Chapter Thirty-Two
Bellamy
“ Y ou should stay here,” I said, watching as Adbeel donned his armor. It was black as night, the metal buffed since his last battle. How long had it been since he last fought? Centuries. Not since he found me.
“I will go get my granddaughter, Bellamy,” was all he said in response. At least we knew where I learned my stubbornness from.
What would Asher think of the fact that I was raised by her grandfather and she was raised by my parents? Would she think it inappropriate? Wrong?
Would she even be okay enough after whatever they were doing to her to think of such things?
Yes, she had to be relatively okay or Nicola would have said something to me. At least, I hoped she would have.
“Fine, go tell Odilia that she will be in charge until we get back. We need to be as quick as possible. I think the best thing we can do is limit who we bring and focus on retrieving Asher.” Adbeel nodded, grabbing the hilt of his silver sword and tugging it off the mount it had sat upon for as long as I had been alive.
“You go get your Trusted and I will inform Odilia. Meet me back here in no more than five minutes,” he ordered before disappearing in a beam of light.
“Bossy,” I muttered as I willed myself to the hallway just outside of mine and my Trusted’s quarters in Pike.
I went straight to my room, dressing quickly in my armor and then stepping into my small bathing room. Though I knew it was vain, I could not help myself from looking into the mirror and making sure I looked decent for my princess.
When I decided I looked well enough, I marched out of my room and into the hallway.
Through Noe’s door, I could hear the muffled voices of her, Damon, Cyprus, Farai, and Jasper. I did not bother to knock before pushing through the door. All of them turned to look at me, their conversation cut short. Noe, Damon, and Cyprus sat on her bed, the two males on either side of Noe and her arms slung around their shoulders. Farai and Jasper sat on her floor with their legs tangled together. They had rarely left one another’s side, the pure joy of being within each other’s company radiating off of them. Asher would have been so happy to see them together. Ranbir was there as well, his back hunched in the wooden chair at Noe’s desk. Asher and I would need to find a way to help him.
Something.
Anything.
“Time to go, you lazy assholes. Asher is waiting for her family,” I practically hummed. They all straightened, six pairs of wide eyes staring at me with the sort of dazed joy that could only be found when hopeless dreams became a precarious reality.
“Really?” Noe gasped out, her hand on her mouth. Cyprus looked ready to cry. Damon stood, rolling his shoulders back and nodding. Ranbir was similar, his eyes gaze fierce.
“You have to stay here, okay?” Farai whispered to Jasper.
“Absolutely not! I need to help you get Ash back!” Jasper yelled in response, pushing himself to his feet. We really did not have time for this.
“We both know you are not a fighter, Jas. Stay here and make sure that everything is ready for Ash. I am sure Ray will help you.” Farai’s tone was soothing, and when he stood he placed firm hands on either side of his husband’s face. They stared into one another’s eyes, looking as if they might be lost in the love they shared. When Jasper finally sighed and agreed, Faria placed a gentle yet passionate kiss to his lips. “She will be in your arms in no time.”
“If that is settled, then I need you all to get up and get ready. We have only minutes to portal to Adbeel’s office and then get to that ridiculous pirate.”
It turned out that they needed only one minute to disperse into their respective rooms and yank on their own armor. By the end of it, we were portaling to the weapons room, where we all armed ourselves. From there, I took a deep breath and willed us to the very edge of Dunamis. Farai looked the least steady on his feet, but he stayed up long enough to step through the wards. Though I knew he was on our side, I found myself looking his way to see if the wards would reject him for malicious intent. As he slid through effortlessly and leaned onto Noe, I nodded and grabbed them again.
The moment our feet touched down, Adbeel was there, grabbing my arm and shouting, “Now!”
Noe responded instead of me, checking the coordinates on a map she had grabbed one last time before closing her eyes and enveloping us all in the sweet smell of her Moon magic.
