Chapter 9
CHAPTER NINE
Colt
My entire life had been spent training to lead a House. I’d trained with the military and even had combat experience, but I could have never predicted that I would be playing such a vital role in an active war.
The Kingdom of Pura hadn’t been part of any large military efforts in my lifetime, so the most I’d ever expected to face was civil unrest. No one could have prepared for this, and it should have made me uncomfortable, even scared.
Yet, as we continued forward on horseback, the dawn sun to our east, I felt calm wash over me.
I knew how to call for my house, and I knew they would respond.
There were a lot of things I had come to learn to doubt recently, the revelation of hard truths making me realize the world was different than I’d assumed, but I knew where my house stood.
I would call them, and they could come to aid our efforts to save the Kingdom of Pura.
Jace’s words hadn’t been wrong: this moment was fundamental to the future of our realm.
Everything relied upon our coming together as one.
Ahead of us stood the barrier between our forces and Obumbratio.
The entire wall of energy was clearly crafted from Dark Elf magic, the surface seeming to constantly fluctuate between purple and silver.
It was oddly beautiful; despite the danger I knew it represented.
The danger the entire House of Runes represented to us... outside of Finias.
I had to admit that, despite our difficult start, I’d come to respect Finias.
As we rode next to one another, I even found myself concerned about the shadow that seemed to cross his features as he examined the barrier.
I didn’t know the full extent of what he had gone through, but we had all borne witness to the scars on his skin, so I knew it must have been bad. More than bad.
While it was uncomfortable to accept that cruelty and pain were part of what had formed Finias into who he was, his ability to talk about it made me respect him.
Instead of making excuses for himself, he had embraced who he was, and it made me proud to call him a friend...
even if he still wanted to kill me. Hopefully, Ama could dissuade him from that one. I quite liked being alive.
I wouldn’t lie though, his story served as a stark reminder that, while my parents and I had our differences, at the end of the day they had truly tried their best to prepare me for this world.
I wasn’t certain why, but my mind immediately jumped to the idea of having my own children and the fact that, if I ever did, I would try my best to replicate aspects of my parents’ behavior.
Not all of it—they hadn’t been perfect, and they had put an insane amount of pressure on me, but the way they had taught me to lead and take care of my family were things I would never forget.
“Are you going to be okay?” I asked Finias. Ahead, Jace and the others rode slightly behind Pandora and her lieutenants. We came to a stop about one hundred feet or so from the barrier before Finias answered as we dismounted our horses.
“Am I okay?” Finias asked, looking somewhat amused. “No. No, Colt, I won’t be okay until we have Ama back. Until my parents are fucking dead. Then, I might be a bit more ‘okay.’”
It didn’t surprise me that he wanted his parents dead, but it did surprise me the ease with which he admitted that was his intention. It was clear how much he hated them.
“Then let’s get these barriers down,” I nodded towards them as he chuckled at my easy acceptance of his words. Well, my apparent easy acceptance. Sometimes, his blunt openness about killing people still made me uncomfortable, but if anyone had a right to kill his parents, it was Finias.
“How the hell do we do this?” I walked next to him as we passed the others to stand facing the barrier and the massive dome that arched over it.
“We need to break the first one, and then we can take each wall down,” he explained. “The dome is the largest and will require the most effort. I need to get airborne in order to shatter it completely.”
“Figured as much,” I grunted as my wings expanded, my shoulders rolling back in relief. I looked at the rune he exposed on the inside of his left wrist. “Do you need access to both hands?”
“Ideally,” he admitted.
Well, there was only one way to do this, then.
I was airborne a second later, grabbing the back of Finias' jacket and pulling him off his feet.
He let out a stream of curses, making me chuckle.
I had surprised the bastard, and honestly, I was pretty damned proud...
at least, I would be until he decided it was a good enough reason to kill me.
Although, I really did feel like this was probably the easiest way to ensure he had access to both hands and his rune.
“Do that again and I will slit your throat,” Finias growled. I noticed his words lacked the normal amount of heat, so I didn’t feel in as much danger and chuckled lightly in response.
As we soared through the cool air and came to the area just above the dome, overlooking the great Kingdom of Pura, I felt the mood between us grow somber.
I could feel the depressive tension weighing down on the familiar walls of the kingdom, and the dome seemed to be almost sentient, growing with more energy the longer we hung above it.
Would he really be able to take this down?
“I have taken down barriers in far worse conditions during my parents’...lessons,” Finias assured quietly, reading my mind, or most likely the look on my face.
Before I had a chance to question his meaning, his right hand wrapped around his left wrist over the rune there, and his voice boomed “Dissolvere!”
I had always known that Finias was powerful, but when the sonic boom of power that came from him hit the dome, I almost fucking dropped the guy. I grunted as it reverberated back, the air seeming to tremble with tension before the dome simply...shattered.
