Chapter 35
Chapter Thirty-Five
Joy
Ari's iron grip on my arm propelled me forward through the sea of soldiers who parted before us like waves before a ship. He led me to where Queen Alanna waited at the head of her army, mounted on a massive black warhorse that pawed the ground impatiently.
She was a vision of deadly beauty. She wore a black dress that flowed like liquid shadow, covered with interlocking chain mail that shimmered in the harsh sunlight like scales on a serpent.
Her silver hair was braided in an intricate warrior's plait down her back, woven through with dark ribbons.
She held a longsword in one hand—the blade etched with runes that seemed to pulse with malevolent energy.
I wondered with sickening certainty if I was going to be her first victim, my blood christening that wicked blade before the invasion even began.
She flicked her cold gaze over me as we approached, assessing me the way a butcher might examine a cow before slaughter. "Open the portal."
Ari bowed slightly, the gesture mocking in its brevity.
"Yes, Your Majesty." He leaned closer to me, his breath hot and foul against my ear as his fingers worked the locks on my silver manacles.
The metal fell away with soft clicks that sounded unnaturally loud.
"If you don't open it, then prepare to die out on this field.
Slowly. Painfully. While everyone you love watches through the portal before I kill them too. "
My heart pounded against my ribs like a bass drum, but I forced steel into my spine.
I could do this. If I opened the portal, I could use my shadows to blind them momentarily—create enough chaos for whoever was still alive on the other side to act.
It was a desperate plan built on hope and timing, but it was all I had.
"I understand," I said meekly, letting my shoulders slump in apparent defeat. Let them think I was broken, compliant, no threat at all.
Ari's fingers suddenly pinched my cheeks hard, his nails digging into my flesh until tears sprang to my eyes from the pain. He yanked my face close to his, forcing me to meet those cold blue eyes. "I will slam these back on you the minute you're done. So don't try anything clever, girl."
This was it. The moment everything either came together or fell catastrophically apart.
Every eye in that vast army was on me—thousands of soldiers watching, waiting, their hands on their weapons and bloodlust written across their faces. Their collective attention zeroed in on me like lasers. I had to put on a convincing show or die right here on this field.
I held out my trembling palms toward the empty air, forcing my breathing to steady despite the terror clawing at my throat. Then I felt it—that familiar flutter moved in my chest like butterfly wings; the power Marsha had awoken.
Open the portal.
Shadows crawled toward me from every direction—from beneath soldiers' feet, from the shade of the castle walls, from the darkness that lived in all things.
They swarmed around my legs like eager serpents answering their master's call, then shot out of my fingertips in thick, black streams like water from a fireman’s hose.
The shadows swirled faster and faster around my outstretched hands, building in speed and intensity until they created a massive vortex of light and darkness that seemed impossible, unnatural—magic made visible.
The wind from the gateway whipped my hair around my face.
I could feel the raw power coursing through me, electric and terrifying, like lightning through my body.
The air itself seemed to tear like fabric being ripped apart by invisible hands, the sound sharp and wrong—a fundamental violation of reality.
Dimensional barriers strained and buckled under the immense pressure of the magic I was unleashing.
I could feel it in my bones, in my teeth, a vibration that went deeper than physical sensation.
Then, with a sound like a volcano erupting—a deep, primal roar that shook the ground beneath my feet and sent soldiers stumbling backward—a portal exploded open in the swirling maelstrom. The blast of displaced air hit me like a physical wall, nearly knocking me off balance.
The same solid metal door I'd seen before materialized from absolute nothingness, its surface covered in ancient symbols that writhed and twisted when I tried to focus on them.
Looking at them directly sent piercing pains stabbing through my skull, as if my mind was rejecting what my eyes were seeing.
The door hung suspended in midair, defying gravity, but there was no visible lock or handle—just smooth, ancient metal that seemed to drink in the sunlight rather than reflect it, creating a void of darkness against the bright day.