“Finally,” Henry’s loud huff cut through the air right as we arrived on the deck. The sky above us was fading to black, the stars popping out one by one to bear witness to the chaos that was about to ensue.
All I could think was that no matter what, I would have the love of my life in my arms by the end of the night.
Lian caught my eye, her blue hair quickly coming my way. I opened my arms, thinking she was going to embrace me. Instead, her hand connected with my cheek. A pained groan slipped past my lips as I grabbed my stinging face.
“Dammit, Lian, what was that for?”
“You are late! We have a future queen to rescue!” she shouted in response, her hands going to her hips and her glare leveling my way.
“They took forever to get ready!” I pointed at Noe and Cyprus, hoping to send some of Lian’s ire their way.
“We did not!” they yelled in unison.
“Enough! Focus.” Adbeel’s order was immediately obeyed, silence overtaking the ship.
He was right, we needed to focus. Nothing was okay until Asher was with us again.
“So what is the plan?” Just then, a door behind us loudly shut. I turned to find Captain Harligold walking out of what must have been her quarters, followed closely by the blonde that seemed glued to her side and a female I had seen many times before. She was dark everywhere but her clothes, the lavender dress fit more for a casual dinner rather than a battle.
For that reason alone—my previous stalking habits aside—I would have known exactly who she was even before Farai shouldered past our group and ran at her.
“Nicola!” he cheered, grabbing her by the waist and spinning her around as he embraced her. She giggled as they spun, wrapping her arms around his neck and pressing their foreheads together.
“I have missed you,” she responded.
“King Adbeel is right. We need to focus. Nicola, while it is lovely to meet you in the flesh, can we discuss the plan?” I asked, becoming antsy.
“No plan, Elemental. You have one job, get Asher. The pirates have done their part for now,” Nicola said, gesturing behind her to the group of females. I noted that they were one short. The siren was gone. As if that were their cue, they walked away and huddled together, their whispers too quiet to make out. “Burning the royals’ ship means that Asher now has drastically less poison in her system, as her new clothes were freshly made and Perdita swapped out her hairbrush. I could not see how else they were doing it, but she should be significantly more coherent and her magic should be enough to fight back. This is not a mission to kill Mia, but Ash will make it one. We need her out of there as quickly as possible or worse will happen.”
Sounded easy enough. I would have went for Asher first either way.
“Your Majesty,” Nicola said, offering a small curtsy to Adbeel before addressing him again. “I need you to distract Mia. She is going to be looking for Asher. I have not yet seen a future in which she succeeds, but I think we all know that it is not an option.”
Adbeel looked stricken at the idea of Asher not coming back with us tonight, and I imagined my face mirrored his.
“I can do that.”
“As for us,” Nicola said, slowly assessing my Trusted and her best friend. “Well, we are back up.”
“This is not enough to fight off what will probably be hundreds of fae soldiers,” Cyprus argued. He had spoken so much less since Luca was taken from us that any time we heard his voice was a relief, but especially now. He would survive this, he was okay and ready.
“We are enough for now.” With an understanding of what needed to be done, we all squared our shoulders and readied ourselves. “You first, Bellamy. Right to the Fire Warden’s home.”
I was gone before she finished her sentence.
I landed upon the grass just in front of the manor. It was a sprawling estate with red walls and a towering black gate shaped like flames. My skin prickled, and then I heard his voice from behind me.
“You should not have come, Baron.” Xavier’s voice was stoic and calculating, just like it had been for much of our conversation in Grishel. This time, it also held the faintest hint of sorrow. I could almost taste it in the air. “Mia had a feeling you were behind these attacks on Asher, but I swore that you loved her too much to harm her. Apparently, I was wrong.”
“I would never hurt Asher. I am here to take her home, to rescue her from you psychopaths.” My hand twitched, black fire igniting at my fingertips and then blowing away like the wind.
“I once said the same about her—about you. Yet here I stand, ready to kill my own son, just as I was ready to end you in that desert.” Something akin to pain crinkled his eyes. “One of the hardest things in the world to accept is your own wickedness.”
