Chapter 49
CHAPTER FORTY-NINE
Michaela
The earth shook with so much force, I nearly stumbled to my knees. Morax caught my arm, and we scanned the horizon with wild eyes. Everyone on the battlefield looked to Zamina Castle. A brilliant white light shone into the sky, and a ball of blue fire shot up and away.
“What is that?” My voice was filled with awe at the sight before us. “That can’t be something of Belial’s. It feels…good.”
Morax squinted, his eyes seeing more than mine could. My own senses were heightened, but he had way more practice with it. “It’s not my brother, or a daemon. It’s a lumen death. I think…I think it is Nuriela.”
Horror and fear flooded my nervous system, and my wings snapped out. “No!” I shouted into the wind, ready to fly to her aid, but Morax caught me around the waist.
“You cannot save her, mae domina.” His voice was soothing as he held me. “She is gone. But the war is not over yet. Let’s make her death worth it.”
Angry tears bubbled over, and I wiped them away with the back of my hand. Morax was right. “It’s past time for Belial to die. Let’s do this.”
With power humming in my veins and rage in my soul for the ones we lost, I gathered all the air power at my disposal and created a massive vortex, sending it through the battlefield straight for the eldest daemon prince.
Belial’s claws raked across the throat of a soldier, and he spun around just in time for my power to knock him out of the sky.
He recovered quickly, but Morax was there, ready to take him on.
My mate and I fought the arrogant daemon as one unit, using our bond to anticipate the other’s moves.
Our power worked in tandem, attacking him from all sides.
I could see Belial’s fury at being beaten by his own brother, and triumph edged forth within me.
But I should have known it wouldn’t be that easy.
Too focused on the evil asshole, I didn’t notice the daemon zooming through the sky at my back.
He slammed into me, and we fell to the earth.
Morax shouted in alarm, and his moment of fear for me made him vulnerable.
Belial slammed a dagger into Mor’s side, and I screamed as his pain shot through our bond.
Belial pulled the dagger out with a dark grin, my mate’s blood oozing from the wound. Relief coated my thoughts when I saw the dagger was only steel. Mor would heal faster than if it were stellatium.
I wrestled the daemon who knocked me down, searching for a weak spot in his moves. His hand was coated in thorns when it delivered a punch to my side. I wasn’t fast enough to dodge him completely, but the slim armor I wore beneath my shirt saved me.
The daemon snarled at me, his eyes red with power and lust. “Belial wants you alive, so I can’t kill you. But I can make it hurt. Surrender, lumen whore, and I’ll be gentle.”
His words were meant to scare me, but I’d been a captive of the Obscuritas Kings and my soul was strong enough to handle this male.
The corners of my lips slowly turned up into a feral grin, and the daemon hesitated. “I will never be someone’s prisoner again. And I will not surrender to weak men.”
Giving him no time to recover, I leapt into the air and feigned right, forcing the daemon to protect his left side from my sword, leaving his right exposed.
Using the element of water, I summoned a dozen icicles and shot them into his side.
He screamed in pain, dropping to his knees and melting the ice so he could heal, but I was not going to offer mercy.
Stellatium sword in hand, I rushed the daemon, piercing his chestplate and driving the blade into his heart.
Wide, unseeing eyes looked up at me as he fell to the dirt, dead in an instant.
My victory was short-lived. I turned to see Mor bleeding from a dozen wounds and losing the fight against his brother. Just as I was ready to join him, Laszlo and Samuel appeared on the battlefield before me.
“Michaela Valdis,” Samuel cooed, his voice smooth and enticing. “Won’t you come and play with me? I promise you’ll enjoy what I offer you, more than what Darren had planned.”
I could feel his power of manipulation attempting to coax my mind into compliance, but I was stronger now and shook him off, locking my own mind down with steel doors to keep him out.
“Your parlor tricks don’t work on me anymore, Samuel Delano.
You seem weaker. Perhaps all those stab wounds from my sister are still giving you trouble? ”
Samuel snarled, his face turning ugly with his true emotions on display. “Your slut of a sister will pay for that. I will break her so thoroughly, her mind will never recover.”
Laszlo held out his palm, a ball of ice hovering above it.
I filled my own with fire just as he shot the ice at my feet.
It splintered into hundreds of spikes, circling me.
A dome of air rose over my head, blocking me from flying away.
The two false kings worked together to trap me.
I threw my power at the cage, rattling it, but it wasn’t enough to break through.
“Michaela!” Morax shouted my name, attempting to run for the Kings, but his brother caught him by the throat with a blade.
“They won’t kill her.” Belial grinned, his face a vicious mirror of my mate’s. “I need her alive for now. But she can watch you die. Know that everything that was yours, dear brother, will be mine.”
I screamed as Belial’s blade started to break the skin of Mor’s throat, and everything suddenly slowed.
It was as if I’d paused time itself. Every single creature on the battlefield was moving in slowest motion.
A drop of Mor’s blood oozed behind the blade, and my heart shook with fear.
Power unlike I’d ever unleashed coursed through me and pulsed through the air, slowing until it stopped time entirely.
The energy it took to stop time was draining my power like an unhinged faucet. My limbs shook with the effort to maintain it, and I wasn’t going to be able to hold it much longer.
Michaela, stop. You’ll die if you don’t. Mor’s voice echoed down our mate bond.
No. I can hold it. Get away from Belial, and I’ll let go. I ground my teeth, sweat coating my brow.
I love you, mae domina.
No. Don’t you dare say goodbye. We can do this. Don’t fucking give up on me.
Never, my queen, my soul. But I refuse to be the cause of your death, and this power is too strong, it will kill you.
His words rang true; I could feel it. The Sight was more than just visions, it was this raw energy that could stop time itself, but even Lailah had only managed to pause a handful of seconds when she saved Nuri.
Wave after wave of energy rushed out of my body as I held the entire battlefield at a standstill.
But I couldn’t live without him, I wouldn’t live without Morax. There was no life for me without him. I closed my eyes, ready to unleash the full force of the energy within me. I would die, but so would everyone else.
It’s you and me forever, Morax. I’ll see you in the stars.
Sucking in my last breath, I counted down the seconds. Three. Two.
And then the vision hit me. No, it wasn’t a vision. It was real.
Seraphina had come.