Chapter Sixteen
Rage was a living, breathing entity inside of Zander.
He could feel it.
Sense it growing in his soul.
The moment Kami was cut off from him, their bond interrupted by some powerful force, he completely lost it.
Fighting the skeleton army made up of the bodies of Famine’s victims had been more entertaining that worrisome.
The fact Famine had spent so much time and magic on devising the trap for him had been amusing.
Especially since he and Devlin had stepped through the portal together.
For one of them, it might have been a little challenging.
But for the two of them working together, it had been a breeze.
But now, he regretted wasting time on the irrelevant.
Letting out a roar of fury, he let his powers burst out of him in a hot wave, burning and melting everything in its wake. Hundreds of skeletons were destroyed in an instant, trees burst into splinters, and large boulders were reduced to piles of dust.
“Damn, War. It’s been a while since I’ve seen that.”
“We have to go. My mate is in trouble,” Zander growled.
“The portal collapsed the moment we came through. Where in hellfire are we?” Devlin glanced around. “This place is unstable.”
“I think it was meant to collapse once the army was destroyed so we would die here.”
“Then, why are we still alive?”
“Because we are helping to stop it from imploding,” Braxton announced as he and Devon hurried into view. “There were runes hidden on all the trees. Once the army was defeated, I think the failsafe was supposed to be triggered, but you melted half of the magical bombs before they could go off.”
“Why are you here? Did you sense that we were in trouble?” Zander demanded.
“What, like a magical Horsemen signal?” After a beat of silence, Braxton snorted out a laugh. “Is that really a thing?”
“It is under certain circumstances,” Zander admitted. “But we wouldn’t have used it, or Famine would have felt it as well.”
“Right. Well, we’re here because I just received a shit ton of new souls back in the Hell Realm. So, I figured it had to be you guys.”
“Smart,” Devlin praised. “How did you get here?”
“He can follow the souls to their death place. We didn’t know where this was, so we have a portal hidden over there,” Devon explained, pointing over her shoulder.
“We have to go.” Zander got rid of the sword that he’d made of magic. He hadn’t been able to call his own sword to him because of whatever wards Famine had put in place there. “Kami is in danger.”
“Come on,” Devon said, leading the way back to the portal. “We just got a call from Jackie. She, Micah, Kellen, and Ramsey just got separated from Kami and Lia under the Autumn Palace.”
The four of them hurried through the portal, and Zander breathed out a sigh of relief. He could sense his mate again. There was still some sort of magical interference going on, but it wasn’t as strong as it had been in the other place.
“Famine has to be going for one of the seals,” Devlin surmised.
“It’s the one in the Fae Realm.” Zander immediately sensed he was right as soon as he said it.
“But we don’t know where that one is.”
“I do,” Zander corrected. “Because I’m the one who hid it. The seal is located at Aegis Academy, under the structure you now call the dark tower.”
“So, he wants to start the apocalypse on the Isle of Misfits? Why am I not surprised?” Devon groaned.
Done waiting, Zander left the others and teleported directly to Aegis Academy.
Aegis Academy was located at the heart of where the four fae kingdoms intersected.
While that was an obvious choice for the location of the seal, he’d hidden it deep within the ground so it wouldn’t be easy to find without help.
All of the magic being flung around the school also helped mask the seal’s signature.
Known as the Isle of Misfits, the dark tower was located on a small island near the seclusion of the forest. The tower was where the most powerful supernaturals at the school lived since the island had some of the strongest safeguards on campus.
Since the tower had not been on the island when he’d chosen that spot to hide the seal, he found it interesting that it was where Kami lived while on campus.
Zander wasn’t surprised to find Famine waiting for him by the edge of the shoreline. It was the middle of the night, so there were no students in the area. Moonlight shone down on the water’s surface, but there was more light coming from the lanterns set up along the walking paths.
Looking at his old friend, Zander felt the familiar rage and a sense of betrayal well up within him. But those paled in comparison to the worry he felt for his mate. His first priority was her. Always her. Nothing would ever change that.
So, there was no use prolonging the inevitable.
Famine stood looking out over the water with his hands clasped behind his back.
While the pose might have looked relaxed, there was no doubt he was ready for Zander’s arrival.
