Chapter Five
Asher
C haos. That was the only word that came to mind as we portaled into Haven.
We landed in the middle of the town square, a beautiful stone fountain in the center pouring bloody water like whimsical gore. My heart lurched at the sight of the white houses that now bore streaks of red, hundreds of previously unsuspecting fae leaving those homes behind to fight or run for their lives. With The Mist to the north and the warded Forest of Tragedies to the south, the inhabitants of Haven would have nowhere to run.
A fierce rage built inside of me as the Golden Guard—the formal title for the fae forces—tore through unarmed males, females, and even younglings.
I would kill them all. I would torture and maim them. I would rip them apart limb from limb.
My feet moved before my brain had fully processed the scene in front of me. My flimsy dress was catching in the wind, slowing me down as it wrapped around my legs. But there had been no time to change, no time to do anything other than grab our weapons. Now I was running at a nearby guard that had a female on her knees in front of him, smirking at her ripped dress and exposed breasts. She cried, begging for mercy, and he laughed.
I swung my sword, cutting through flesh and bone—shattering his skull and slicing his eye in half. He fell, screaming on the ground before lying limp seconds later.
To my left, a guard was using her power to shove seawater down the throat of a fae who had been darting for the forest. He writhed on the ground, his body convulsing as he struggled to resist the water that was being forced into his lungs. I grabbed onto her mind, shattering it quickly before moving on.
Not enough. Never enough.
Once more, I was on the move, running through the crowd of panicked fae. A great shake of the cobblestones at my feet had me struggling to remain upright. The ground was splitting beneath us, dirt and grass and stone ripping up and flying in all directions. A chunk landed in my eye before I could duck my head, forcing me to quickly rub at it until I could see again, the burn nothing compared to the inferno of my fury.
Still, that small moment of hesitation was nearly enough to have my stomach sliced open by a female with claws as long as my forearm. I dodged her at the last second, her talons ripping open my thigh instead. She fell to my power before she could send another strike my way.
The bloody fountain water was lifting, racing towards Winona as she fought off a particularly large Shifter who had taken on the body of a wolf. I stopped, wanting to help her—to warn her. Anything.
Just as I opened my mouth to scream, a great beast with leathery gray skin and a horn atop its snout charged into me. The impact sent me flying through the air, landing with a horrible crack on a patch of dirt. I had no time to appreciate the flowers around me, no time to consider that this likely had been beautiful hours ago—the culmination of someone’s sweat and tears and hard work. All I could think was that the pain in my hand was nauseating, that the screaming fae needed my help. That this was all my fault.
I forced myself up into a sitting position, noting that two of my fingers sat at odd angles and were bleeding profusely. I had no idea how to help myself. That was the problem with living in a palace with a Royal Healer, I never needed to know how to provide a quick fix for an injury.
With my dagger in one hand and my power poised to compensate for the mangled digits on the other, I stood once more. The Shifter who had attacked me stared my way, prepared to pounce. I smiled, a wicked raise of my lips that bared my teeth.
“Hello, you hideous little creature. Tell me, do you think you can snap my neck before I turn your brain to mush?” I taunted over the screams. The Shifter let out a vicious snarl, snapping their head up as if demonstrating how it would spear me. “Well then, tiny, may the best fae win.”
Not a second passed before the Shifter charged, tilting their chin down and running headfirst my way. I dove into their mind, opting to stay still and watch the dread light up their face as I forced them to stop mere inches from me. When we were nose to snout, I smirked, looking into those hazel eyes and speaking into its mind.
Kill the Golden Guard, beasty.
And then it was off, diving through the crowd and barreling into golden armor. My voice had been that of The Manipulator, and she was to be obeyed.
With the battle still raging on, I ducked down near one of the white houses, closing my eyes and trying to focus on the minds around me. It was no use though. I could avoid taking down Bellamy and his Trusted, but I did not know the minds of the fae from Haven. Without time to dig into their thoughts and memories, I would not be able to decipher friend from foe.
Which meant one at a time.
