Chapter 53
Aurora
Iblink into a blinding light, staring through drifting clouds of dust at a face hovering above me. I know that face.
I smile at Soren, gloriously handsome, yet his amber eyes are wide and worried. “Hi,” I breathe.
He exhales a shaky breath and sinks down to me. “You’re okay.” He says it more to himself than to me.
I push onto my elbows, Soren cradling me as he helps me up. He pulls me to his chest, my face buried in the hardness of muscle and his woodsy scent. I close my eyes and breathe it in. Breathe him in.
A noise beside me pulls my attention away from Soren. Isolde lies on the floor, her black hair scattered around her like Medusa’s snakes. She rubs her head. “That was a fucking trip.”
Soren stares at her in shock.
On the other side of me, Camryn’s eyes flash open. She looks at me out of the corner of her eye, but remains unmoving. “Did we do it, Rory?”
I scan the room, looking for evidence of the king. When I don’t see him, I look at Soren. “The king?”
He exhales. “Gone. Not long after you all went unconscious, his body burst into flame and then just vanished.”
Isolde shifts to her feet. “Oh, I’ve got him right here.” Still tucked beneath her arm, she slides out the block of ice that holds King Caledor’s remains.
Soren looks at it with wide eyes and reaches for it.
Isolde grips onto the block. “I wouldn’t if I were you, handsome. It’s probably best left in my hands unless you’d also like to be a hunk of ice.”
Soren jerks back his hand, wrapping it around me instead. He looks down at me with wonder. “How? What happened?”
I smile up at him before kissing his lips. “We have a lot to talk about.”
Movement at my side makes me turn to find Caelum kneeling beside Camryn. He grips her face in his hands and inhales sharply as his eyes meet hers.
Camryn’s face falls. “I know. My eyes … .”
Caelum scans her silver irises. “Are my new favorite color.” He smiles at her. “I don’t care if you’d have grown horns, you’re beautiful. And you’re here.”
She gives him a weak smile, and he rushes in to claim her lips.
“I can’t believe it actually worked,” Arc mumbles to himself behind us.
His icy eyes lock onto Isolde, and he stalks toward her. “And you.”
She straightens, tipping her chin.
We all stand in stunned silence as Arc extends his hand to her. “Thank you. For coming back. For ending it. I always knew you had the power to do it.”
Isolde’s eyes flicker, but she steels herself, hesitantly gripping his hand to shake.
“Yes, well. I’d like to say I did it all on my own, but I had some decent help.
” Her eyes slide to me and Camryn before they drop to her feet.
“And I know I don’t deserve anyone’s trust, but I appreciate it, nonetheless.
And now that it’s all over, you never have to see me again. ”
Arc’s face is hard as stone. “Yes, you are free to go wherever you may choose. Do as you wish. But I think there are a few people in this kingdom who hope you don’t traipse too far.” His eyes slide over to Draven, who has silently appeared at Isolde’s side.
Isolde follows Arc’s gaze and turns to see the incubus watching her. His face is a portrait of indifference, as always, but something shimmers in his eyes.
Isolde swallows, and her voice drops so low that I can barely hear her words.
“I’m so sorry for how I left you. And I understand if you hate me forever.
But I had to do it alone. I couldn’t hurt anyone else with my selfishness.
” Her eyes shift to Vespera, who stands along the wall with Clara, Maeve tucked against the front of the sprite’s body.
Vespera’s arms lay across the front of the girl like a shield.
Vespera’s yellow eyes glisten with fresh tears falling down her iridescent skin like diamonds. A single tear plops onto Maeve’s head, and she looks up at the sprite, giving her a warm smile as if she knows something. That kid always knows something.
When Isolde returns her gaze to Draven, her lips part as if she has more to say.
But before she can, the incubus closes the distance between them, placing his mouth near hers.
“Forgiveness is not warranted. But I forgive you all the same.” He leans his forehead against hers, and she stares at him in shock.
Caelum holds onto Camryn while his brows pull together.
“Is someone going to tell us what the hell happened, and why some of us were left in the dark? One moment I was kneeling beside Camryn’s unconscious body, the king looming over me, the next I see Isolde shift into my image, and suddenly I’m staring at myself lying unconscious beside Camryn, Aurora, and the king. ”
Isolde smirks. “It was a classic sleight of hand. A little shadow-stepping theatrics. Luckily, the king was too distracted to notice the switch.”
I smile to myself and turn to Soren with pitiful eyes. “I’m sorry. We couldn’t risk the king finding out our plan. We needed it to be believable.”