He joined him by the water’s edge, leaving several feet between them.
With their enhanced hearing, the distance wasn’t an issue.
Without looking over at him, Famine said, “You destroyed my skeleton army.”
“And you destroyed a lot of lives,” Zander countered.
“So, there is still no way you will join me?”
“And cause the apocalypse? None.”
“Then, we are at an impasse again.” Famine sighed and finally turned to face him, conjuring a black sword in his hand that was covered with devil fire. “I will miss you, brother. I am so much stronger than I was a few centuries ago. You should have—”
Before Famine could even finish speaking, Zander had already reacted. In one smooth, practiced motion, he let his physical form dissolve into swirling smoke. Then, he surged forward, moving with supernatural speed and precision.
Slipping through Famine’s defenses before the other man could register what was happening, Zander ripped his soul out as he passed through his body.
In the space of a heartbeat, it was done.
Zander reformed several paces away, the glowing orb of Famine’s soul in his hand.
As he crushed the soul, he didn’t even bother to glance back to watch Famine’s body dissolve into nothing.
“I was always stronger,” Zander said softly. “And I always will be.”
It had been a thousand times harder to remove Famine’s soul than a normal supernatural, but Zander had been preparing for this moment for centuries. As all the magic Famine had stolen over the years flowed into the mark on Zander’s palm, it burned. He simply ignored the pain, though.
“I didn’t know you could do that,” Devlin said soberly.
Zander had sensed his arrival with Braxton and Devon. He was glad that they had hung back and let the events play out.
Turning, he smiled. “Neither did he.”
“While I’m very grateful I won’t have to process Famine’s soul, does this mean you have to pick a new Famine now?” Braxton asked.
“I guess the source will choose one,” Devlin said.
Zander pulled out a small knife and scored a cut across his palm, then held the blade out to Devlin. “We can use blood magic to break through Famine’s wards now that he’s gone.”
“Good idea.” Devlin made a cut on his own palm, then hesitated briefly before holding it out to Braxton.
“What? Why me?”
“If you are now Death, blood from the three of us will void whatever magic Famine has done,” Zander explained.
With a shrug, Braxton cut his own palm, then held it out.
They held their palms up so they were all facing each other, forming a triangle.
Zander murmured a quick spell, and a triangle of intense light appeared, surrounding them.
When the light shot out and expanded, the ground shook.
As soon as Zander felt the wards break, he teleported them down to the chamber where the seal was located.
The first thing Zander saw upon arriving in the chamber was Raziel, barely recognizable beneath the grime and blood, curled protectively around Lia as the two lay motionless on the cold stone floor. Leaving them in the care of the others, Zander spun around to search for his mate.
His breath caught as he spotted Kami sprawled across the intricate tiles of the mosaic, her figure unnaturally still.
The fear that gripped Zander was immediate and overwhelming.
For a split second, he thought she might be lost to him forever.
Racing over to her, he knelt beside her and wanted to sob with relief when he found her still breathing.
Although the bleeding from her wrists had stopped, the vivid crimson light of her blood illuminated the lines on a portion of the mosaic.
Thankfully, the seal had not been broken.
When Zander reached for her, an unseen force repelled his hand.
A surge of energy hummed in the air between them.
He instinctively drew back, alarm surging through him as Kami’s body was suddenly enveloped in a radiant flood of source magic.
The glow intensified, becoming so brilliant that Zander was forced to shield his eyes.
The magic pulsed with a life of its own, swirling around Kami in waves of color and power, filling the room with a sense of ancient, elemental energy.
When the light faded, Kami lay there fully healed, her skin glowing with vitality, and her eyes clear and luminous. In that moment, he knew she had been chosen.
“Greetings, Keeper of the Seal.”
When she smiled up at him, he marveled at the miracle before him. Gathering her into his arms like the precious gem she was, he rocked her gently. She reached up to stroke his cheek in a soothing gesture.
“You came back to me,” she said softly.
“Always,” he swore. “I will always return to your side.”
When their lips met, it was a kiss to seal that promise. Time seemed to stand still as they shared that perfect moment together, and the echoes of magic and turmoil faded under the brilliance of their love.