Pushing to my feet, the fingers on my right hand still dripping red, I watched as Bellamy swirled his hands, the wind around him picking up. My braid whipped across my face, leaving me temporarily without sight. I shoved it back just in time to see Bellamy form a vortex of wind around himself. He stood there, the eye of a storm ready to tear apart all who came in his path.
“Lian!” he shouted, catching the attention of the Air not far from him. She paused to look back, her sword still inside of a guard’s neck. “Catch.”
He twisted his hand higher, then flicked it forward, as if swatting away a pesky bug. Lian ripped her sword free of the female’s neck and threw up her hands, catching the tornado like a youngling catching a ball. She held it airborne for a moment before sweeping her arms to her left and releasing her grip. The wind went careening towards the golden ships in the bay, shattering a quarter of them upon impact.
Bellamy maintained his momentum, stomping his foot to the ground and fragmenting it in a perfect sphere around him. Two guards lost their balance and fell into the large cracks, piercing screams echoing behind them. The Elemental laughed as they dropped, reaching his arms out to lift water from the sea.
His hands rose, both water and earth moving to the sky. When the winds came back ten-fold, Bellamy brought the three together with a loud smack of his hands. As the whirlwind of elements formed, the prince snapped and fire caught. With what must have been an immense amount of energy, he threw his arms forward, the storm of all four elements ripping apart the remaining boats.
I gasped at the sight of his power, the extent to which he could destroy. Then I smiled in glee, turning on the stunned Golden Guards. Six of them were in my sight, all frozen in fear after Bellamy’s display.
My turn.
I slashed through their minds like steel on skin, grabbing hold with bloody claws. They all cried out in agony, clutching their skulls as if they could dig me out like a weed. Unfortunately for them, I was far more stubborn. With a little focus, I could sense their abilities. Two Multiples, a Fire, and an Earth. Useful.
Their bodies shook as I scraped my way down their minds, and I pictured snipping their free will like dead hair. Watching the emotions leave their faces brought a level of satisfaction that had me smiling as I ordered them to take down their own.
Before they had even left my side, I was once more jumping into the battle. Winona was alight, her Sun magic nearly singeing the end of my braid as she spun and beheaded a guard. Beside her, Ranbir had his hands splayed out, palms facing the ground. I paused just long enough to watch as he leached the color from the grass below him in thin lines, making his way to unsuspecting guards. Slowly, bodies began to collapse, life drained from them.
Dagger in my good hand, I began the dance once more—my balance off, but my adrenaline making up for it. From the water, Calista led sirens to land, the fierce screams coming from the entirely nude creatures sending a handful of Golden Guards running. I continued on, not able to see Noe, Henry, or Cyprus in the fray.
After three more bodies fell from my hand and power, I felt a familiar mind wink into existence nearby.
My head whipped to the right, where I caught sight of her tangerine hair. In that moment, time seemed to freeze. The breath caught in my throat, heart racing to an unsteady beat. There was no sound, no fighting, just gray eyes staring into blue ones.
Mia was here. She was here, and she was looking right at me.
I had not seen her since she looked on in terror as Bellamy snatched me from my own wedding. Since she held her hands to a wounded Sterling, saving the mortal prince who had violently assaulted me. Since I found out she had been slowly poisoning me, using me just like everyone else. Since I learned that she was killing her own subjects.
She wore a flowing golden gown, the nearly sheer fabric so light that it blew in the breeze. Her orange hair was loose, the length now to her collar bones. Everything about her was so different than it always had been, as if this fae in front of me was not the same one that had raised me. Yet it was not her who had changed, but me instead. My perception of her and all that she was. My mindset and beliefs. My heart.
Pink lips tilted into a smile. Did she think she won? Was she enjoying the sight of me so enraged? She had never cared for my temper, but now it gave her an advantage.
At least, she thought it did.
I began moving before I had made the decision to do so, my feet carrying me towards the female who had been like a mother to me. Who had beaten me down and nearly destroyed me. After I took a handful of steps, Mia dropped her hands to the ground, her eyes never leaving mine.
Slowly, too slowly, I screamed out a warning. The ground shook, and branches the size of tree trunks broke through the dirt and grass, through stone and brick, stabbing chests and wrapping around necks.
