Chapter 35
Scythe
Iswim to the surface of my consciousness, my shark giving me a way to process the shock that broke his cold.
Savage gapes at the ashes on the river bank. “What was—”
“We’ll talk about it later,” I say.
Savage instantly forgets what he was worried about and grins at me, now clear-eyed. “You missed it, brother!”
“I’ll find out,” I assure him. Because I can feel the night’s events in my bones. The shark’s memories are mine, he just hides them when convenient. Now I’m back in control, the memories will unfog themselves, one by one.
My eyes search for my regina in the night, finding her on the other side of the river bank hugging Celeste Agnis. The backs of my eyes burn as I lay my eyes on Aurelia, the woman who has become the light of my life. Who has used her light to destroy our enemies.
She came for us, primal and raw, taking our fate into her claws, taking what is hers.
I can’t even describe what I feel right now.
But my skin feels tight around my muscle and the dark whisperings have started back up.
I blink hard against the hallucinations that want to make their way back in.
I’ve been away from her for too long. I need the sea and I need her, but we have business to attend to first. Much has happened tonight, and much more needs to happen still.
Lyle has levitated himself toward a sweating Lady Agnis, and they speak softly to one another. She takes Aurelia’s hand to steady herself, and together, the three of them make their way toward the hut whose roof Savage stands on.
I wrench my eyes away from Aurelia long enough to climb down to the platform the hut sits on and I use a power I don’t often get to use, clearing a path in the water so they can walk up to the hut without getting wet.
Lady Agnis nods appreciatively at me, while Aurelia, her face flushed with adrenaline and bloodlust, Katerina’s blood smeared on her face, meets my eye.
I see only determination and a fierce will in those blue eyes and have never been prouder to be in the Boneweaver pack.
A goblin hallucination appears behind her, dogging her steps like an ugly shadow, and I turn away to study the security sensor on the door.
“Hut hut!” Minnie cries, and while standing on Xander’s back, she kicks something into the air like a football.
Her aim is accurate, and Savage leaps up and catches the thing like a professional AFL player, before landing in the squelching mud.
He holds up the head of Katerina Crocodylus by the hair like the Grand Final trophy before climbing back up to the platform and holding her up to the retinal sensor. The door hisses as it unlocks.
Aurelia and Celeste levitate themselves up onto the platform and surge forwards, pushing us males aside to nudge the door open. It swings inwards, revealing a silvery-white glowing beast, lying on his side in the dark. Celeste gasps and leaps for him.
“He’s not dead,” Aurelia says, reassuring herself and following her in.
“Lorian,” Celeste chokes on her knees, her cheeks glistening. “Speak to me.”
The beast breathes, his sides expanding with air. “It will take more than the likes of The Collector to kill me.” The voice is both light and heavy in our minds. “And the tears of my beloved will help.”
“Oh!” Celeste buries her face in his silvery mane, and a sick feeling twists in my gut. Healing wounds on his flank bear an awful scent, but I have a feeling they’d been much worse. I’m suddenly glad he found kinship with a powerful and kind anima such as Celeste.
“You need to see the moon,” my regina says. “Let’s get him out of this cursed place.”
Aurelia and Celeste carefully levitate the unicorn out of the hut, through the mud, and onto dry land. Once we’re all safely on the other side, I wave a hand to release the water back to its original flow.
Savage won’t leave Aurelia’s elbow, carefully studying the unicorn with a lopsided grin of wonder and delight.
Lyle is more concerned about the remaining crocs in the river.
There are more further downstream that might get brave and stray back here.
Xander is speaking with Connor and some of the freed captives, some of whom look unwell.
To my surprise, Hyacinth and her mates are also present, the hyena’s sharp eyes surveying the captives in a maternal fashion.
As I return my attention to the creature before me, I’m floored by its presence.
Rarely do I get to see something so pure in this world.
Lorian bears the unique glow of his kind, precious and rare.
His colossal, spiralling horn also sheds its own gentle light.
This beast is something out of a dream. Impossible and… pure.
Like my regina.
It reminds me of my own impurity and how close I’d come to reliving an old past. But then Aurelia, as if she knows what I’m thinking, glances up, her eyes glistening with emotion.
In this moment, every bad thought of mine tumbles away into the abyss.
She has real love for me. And if a perfect, powerful creature like her can love me, then I must be worth loving.
A smile touches my lips, and she smiles back at me before attending to Lorian. He speaks to Aurelia quietly for a moment, though the words are hidden from me. I can’t help but be jealous that he gets her focused attention. But then my regina steps back.
“Take us away,” Celeste says to Lorian. “Get us out of this world, my love.”
Power cycles around the two of them, and that fabled horn glows brighter as the air around them spins, then warps and melts. To my psychic eyes, they sparkle and gleam in the way of otherworldly powers.
Then they are gone, only a faint opalescence painting the air in their wake. We all stand there for a moment, stunned at having witnessed something so unexpected. Out of this world, Celeste had said.
Aurelia sucks in a breath and turns around to survey what’s left of this night. I want to reach for her. Want to press her to my body and never let her go. But there is something dark clinging to my body. Something that demands to be scraped and bled off.
Connor and Hyacinth approach us. “We’ve released everyone,” Connor says. “Some are unwell, but there are a few avians who can help.”
“We have Lady Hyena in…custody.” Hyacinth’s lips twitch. “She’s not coping with the oestrous injection.”
“Will you kill her?” Aurelia asks, and I glance at her proudly.
“Not yet.” Hyacinth nods at me. “She may be of use.” The hyena gestures to her two mates, who bear the ex-hyena queen between them, her elderly body bound in obsidian chains.
“We need to clear the area,” I advise. “Mace and the others will come looking for Katerina and opportunities for livestock. I will call for vehicles. May I use your phone, Hyacinth?”
“Of course.”
I make a quick call to Rufus, informing him of the current state of things and my imminent return. We’ll need some buses and medical staff, and I’ll finally get to make use of the new safehouse I had built after the Lily Institute attack.
Connor seems to enjoy taking the lead, and I shake his hand in thanks. “Keep them safe,” I tell him. “Once you’re at the safehouse, you shouldn’t be disturbed. I will send you more security.”
“We’ll be here to help,” Minnie pipes. “And my mates are almost here.”
Of course the Caspian and Siberian tigers aren’t far away.
They’d no doubt followed their regina at a distance, in case their insane plan didn’t work out.
I give Marduk a call too. My regina is at my side the entire time, and after I return Hyacinth’s phone, I run my hand down Aurelia’s black length of hair, now unbound and wild from all the shifting.
“I need to leave with Xander,” I say softly. “I need to go to sea, regina.”
Something shifts in her bright blue eyes. Fire and water and rage. “No,” she snarls.
Lyle brushes a knuckle along her cheek. “Everyone is tired, angel. And we are saved. You can rest now.”
“No,” Aurelia snarls again, her power booming in my ears, gravelly and deep. “You are mine. Mine only and mine to take. I will bear you, and I will kill and consume all others who try.”
The bloodlust in her eyes is stunning me speechless, and then her power wraps around the four of us and reels us in like four fishing hooks.
Savage lets out a hoot as we’re all pressed together in a tight circle around our regina.
She reaches out to clutch my and Lyle’s shirts on her left and right, a low constant growl rumbling from her chest. Blue eyes dart left and right as if looking for an enemy. Lyle and I exchange a glance.
“Uh-oh,” Xander says, but there’s a strange, gleeful yellow around his aura that I’ve never, not once in the time that I’ve known him, seen before.
“What’s happening?” Savage asks, looking between the dragon and our regina.
“This,” says Xander with fascination, “appears to be a treasure haze.”