He was not my purpose, but he could help. What had Stassi said? He was a weak link, the crack in their foundation.
“You do not have to do this,” I said, letting my entire body light in black flames.
“The exact opposite is true, actually. I have to do this, because I cannot let you take Asher from me again,” he responded, letting his flames ignite as well.
“You know, I think you do love Asher in your own way, even if it is the wrong way.” Xavier let out an animalistic growl at my condemnation, his body going rigid. We faced each other, father and son in every way except the one that mattered. Nearby, screams echoed off the clear sky, entering the abyss and being thrown back at us in a mockery of the pain tonight would bring. “You have to let her go. She deserves happiness.”
Xavier ignored my plea, grunting as he stepped forward and rained fire down upon me. I summoned my Earth power, lifting the dirt and grass from the ground. Fire met earth, bursting in angry flames and charred grass. As if the visual had shown him exactly what Asher had felt growing up, Xavier stumbled back. I let the dirt fall as his flames extinguished.
“She can be happy with us. Just like she used to be,” he muttered. But there in his broken eyes I could see the truth. Could nearly feel it tingling against my skin. He knew she was never truly happy.
“No, she would be miserable again, as I am sure she has been since your wife nearly killed her.”
“Your mother,” he corrected. As if that disgusting fact mattered at all.
“I have no mother,” I rasped, less bite in my tone than I would have expected. “That female tortured and traumatized the love of my life—my soulmate. You both did.”
“I felt so incredibly proud the first time I held you,” he whispered. I gasped at his admission. Me? “You were the most perfect little youngling. You never cried, always smiling and laughing at everything near you. I could not wait to teach you all the things my father had taught me.”
“You let them force magic into my veins right after I was born. You let me be tortured and nearly killed!” I yelled the accusation, beginning to circle him. He mirrored my movements, fire trailing both of us and lighting the ground aflame. Soon we were smothered in smoke and heat, the only thing visible each other. “You let me be taken, not even caring what could have happened to me. You never loved me.”
“I sobbed the day you were taken. I begged Mia to let us attack Eoforhild. We knew who took you the moment Mia found Asher hidden away in the forest. The real target was protected while you were snatched away by a demon king with vengeance in his heart.” He froze, staring at me with pleading eyes. “Mia was against it though. They had that wretched Mist, and we had the unique opportunity to raise Asher. Mia came from a long line of females—queens. Asher was the blessing she prayed to Eternity for.”
“Well, I am glad you did not come for me. I lived a good life. That demon king you speak of as if he is a monster raised me with infinitely more love than you bestowed upon Asher.” I took a step forward, trying to appeal to whatever weakness Stassi saw inside of him. “Let her be happy now. Let me take her home. Maybe we can stop this war. Maybe you can.”
“I am sorry I did not come for you—that I did not rescue you and love you. But you are not my son any longer. Not really. Asher though, she is my daughter. You might think me a monster, but I love her more than anything else. She will stay with us. If she has to feel a little pain in order to one day rule over all of Alemthian, then so be it.”
He ran for me then, his words ending on a choked cry as he summoned a sword of red flames and swung. I met his blade with one of my own, my black flames burning so hot they were nearly cold. The blades hissed as they connected. Xavier and I stared one another in the eyes, both of us begging for something completely different.
“Then you deserve this end I will give you,” I whispered. Just as I released my flames and gripped the dagger strapped to my thigh, wispy black shadows wrapped around Xavier’s neck and ripped him backwards. He flew through the flames, shouting with fury and pain.
“I have him, you get our queen,” Noe demanded as she portaled to my side, shadow whips in hand. I nodded, grabbing her face and planting a quick kiss on her forehead.
I jumped through the fire, heading for the front of the manor, following the sounds of screams and praying to whatever existed above that it was my beautiful creature slaughtering the masses up ahead.