My shadows moved of their own accord now, slipping underneath the mysterious door like ethereal skeleton keys searching for tumblers to unlock.
My stomach churned with dread as my own power was used to open something that should have remained sealed forever.
Each shadow that disappeared beneath that door felt like a piece of my soul being torn away.
But it was the only way I could get home, home to Enzo.
Pleasepleaseplease be alive.
The metal glowed with an eerie green light along the edges, and the unmistakable sound of ancient mechanisms ground into motion deep within the door itself—clicks and clanks that spoke of magic older than memory.
The door swung open with a groan of ancient hinges, revealing the world I'd been torn from.
It was nighttime on the bayou, and St. Louis Cathedral stood like a beacon of hope against the dark sky, its spires reaching toward heaven.
The courtyard was a battlefield—bodies scattered across the ground, the clash of steel ringing out, shouts and screams echoing off the stone walls.
The vines that had strangled the building were gone, leaving bare stone walls.
My heart lurched with confusion and growing dread.
Queen Alanna's boots crunched across the courtyard stones as she strode toward me, raising her rune-etched sword high over her head. The blade caught the torchlight, gleaming with deadly promise. Death flickered in her cold silver eyes—not just the promise of it, but eager anticipation.
This was it. She was going to kill me the moment I'd served my purpose.
Ari clamped the manacles back down on my wrists with bruising force. So the bastard wanted me dead after all. He'd played me perfectly, used me, and now I was disposable.
My turn.
With trembling fingers, I squeezed my pinky and ring finger out of the loosened bracelet, feeling the cool metal slide past my knuckles. Freedom sang through my veins.
Protect.
Shadows exploded from my palms like unleashed hounds.
They immediately surged back toward me, wrapping around Ari's wrists with crushing force.
He cried out in shock and pain, his grip loosening as the shadows yanked his arms away from my body.
Another tendril of darkness shot forward like a striking serpent and wrapped around the blade of Alanna's sword, wrenching it from her grasp with such force she stumbled forward.
I didn't wait to see what happened next.
I broke away from Ari and ran as fast as my trembling legs could carry me toward the shimmering portal. My bare feet pounded against the packed earth, and I could hear shouts of fury erupting behind me—soldiers mobilizing, the queen screaming orders.
"Joy!" Ari's snarl cut through the chaos.
But I wasn't listening. This was my only chance—my one shot at freedom, at survival, at getting home. If I hesitated even for a heartbeat, I was dead.
The cathedral door burst open with a crash that echoed across the bayou, and a figure came racing toward the portal from the other side.
Enzo.
My heart stopped then restarted with painful intensity.
He was alive. He was alive. Relief hit me so hard my knees nearly buckled mid-stride.
The torture hadn’t broken me. The fear hadn’t killed me.
The certainty I’d never see him again hadn’t destroyed me.
But this—there he was, running toward me like I was the only thing that mattered in the entire world.
Tears blurred my vision, hot and desperate, streaming down my cheeks as I pushed my exhausted body harder.
Move Move Move
Adrenaline pushed back the pain. If I slowed, I was dead. My lungs burned, my muscles screamed, but none of it mattered. Twenty feet. Fifteen. Ten.
I could see his face now—bloodied, fierce, beautiful—and the possessive emotion blazing in his eyes as he closed the distance between us.
Someone was right behind me, getting closer and closer with every pounding stride. I could feel the hot breath on the back of my neck, hear the rasp of armor and the promise of violence. My lungs burned, my legs screamed, but terror drove me forward. So close—the portal was so close—
A hand grasped at the back of my dress, fingers catching in the gauze fabric.
Enzo snarled—a sound of pure, primal fury. He turned into a blur of supernatural speed, crossing the remaining distance in a heartbeat. His arm shot out and caught my pursuer's wrist with bone-crushing force, wrenching it away from me with a sickening crack.