His eyes soften, and he traces my cheek with his thumb. “I am so proud of you for doing what you had to do. As worried as I was, I understand.” He leans in to kiss me before whispering into my ear. “But you will need to be reprimanded for deceiving me, My Flame.”
I look into his heated eyes and giggle with anticipation of what punishment he has planned for me.
Camryn runs her hand across Caelum’s cheek, softening his hardened gaze. “I’m sorry for not telling you. But it was all Rory’s idea. Tell them.” Her eyebrows lift as she throws the blame my way.
Heat flushes my cheeks, and I clear my throat. “Last night, after Camryn and I found the pool, I knew we had to do something with it. And I knew who could help us.” My eyes flash to Isolde.
“We were about to go tell Arc we needed Isolde, but Maeve caught up with us before we reached his room. There was something in her expression—an urgency. She explained how Camryn was connected to Lenux and could control portals. All we needed was for Isolde to hear our call through a dream. Camryn pulled me into the dream world and it wasn’t long until Isolde arrived and we told her the plan. ”
I steal a glance at Maeve, who watches me with a proud smile on her childish face.
Caelum’s eyes wait on me. “And the plan was …”
I grin. “Camryn had a feeling you would want to fly her to Ni’haan, so we were counting on you to do that so that the king would send Isolde after you.”
Camryn turns to her mate. “What we didn’t expect was for the king to pull you with him into the dream.
We thought it would be Arc, so Isolde was planning on glamouring as him while she shadow stepped him away from the king.
” She looks up at Caelum with heavy eyes.
“When I saw it was you, I was terrified. But when I tried to speak into your mind down in the cave and couldn’t get through, I knew it was Isolde. I knew she saved you.”
Camryn’s gaze slides to Isolde, who shifts on her feet.
Isolde clears her throat. “Yeah, well, I had to improvise to save the big fool.” Her jaw clenches as she regards her friend.
Caelum tears his gaze from his mate to Isolde. In a single breath, he strides to her and wraps his massive arms around her, lifting her feet off the ground.
Air whooshes out of a surprised Isolde, and her lips twitch as if trying to grin.
Soren looks at me. “The king took Isolde into the dream realm with him?”
I smirk. “Yep. And when the time came, the king had his killer in his hands.”
Soren’s brow furrows. “But the blood oath. I thought she couldn’t kill the king?”
I grin at him. “There was a loophole. Remember, she told us the blood oath only applied to the physical realm. She couldn’t kill the king in the dream world otherwise she would be stuck there.
But he seemingly forgot that little detail when he found Camryn, another Dreamer who could pull Isolde out. ”
All eyes shift to Isolde. Her mouth pulls into a devious grin. “It felt fantastic to kill the bastard.”
I look at Arc. “With your father dead, we knew we had to be rid of the pool of magic for good. To stop anyone from ever seeking it out for their own gain.”
He nods at me with gratitude. My eyes fall from his to the shimmering silver peeking out from beneath his tunic. I gasp. “Your tattoo!”
Arc’s brows pull together before he tips his head down to look at his chest. His hands spread open the collar of his shirt. There, where his tattoo had once curved dark and angry, was now a shimmering silver, a few shades darker than his fair skin.
His eyes lift and his mouth curves into a grin. “I felt it the moment my father vanished into dust. I felt the spell he had on me sever. The evil power he had spilled within me drained.”
Arc shifts his gaze to Camryn, Isolde, and me in wonder. “Thank you.”
I look at the other two women by my side. I couldn’t have done it without them. We couldn’t have done it.
Soren squeezes my hand and we all stand, absorbing what just transpired, when a rumble echoes through the room. Soren’s hand flashes to the hilt of his sword, and Caelum steps in front of Camryn. Ice blades rupture from Isolde’s hands and wings burst from Draven’s back, his eyes inky black.
Another boom sounds from the main entrance of the great hall, followed by a vicious roar from a creature that makes every hair on my body stand on end. The air crackles with energy, and a moment later, a group of unexpected visitors emerge from the shadows.
I squint around Soren’s shoulder to spy the outline of the three figures. When I catch a flash of silver hair, my heart stops.
I claw at Soren’s arm, and he turns to look at me, an easy smile on his face. I stare at him with questions swirling as he sheathes his sword. “Thorn, you old man! What are you doing here?” he bellows.
I exhale, returning my gaze to the doorway. The shadows dissipate, and I see the figures for who they are. To the far left stands Numara, her white hair rippling over her white feathered wings.