Mia was careless with her power, taking out both the fae of Haven and the fae of the Golden Guard. I watched on in horror as she killed by the masses, bodies being torn apart regardless of age or allegiance. Only the sirens, who dove for the water, made it out. The deaths were quick and many. A small form, the youngling no more than five years, was slumped down nearby, and my sorrow heated into an inferno of fury.
She laughed, standing upright. “Come, Asher darling. Let the Guard take care of these filthy creatures.”
Her voice was as beautiful as ever—her body and face full of harsh lines, making her look like the queen she was born to become. She clearly had not considered that I would deign to warn the fae of her oncoming attack. Or perhaps she thought I had been trying to save the Guard. There were many who had hesitated, who seemed to wish that they were not being forced to take the lives of their own. For them, I still would not show mercy.
Mia did not know that though. Over the last couple of months, I had changed, enough so that she no longer knew me at all. I was not the princess she had molded me into. I was not The Manipulator Xavier had trained me to become. I was Asher, and I was free.
I pushed out my power, meeting a golden garden of resistance and blocking my path to her mind. No matter, this was what I had been practicing day and night for. I could take her down even without my powers.
I would never concede. I would fight until my final breath and then rage from the Underworld where I knew my blackened soul belonged.
I would win.
A loud scream of fury came from my back, halting me in my pursuit. Turning, I watched as Bellamy, his body hidden beneath scorching black flames, ran at us. Behind him lay the bodies of every Golden Guard and every Haven inhabitant.
She had killed them all.
The Trusted remained, the group of them gathered in a circle. Only Cyprus and Luca were missing, the two of them likely still in Betovere. Ranbir was on the ground with his hands to the dirt and his jaw tense as he put everything he had into stopping the queen’s attack.
Mia began sprouting vines with thorns and red flowers that had teeth, using her power in an attempt to keep Bellamy back as she walked towards me. But he pressed on, burning through the leaves and slicing branches in half with powerful gusts of wind. I watched as the queen’s face faltered, a rare crack in her mask of cool confidence.
“Asher, my flower, we must go now,” she said, grabbing hold of my bad hand and tugging me back towards the water. I howled in pain, but she did not seem to notice.
On the edge of the sand stood a male with dark mahogany hair and tanned skin, looking uncomfortably familiar though I was unable to put my finger on why.
I pulled with all my might, trying to free myself from her hold on me, but the queen was far stronger than I realized. She tightened her grasp until the agony nearly consumed me. Despite that, I still struggled in her grip, imagining what it would mean to be dragged back to Betovere—picturing a new golden wedding aisle and Sterling waiting at the end of it. Picturing more and more fae bodies falling at my feet on a wooden stage.
The panic came in full force, and then I was shouting, searching her mind for any way in. For a single chance to break her before she broke me. Mia seemed to finally notice my resistance, and she paused momentarily, leaving Bellamy to fight through a particularly nasty patch of thorned roses.
“Asher, we do not have time for this. They are all gone, so you cannot save them. No fae is worth your life. We must leave immediately,” she said, her voice a rush of anxiety and determination.
That was when I realized that Mia had not tried to harm me. In fact, she had taken great care to hurt everyone but me. The look in her eyes, one of relief and fear, made me think that she was under the impression she was rescuing me. Mia thought me in danger, and that meant she would kill anyone in her way if I did not kill her first.
I finally pushed away from her, ducking under a branch to put distance between us. She stared at me, mouth agape and eyes bulging. I had never—not once—seen Mia quite this stunned, not even as she watched me being taken from my wedding. That had been terror. This was pure shock. The raise of her brows and slackening of her shoulders was the opposite of the Mia I knew.
Was it foolish that it hurt me to see her this way?
Bellamy made it to me then, his hand immediately resting on my lower back—nearly scorching me through the ripped dress. At the sight of him touching me, Mia’s face lit up in fury. She lifted an arm, and a vine thicker than rope shot out of the ground. I watched in horror as it wrapped around Winona’s leg, causing her to fall. The vine dragged her away from Ranbir, who had still been working to wither the other plants, her nails digging into the dirt and pulling chunks of grass free. He screamed as he dove for her, but the weeds suddenly grew larger, entrapping every one of Bellamy’s Trusted.
