it on top of his head, crushing him straight into the ground.
I took the one hovering over Tessa and launched him deep into the forest, then ripped the other from my sister.
I raised him high to meet my eye level, his small body wrapped inside my talons.
He shook with terror, lips moving in a silent plea as if any of his prayers to the Fates or his master could save him now.
I tore his head off with my teeth and dropped his decapitated body to the ground in front of Scarven’s feet. My half-brother was clawing at the dirt, his teeth gritted as the fatesprig grew darker in his veins.
I shifted into my human form and quickly looked at Everett. “Help Tessa!” I jerked my head to my third. “Get her to an Alchemist. Now.”
He nodded and helped her to her feet while I turned my attention back to Devora, hurrying toward her in panicked strides.
Her eyes rolled into the back of her head with every spasm, her head jerking and body curving inward. I gathered her in my arms and pressed my face into her hair. “Devora, darling,” I murmured. “What am I going to do with you?”
I held her tight and rocked her through the waves of pain, some of my tension releasing when I saw the dark green veins begin to lighten.
“That was the most thoughtless, irresponsible, impulsive thing you have ever done,” I whispered.
Her hands curled around my arm. “I’ll take that as a ‘thank you,’” she said with a groan. “Are you okay?”
“I’ll be fine. I’ve almost healed, thanks to you.” I pulled her further into my lap, wishing I could burrow her into my very skin. “But never, ever do something like that again.”
“You can’t tell me what to do,” she mumbled into me. “You promised me tomorrow. I was holding you to your word.”
My heart squeezed. I leaned back slightly to take her chin in my fingers. “You are my tomorrow, Devora. And every day after. I couldn’t live with myself if something happened to you.”
“He was going to kill you,” she said, forehead creasing. “Just like in my dream. I did what I had to do.”
I sighed. “This is what I get for falling in love with the most stubborn woman in the world.”
She winced as she disentangled herself from me, and I helped her slowly rise to her feet. I glanced back to find Scarven on his knees with my sister looming over him, a fiery, winged angel of vengeance holding both of her swords at her sides.
Apprehension coursed through me. She promised not to hurt him, not while he was still bound to Devora. But the look on her face…
“Vera!” I shouted in warning, my voice carrying above the mayhem around us.
Her eyes met mine over Scarven’s head, then shifted to Devora and narrowed.
A shiver crept down my spine. She was still my little sister, but those years in captivity had changed her. And that furious look in her eyes, the one that said she would scorch everyone who stood in her way…part of me wondered how much of the girl I’d once known was left.
And if she would take Devora down to get her revenge.
Scarven chuckled and shook his head. “What’s the problem, phoenix? Have I finally burned that fire out?”
Vera shoved her shadow blade forward, holding the tip to his throat. I sucked in a breath.
“You have nothing, Scarven,” my sister snarled in a voice I didn’t recognize. “No magic, no power. No hold over me. Mortep is gone. Your men are being slaughtered.” She brandished her lightning sword to the battlefield at the front of the manor. “You’re finished.”
“Then why am I still alive?” A slow grin unfurled across his features, smooth and oily.
“Ah, yes. Because your brother couldn’t dream of losing his precious pet.
Just another thing he gets to have while you get nothing.
Isn’t that right, my phoenix? All those years he lived in freedom, traveling the empire, sleeping in his own bed.
He left you behind faster than you can say ‘family.’”
The words were a blow to my chest. I locked eyes with Vera. Was that what she thought of me? Was that the lie he’d been feeding her all these years?
It’s the truth, a dark voice in the back of my mind leered. You did leave her.
I left to ensure her safety. I left to obey his every command, with the threat of her death hanging over my head to keep me in line. I would have taken her place a million times over if it meant she could be the one to get away.
“You know that’s not true.” I stepped forward. “Everything I did was to prot—”
“To protect her, yes, yes, we’ve all heard that before.” Scarven scoffed. “But who are you protecting now, brother? It certainly isn’t your sister.”