My eyes widened as the shattered dome turned into a mist that dissolved into the air, the noise causing small figures to flood onto the grounds beneath us, coming out to investigate.
It let me know we had very little time until the House of Runes realized what was occurring.
I dipped in the air, and Finias told me to drop him back on the outside of Obumbratio’s barrier—it would be the next to fall.
I didn’t waste time depositing him where he’d requested, and he offered me a nod, looking a bit overwhelmed but not exhausted by any means.
I just hoped he could keep that up because there were a fuck ton of barriers that needed to come down.
Not wasting any time, I soared up through the air and towards my homeland.
Angelus. I could see the massive castle, the gray stone building with its gilded towers and large flags filling me with nostalgia.
How many times had I flown back home, knowing I would see my parents?
This time, I wasn’t flying back as the prince to the House of Fallen.
I was flying back as the leader. The king.
That reality slammed into me as I circled the castle, watching people flood out into the courtyard.
As I landed on an open balcony into the throne room and strode in, I heard a massive boom that let me know the barrier to Obumbratio had fallen.
I was distracted almost immediately, finding a group of my father’s advisors—military and political—gathered in quiet whispers.
“Prince Colt?” one of them asked as all turned to face me.
“Ready our troops,” I demanded of one of the military commanders. He gave a sharp nod as he strode from the room, not questioning me. I looked back towards the others and decided to try to keep things as simple as possible.
“I have no idea what you’ve been told, but the House of Runes performed a coup to take over the capital, both the King and Queen fell during battle.
The other heirs and I managed to escape and we gathered forces from outside of Pura.
I expect every one of fighting and flying capability to be at the barrier between our lands and Obumbratio within the hour, we are bringing them down. Is that understood?”
All of them seemed frozen as I snapped my wings shut and it seemed to send them into action.
I exhaled as all of them began to go different directions, my father’s most trusted advisor approaching me with a hesitant and concerned look.
I tried to keep my expression as neutral as possible but I’d known Galen since I was a young boy.
His knowing gaze had me feeling emotionally vulnerable and I had to fight the urge to not lash out immediately.
I was better than that, I knew his concern came from a good place.
“King Celorn & Queen Kahli, have fallen?” He clarified quietly as I swallowed with a sharp nod.
“Colt,” His voice was filled with pain.
I clasped his shoulder, “After, Galen. After this is done. I need to return back to the forces we have gathered, can you bring as many people as possible into the walls of the castle? Anyone not fighting? I have no idea how bad this is going to get but I have to assume they have forces somewhere within our lands?”
“They do,” He nodded and then got a determined look on his face. “I will take care of it, your majesty.”
I had to fight the emotion filling my chest at his words as I offered him another nod and walked back towards the balcony.
As I took off I heard another shattering sound and watched as the barrier between Obumbratio and Angelus fell sooner than I expected.
The House of Shadow’s castle seemingly filled with movements as soldiers already left the castle, coming to the call of the military that was marching straight towards them.
From here I could see Adrien riding forward and I knew without a doubt that we had easily gathered already two massive forces to be reckoned with.
I just had to hope that the House of Death and House of Hellfire had yet to be compromised.
The House of Death. Almost immediately thoughts of Ama had me feeling simultaneously strong and weak at the same time.
I was far stronger now that we had a plan but I couldn’t deny the primal urge inside of me that demanded we find our mate.
That it was the only thing that mattered.
Fuck. I missed her so much and I had thought my heart actually cracked in half before shattering into millions of pieces when I realized she was gone.
If I hadn’t realized how in love I was with Ama before, it was becoming increasingly obvious with each passing moment.
When this was all over, I planned on gathering her up in my arms and flying us away somewhere for the day, even just a short amount of time, so I could take as long as I wanted exploring and appreciating every unique inch of her.
I had known from the start that Ama would ruin me and I couldn’t find it in myself to regret meeting her.
In fact, I felt like it was a blessing from the devil himself.
I was a foolish man and I had learned a lot since meeting Ama, the main one being that I could be better and I fucking would be.
I would be the good man she believed I could be and love her with every devildamn inch of my being.
Right after I slaughtered all the bastards who put her in harm's way by starting this war.
When I landed, I did so by Drayven, Finias, and Damien who were now standing at the border between Obumbratio and Mortem.
I knew that this one had the potential to be a hard sell, not only was the House of Death particularly volatile when it came to hybrids but they owed no allegiance to Drayven.
I just hoped that what Ama perceived was true and that they had wanted him as their next leader because it would work to our advantage for now.
Finias walked towards the barrier as Drayven looked back at me, “everything good?”
“Of course,” I nodded sharply and looked towards the kingdom, “do you think they will listen?”
Drayven’s eyes darkened, “We are about to find out.” As Finias shattered the barrier, my eyes widened realizing there were already forces waiting at the barrier and they did not look friendly.