Ranbir’s screams did not die out. Instead, they became louder—hoarser—with every foot closer Winona got to Mia. He fought, throwing his power out with the type of strength that I had not realized he had, killing every plant within a fifteen-foot radius. But Mia was faster, more brutal. Each dead plant had three sprouting in its wake. Escaping quickly became impossible for all of them.
What seemed to be hours were mere seconds. One moment, Winona was beside the love of her life, her husband and soulmate, then she was suddenly beside the fae queen, vines covering every inch of her body below the neck. Bellamy and I froze, too afraid that moving would mean risking Winona’s life.
“Now then, let us not be imprudent. Release the princess, Elemental. Do that, and I will not kill you all where you stand,” Mia said, her voice dripping with authority.
Winona remained silent, her face stoic. She would not cry. Nor would she beg. It was not in her nature to do so. A faint glow emitted from her, but as the vines tightened around her, those Sun powers faded into nothing. She gave a curt shake of her head, eyes trained on her prince.
Noe screamed from behind me as she fought against the vines with her shadows, slashing and tearing one only for two to replace it. Each of Bellamy’s Trusted projected thoughts of terror and fury as they did the same.
I felt my body begin to shake as I took a slow step forward, my power still pressing into the gilded flowers that shielded Mia’s mind. All I needed was one chance, and I could save them. I might not have saved the innocent fae of Haven, I might have failed them entirely, but I could prevent the death of the male I loved and the family I had found.
I took a second step and then Bellamy was grabbing my arm, pulling me into him. My back hit his chest, and for once, I could sense all of his feelings, hear many of his thoughts. He pictured watching Mia take me away, the soul-crushing loss of me, and he could not stomach it. Not even to save his friends. His family.
“Touch her, and I will rip your heart from your chest and feed it to your plants,” he seethed.
Mia growled, a deep sound I would have never thought could come from her whimsical and usually soothing voice. Winona let out a faint gasp as the vines tightened, and I could not stop myself from reaching out a hand in her direction, prepared to save her in any way possible.
“Please, Mia, do not do this. Do not hurt them. I beg you! Just let them go,” I said, the words pouring out of me with such speed that they became muddled.
The queen heard though because the look of realization on her face was obvious. My mistake was not silently going with her when I had the chance; I understood that then. Now she knew what side I had chosen, and it was not hers.
Her eyes flicked between Bellamy and I, eventually settling on him as he moved to push me behind him. I wrapped my arm in his, trying and failing to reclaim my position in the front. No one but I deserved Mia’s wrath, and no one but I would kill her.
“I see. It seems you have let them taint you, little love. An unfortunate turn of events. Which means you have forced my hand.” As if her propensity for the dramatics won out, Mia tightened her hand, forming a fist. The vines slithered up Winona’s neck like snakes, suffocating her.
I dropped to my knees, listening as Ranbir begged for Mia to take him instead, watching as the queen smiled his way. Bellamy refused to let me go, falling to the ground with me.
“Spare her, please! Take me, I will go with you! Please, do not hurt her!”
Mia would not, could not, hear reason.
“No, Ash!” Winona rasped, wiggling against the vines, her face gaining a moderately purple hue. A breeze came, blowing the scent of lilacs my way. The scent of Mia. I raged against Bellamy’s hold, needing to get to Winona.
He suddenly got to his feet, flames lighting his arms. He ran at Mia, throwing balls of fire that left her dodging and sending piles of sand to compensate. Plant life continued to attack the Trusted, forcing them to fight for their lives while Winona’s remained so clearly at risk. For a moment, Bellamy and Mia remained in a deadly battle, his sword of fire only barely grazing her cheek to draw first blood. But Mia was as strong as she was smart. One of the strongest Earth’s to grace the Fae Realm, in fact. And she would not yield.
He continued to gain the upper hand, tearing through her plants and leaping over branches. Every time she would rip the ground apart, he would stitch it back together. A growl of frustration left her lips when he combated her barely formed strike of sand, and all at once, thorned vines were barreling towards me. I gasped, shoving at her mental shields with all of my strength, but it was as if they were fortified with a second consciousness somehow.