Then I was suddenly airborne, scooped into strong arms and pressed against a hard, familiar chest. The scent of him—blood and bayou water and something uniquely Enzo—filled my senses and broke something inside me.
"I've got you." His arms crushed me against him, fierce and desperate. "I've got you, Joy. You're safe."
“You’re alive.” The words came out choked, barely coherent through my sobs.
I wrapped my arms around his neck with desperate strength and buried my face against his shoulder, breathing him in.
My whole body shook with sobs I couldn't control—relief, terror, exhaustion, and overwhelming gratitude all crashing over me at once. He was real.
He was solid. He was here.
Not a dream or hallucination born from torture and despair.
"I'm hard to kill." His arms tightened around me like he'd never let go, like he was trying to absorb me into himself where nothing could ever hurt me again.
I winced involuntarily as intense pain from my shredded back flared white hot where his arm pressed against the wounds. The movement was small, but he caught it immediately.
He looked down at me, his expression shifting from relief to concern in a heartbeat. "What's wrong?" His eyes darkened then turned blood red—that terrifying crimson that meant the predator was fully awake and hunting. His voice dropped to something dangerous and cold. "Did they hurt you?"
"It doesn't matter. I'm here." I tried to keep my voice steady, but it trembled anyway. Being back in his arms, being safe—that was all that mattered.
But Enzo studied my face with laser focus, taking in every detail—the bruising on my cheek that had darkened to purple black, the split lip, the exhaustion etched into every line.
His jaw clenched. "Who hit you?" Each word came out clipped, controlled, barely containing the volcanic rage building beneath.
"The queen—" I started.
"Is dead." The pronouncement was flat, absolute like an executioner's promise. His eyes blazed with cold fury as he gently set me down against an oak tree, his hands lingering protectively on my arms. "She's fucking dead, Joy. I'll make sure of it."
The lethal certainty in his voice should have frightened me, but instead it made me feel safer than I had in days.
He gently pushed my hair back behind my ear. “Stay here. Use your shadows to protect yourself. I won’t lose you again.”
His lips came crashing down on mine with desperate intensity—fierce, claiming, and achingly tender all at once.
This wasn't just a kiss; it was a promise, a declaration, a vow that we'd survived the impossible and found our way back to each other.
The kiss tasted of salt from my tears, of blood and bayou water, of everything we'd endured and refused to let destroy us.
I threaded my fingers through his hair, feeling the familiar texture beneath my trembling hands, anchoring myself to this moment, to him.
My back screamed in protest where it pressed against the rough tree bark, and I could hear the battle cries rising around us—the clash of steel, the roar of the approaching army, the shouts of our allies preparing to fight.
The world was falling apart at the seams.
But for these stolen seconds, none of it mattered.
His hand cupped my bruised cheek with infinite gentleness, his thumb brushing away tears even as he kissed me like I was oxygen and he'd been suffocating.
I felt his other hand trembling where it rested against my waist, as if he still couldn't quite believe I was real, that I was here, that we'd both made it through hell and back.
When he finally pulled away, just barely, his forehead rested against mine. His breath came in ragged gasps that matched my own. "I thought I'd lost you," he whispered, his voice breaking on the words. "Joy, I thought—"
"I know." My voice was just as broken. "I know. But I'm here. We're here."
His eyes—back to their normal dark brown now—searched mine with naked vulnerability I'd never seen from him before. "Use your shadows to protect yourself. I’m not losing you again”
Behind us, a roar went up from the portal as the first wave of Unseelie soldiers began to cross through.
Reality crashed back in with brutal force. He pressed one more fierce, quick kiss to my lips—a promise for later—then pulled back with visible reluctance.
"Stay hidden. I mean it." His expression hardened back into the enforcer I knew, but I could still see the fear for me lurking beneath. "I'll come back for you."
Then he was gone, racing back toward the battle, leaving me trembling against the oak tree with the ghost of his kiss still burning on my lips.
.