Chapter Thirty-One
Do not throw away my words, and understanding will come.
A sea of feeders congested every path leading to the field, with more coming. I didn’t slow or attempt to avoid them, giving CURED an easier target and jeopardizing my fellow passengers. Instead, I plowed through anyone in our way.
This was war, not business as usual.
We approached our destination without further incident, only to come upon our next problem: an army of glowers midbattle with feeders were outnumbered five to one.
At least. Fiery swords glowed, growing brighter every time a feeder fell, as if strengthened by the victory, but not enough feeders fell.
I caught sight of Ember, who fought at the helm. Good to see her up and recharged.
Brakes squealed as I stomped on the pedal. Dirt kicked up behind the truck’s tires. The second we stopped, Domino came alive again. I was currently perched on his lap. Not a big deal while he’d been out there, unaware of me, but here, now, it was kind of awkward.
Didn’t matter. Feeders walled the vehicle, banging on bulletproof glass windows.
“We need a plan.” Domino shifted to park and clasped my waist to lift me off. Or so I thought. He held me tight. “I slowed CURED down, but I didn’t stop them. They’ll arrive any minute.”
I craned my neck, meeting his gaze. Determination flooded our bond.
“I’m a step ahead of you for once.” I looked over at Winslet.
She slumped in the seat, eyes closed, sweating buckets.
She’d reclaimed the dagger and now clutched it and her injured arm close.
Apparently carrying Astan’s essence didn’t heal new wounds the way it had temporarily healed the old one.
How much time did she have left? “Get me to the force field,” I told Domino, “and I’ll get you safely inside it. ” Sacrifice someone I loved? So be it.
I could die without killing him. Cyrus had suspected there was a way to sever my bond with the librarian, and I believed he was right.
Snuff out the flame, and boom. Problem solved.
The loss of such a deep connection would destroy Domino and me in a thousand different ways, I was certain of it, but he was gonna live, and I was gonna die anyway, so I couldn’t regret it.
Suspicions flashed in his eyes. “How will you do it?”
“Better to show you rather than explain.”
“But you will survive it?” he insisted.
“Dom, I’m not going to endanger your life,” I assured him. “Watch me work my magic.”
“Let me guess.” He arched a brow. “You plan to snuff out our flame and sacrifice yourself.”
“Well, I meet the only qualification. I love myself,” I stated. “It’ll work. You won’t die with me.”
“I don’t care about that,” he snapped.
“There’s no other way.” Determination mounting, I leaned over, plucked the dagger from Winslet’s grip, and sheathed it at my waist. Her eyes opened and met mine.
“Don’t die believing a lie,” I told her.
I had one last chance to reach her. Might as well give it my all, nothing held back.
“The Madness came from Astan. He tortures innocent people to hide the truth and trains us to do the same. His only goal is the destruction of Soal, who helps us.”
The feeders applied enough pressure to crack the glass. Small lines appeared, but they grew longer and wider at a faster clip as the beatings continued.
“I won’t let you sacrifice yourself,” Domino vowed.
As if he could stop me. I’d made up my mind. “You should cheer me on. You’ll finally be free of our unwanted connection.”
“It was never unwanted, Arden.” He said nothing else, throwing open the door and jumping out. Swing. The sword of fire appeared, and feeders closest to him fell, making room for me.
I stuffed his words, and whatever they meant, to a hidden corner of my mind and followed him out, then shut the door behind me to seal Winslet inside alone and safe. Well, safer.
Side by side, Domino and I made our way forward. Through the bond, I knew when to duck and when to swing my own sword.
“Arden!” Cyrus’s voice cut through the grunts, groans, and thuds.
My heart leaped, as usual, but I didn’t let myself become distracted. I continued pressing on with Domino, fighting, fighting. Adrenaline pumped through my veins, heating me up. A welcome development. My damp gown offered little protection against the biting wind and swiping nails.
A massive number of glowers rushed past us, attacking the feeders before us head-on, creating a path. Domino yanked me forward. Together, we ran for the gate.
“I won’t let you sacrifice yourself,” he repeated.
Domino spun, ending a trio of feeders who slipped free of the fray.
Nearby, Ember called out orders. “Bark, shield Talon. Murphy, boost Brenna.”
Different glowers paired up, focusing on the force field, attempting different methods to get through it—and failing.
Almost there . . .