Bellamy screamed, throwing a wall of scorching fire in front of me. It was too late by the time we both realized what Mia had done, the distraction she had utilized, as one of those vines speared through his shoulder, sending him flying backwards.
Suddenly, I too was standing, raising my dagger to her. The queen giggled as if the sight of me doing such a thing was a joke. Smaller vines reached up, wrapping around my wrists and ankles. Holding me still. Horrifying defeat consumed me as, with a great shove, I tried and failed to break through her mental shields.
“Take this as a lesson, you traitorous little thing. The more you love, the more you stand to lose. And I vow to be the one ripping it all away from you. Come home or watch as everything you love withers before you.”
“I love you,” Winona said to her husband, just as Mia conjured a thorned dagger and swiped it across the Sun’s neck. Mia let her fall, and then the mahogany-haired male was by her side, smiling as Winona hit the ground with a fleshy thud.
Ranbir—always so soft spoken, so controlled—screamed out, breaking down before us. He fought viciously against the vines, but he was no match for Mia.
“Not my wife, please! Please, not my wife! Not her! Please, not my wife!” Over and over again he chanted the same words, and sometime in that span of a handful of seconds, I wormed my way past Mia’s shields. Past the strange black that sat behind them, now no more than a mist, as if it were distracted.
I could kill her, end it all. She would fight it, but I would be triumphant. Yet, in that second, I faltered. Was it fear that stopped me from crushing her mind? Love?
My single instant of hesitation—a horrible lapse in judgment—was all it took. Blowing a kiss and offering a wink, the male held onto Mia, black shadows engulfing them. Leaving nothing but their scent and the bodies around us.
Ranbir, now free after finally killing off the plants, darted to Winona’s side, his hands alight with his healing power. I knew, though, that she was gone. That so many were gone. Because of me. Because I could not simply kill Mia when I had the chance.
I was not the only one thinking so. In Ranbir’s mind, he too hated my lack of action. He too knew that I could have stopped her. He too placed the blame on me.
The others rushed to the fallen Sun, crowding her body and shouting through their tears. Her green hair was just as blood soaked as Ranbir’s white top, her throat ripped open wide.
Bellamy was nearby, holding a hand to his torn shoulder while he bent over a body that was so mangled and bloody it was nearly unrecognizable. Yet I knew just by the shredded velvet clothes and the wrinkled tan skin that it was Pino.
The prince closed the Oracle’s remaining eyelid then slowly made his way to Winona. I stayed rooted in place and watched on as Bellamy fell to his knees beside Ranbir, placing one shaking arm around his mourning friend and his free hand on Winona’s forever still face.
“May they return to Eternity,” I whispered without intending to, my ears ringing and my eyesight fogging.
His sobs were the last thing I heard before I began running. I could not be there, could not listen to Bellamy’s grief. Could not see the gore that I helped create. Could not listen to Ranbir’s mental or physical voice as he prayed for his wife to return. His other half. His world.
My feet took me all the way to Bellamy’s home, the castle of night and blood—a name so fitting for the recent tragedy. It had sustained some damage, mostly walls and windows shattered, but there was no actual carnage here.
The second I made it through the entrance, my feet took me up. Up. Up until I was in front of a set of doors I had only seen once. I shoved them open, walking into an all-white room with a dazzling chandelier. In the center lay a black pianoforte, small red designs painted onto it.
Beautiful. So incredibly beautiful. Too beautiful.
I turned and promptly vomited, the images of the small dead bodies, Winona’s gasping breaths, and Ranbir’s raw screams bombarding me. My leg poured blood onto the white floors, and my sick stained the walls. Still, the only thing I could think was that this death, this brokenness, this disaster, was my fault. I brought horror upon this sweet and unsuspecting place.
All of it was enough to send me down a spiral.
With my throat on fire, my fingers throbbing, and my stomach twisted, I took the stool in front of the instrument and threw it against the wall. The white quartz chipped but held steady, wood from the seat splintering off in pieces. I grabbed the largest chunk of the chair, and with an unbearable amount of anger and self-loathing, I began smashing the pianoforte.