Fear and anger poured over me. He was trying to pit us against each other. Trying to claim one final pound of flesh before losing it all.
“It’s not going to work, Scarven,” I snapped.
“It’s over. Whatever future you think you’ve created for yourself, whatever life you imagined, it’s not going to happen.
” I shook my head as I thought back to the lives he’d ruined in the last two decades, then to the brave souls who risked it all just to bring justice to a dark land.
“You’ve taken everything from our people to grow your own power, but you will never be stronger than all of us united. ”
“How beautiful,” Scarven mocked. “Such a noble start to your quest of redemption, truly. I hope all those who have died because of you would feel the same.”
I flinched as if I’d been struck. A smile shadowed Scarven’s sweat-slicked features. His expression grew hungrier, like a lion readying to pounce on its prey.
“That’s always been your problem, Nox. So worried about how others perceive you, holding on to the hope that they’ll see a shred of something good to salvage in you, all while battling for everyone’s loyalty.
I have always known exactly who and what I was loyal to.
” He leaned in closer, dark eyes glinting.
“Myself. Perhaps that’s something we both inherited, as you seem rather intent on your own self-interest over your sister. ”
I turned to Vera. “Don’t listen to him. You know this is what he does. He—”
“Yes, she does know, doesn’t she?” Scarven hummed. “Because she was the one by my side all these years. Oh, how I made her sing. My sweet phoenix.” He was practically crooning at her, a wild look in his eyes that was more frightening than any of his cold, calculated ones.
He wanted her to kill him. He knew this was over, and he wanted this one last victory. To take one more thing from me.
Lose my sister’s trust, or lose the woman I loved.
A ripple of fury crossed over my sister’s face. The wind picked up, stirring the ends of her hair.
“Did you enjoy being the little bird in my gilded cage?” Scarven looked up at her from his knees, the harsh wrinkles around his eyes more pronounced. “I almost forget that we share the same wretched father too. You looked so pretty on my mantel. So pretty in my—”
“Enough!” Vera bellowed, heat rising from her in waves as she lashed out and punched him across the cheek.
At my side, Devora gasped and fell to the ground. A bruise quickly formed on her pale face.
I reached for her. “Vera, please—”
Scarven’s low laughter cut me off. “You see where his loyalty lies? Where his heart belongs?” His cheek turned bright red as a trickle of blood oozed from between his lips. He spat it at Vera’s feet.
“Do you even know who you are, phoenix?” he taunted. “You’ve been denied your freedom, your identity, for your entire life. And now he’s denying you this. The one thing you dreamed of every night you spent in that cold, dark cell.”
“I told you his life was yours, Vera,” I rushed out. “I just need to make sure Devora’s safe, and then I promise—”
“He promises,” Scarven mocked. “Just as he promised to rescue you. You don’t need his promises, sweet phoenix. I didn’t raise you to need anything from anyone.”
Vera visibly flinched at those words, and my heart jumped into my throat.
“But maybe you’re just as weak as the rest of them,” he growled. Tension and heat rose in tandem. The sound of Vera’s pulse thumped loudly in my ears.
“All that power, all that potential, and look at you.” Scarven finally staggered to his feet so he was face-to-face with her. “You can’t even get this right. No wonder your mother and brother left you.”
Vera raised her lightning sword, flames crackling along her skin.
I lurched forward to yank Scarven a few inches back. “Vera, wait—”
“Just stop!” she cried out, closing her eyes as her arm trembled above her head. Wind and magic surged around us in answer to her distress.
Scarven wrenched himself from my grip. He snarled in her face, spit flying from his lips. “Do it!” he roared. “Kill me!”
I threw myself to her side and wrapped a hand around her elbow. “Please, don’t—”
She let out an ear-piercing shriek as she swung her sword at his neck.
In that split second of frozen time, the air shimmered between us. Pale hands reached out to clutch both Scarven and Vera.
Before I could blink, the three of them disappeared, taking me with them.