The ground. It shook so violently even glowers began to fall. What was happening? Feeders stumbled backward, losing their balance.
Thick, thorny vines broke through the surface, snatching feeders and glowers within tightening coils that slithered around them. Fire-swords snuffed out and vanished as those sharp thorns stabbed anyone who wiggled for freedom.
Inside me, dread mimicked the vines, winding and tightening. This was Briar Rose via Lolli, and these glowers were meant to be “fuel.”
I spun, ready to grab Domino and run. Too late. He roared with pain as a vine grabbed him. The sword vanished. Like the others, he couldn’t get free. I was the only glower left standing.
A path opened, and Cyrus appeared at the end of it, holding two bloody daggers. My heart lurched. He still wore the suit, but it was no longer pristine. Scarlet-stained rips littered the material.
I readjusted my pose, putting my sword of flames at the ready.
“I told you. You can’t win,” he said, as calm and smug as could be. “I’ve planned for every contingency.”
Lolli stood at his side, her head thrown back and her arms outstretched, her fingers twitching.
Lolli isn’t all powerful. Especially now.
Her connection to Briar Rose is too new.
Domino’s voice filled my head. His spirit might not be joined to my body, but our bond was stronger than ever.
She can only funnel in what her body can tolerate.
Soon, she’ll tire. All you must do is stall until we get free.
That, I could do. “Why not kill me while you’ve got the chance, hmm?” I demanded of Cyrus. “Or snatch me up with vines like all the others?”
He merely rocked back on his heels, silent. But then, he didn’t need to say anything. We both knew the answer. Cyrus was still in there, and he loved me.
Right now, Lolli was the bigger threat. I didn’t bother tossing a dagger at her. He’d only catch it. I was dealing with the host for a god, after all.
I looked at her. The vines. Lolli, the root. I followed the bark-heavy protrusions to the trapped glowers and swung. The tip of my sword sliced through dirt, severing a thick green coil. The high princess whimpered.
Exactly as I’d suspected. Take her out, and all the glowers would be freed. But I’d have to go through Cyrus to reach her.
“Don’t even try,” he snapped.
Two buses reached us, soldiers pouring from them, my former instructors at the helm.
Cyrus grinned. “Looks like you’ve run out of time, sweetness.”
“Wrong.” I jutted my chin. “I’m still breathing.”
We stood in a stalemate, the battlefield between us a nightmare of lifeless bodies and scattered limbs bathed in the unflinching light of Theirland’s twin suns.
Lavender and gold streaked the sky, casting an eerie glow over the blood-soaked earth, where rivers of crimson carved fresh paths through the flatland.
Overhead, a restless flock of scavenger birds circled, their shrill cries piercing the thick, heavy silence as they awaited their feast.
The fresh wave of CURED soldiers flooded the scene, surging from behind the former high prince and hurrying to kill the array of glowers trapped around me. Men and women I admired. Many more would die today if I didn’t stop Cyrus. But how could I strike down the man I loved?
Was he still the man I loved, though?
In the morning’s brightness, I noticed his missing facial brand. No sign of it remained, and my guts twisted. More evidence of the monster he’d become.
What other changes had Astan made to his body? To his mind? His heart?
“It doesn’t have to end this way, Arden,” he called, grin widening.
“You’re right.” I huffed and puffed my breaths. “Walk away, and I’ll spare you.”
His grin turned wry. Thin, snakelike shadows coiled up his arms and banded around his neck before absorbing into his skin. “I admit, your new confidence is adorable.”
“Isn’t it?” I rocked on my heels and gripped my sword with more force.
Cyrus was a god of a man in more ways than one.
Beautiful, tall, and powerfully built, with features somehow both surprisingly soft and far too harsh.
The contradictions fit. He’d always been a paradox.
Demanding yet indulgent. Mysterious but open.
Perfect in his imperfections. An opponent feared by the world and yet my greatest ally.
From the moment I’d first laid eyes on him, he’d fascinated me.
And now, here we were, soldiers on opposite sides of a war I’d only just learned I’d been fighting my entire life.
A chorus of grunts and groans and clinking metal accompanied pops of gunfire.
“You won’t kill me.” Urgency whipped at my back, propelling me on. Soal claimed I would stab the new emperor and live a romance. The comeback story of all comeback stories. Very well. I would do what I didn’t do before and trust him. “But I will hurt you if you continue on this path.”