Chapter 36 Bloodbath
BLOODBATH
Water pooled around my feet.
Another fracture split the chamber with a vicious snap, and the sound rattled through my bones. Cracks spider-webbed across the wall—over our heads.
“Out!” Soren’s voice cut through the chaos. “Everyone out, now!”
Vaeris bolted for the stairs. Taressa scrambled after him, boots splashing through rising water.
Soren slammed both palms against the fracturing wall. Blue light exploded from his hands, magic flooding the cracks, but they kept spreading. Water gushed through gaps, the ocean forcing its way through the structure.
“Hold the current!” Soren barked over his shoulder. “Channel everything into the ceiling!”
Two Thalir guards rushed back, hands glowing blue as they poured magic into the fractures. The torrent slowed but didn’t stop. Water flooded the floor, already ankle-deep and rising fast.
“My king, we have to evacuate.”
“Not yet.” Sweat poured down his face. “If this chamber collapses, the pressure will flood everything below.”
A support beam buckled.
Soren snarled, his magic flaring brighter. Blue threads stitched desperately through failing stone. “Brace that archway!”
I clapped a hand over my mouth.
What have I done?
Kairos tried to push himself up, but his arms buckled and he collapsed. He gritted his teeth, clawing at the floor. His fingers scraped stone, searching for purchase. He made it to his knees, swaying.
I looped his arm over my shoulders. “Please, you have to move.”
He forced himself to stand, legs shaking. Blood still seeped from the wounds across his ribs as water rose past our ankles. I dragged him toward the stairs, his weight nearly pulling us both down. Each step left a smear of crimson.
A crack split the air above us.
Kairos shoved me just as a chunk of ceiling crashed down. It slammed into his back, driving him to his knees with a grunt of pain.
“No!” I scrambled back, trying to push the debris off him.
He stood up, teeth bared. “Move. Now.”
We staggered upstairs. People ran as water poured from cracks in the walls. Kairos stumbled, his legs giving out. I caught him, barely keeping us upright.
He dragged in a breath and pushed forward, leaning heavily on me. His hand stayed clamped over his side, blood seeping between his fingers, but it was slowing. We shoved past panicked courtiers, and then we burst into the main hall.
Warriors were on their feet, hands on weapons. The Sanguir soldiers had abandoned their table, forming a defensive line. Skaldir guards gripped their blades, eyes darting to the walls. Even the Caelir had drawn steel.
The massive translucent ceiling showed the churning ocean, darker than before. Cracks formed there too, spreading like veins.
“What the hell was that?” someone shouted.
Uther spotted us, blanching. He shoved through the crowd, longsword drawn. “What do you need me to do?”
A red glow emanated from Kairos’s frame. His wounds knitted closed, skin pulling together over exposed muscle.
“Get our people out,” Kairos grunted.
A thunderous crack echoed above us. Glass splintered in the dome, fractures spiraling through the ceiling, and water hissed from the breach.
A piece of coral the size of a shield crashed onto the table, scattering plates and goblets. Fae threw up their arms, backing from the spray.
Uther’s head snapped upward, his mouth tightening.
Freezing seawater lashed my face. My lungs tightened, bracing for the flood as the dome groaned like a leviathan waking. A wall split open, a jagged seam tearing from floor to ceiling. Along its base, another binding rune flickered once, then guttered out.
Kairos opened his hand, and his broadsword materialized in a swirl of mist. “This is about to get ugly.”
Bootsteps thundered down the corridor and Soren hurried into the hall, guards at his side. Vaeris followed close behind, his eyes glittering. Soren’s black-rimmed gaze swept the destruction, fixing on me.
Someone reached for a sword, the gesture like a spark to kindling, and magic sizzled by flashes of blue and gold. Lysander flared his wings, and golden light blazed from his skin. I threw up a hand, squinting through the glare.
When it faded, the silk robes were gone.
White armor encased him from throat to toe, the gold trim gleaming like liquid sunlight.
A longsword hung at his hip. Lysander flapped his wings, the wind from them knocking over goblets.
He stood directly between us and the corridor, blocking the only way out.
I stood there, paralyzed.
Lysander advanced toward me, his wings spread wide. His gaze locked on me, then slid to Kairos with bitter hatred. “It’s bad enough you still breathe.” His lip curled. “But parading your human whore before kings? I’ll take her head as an apology.”
Kairos stepped in front of me, sword raised, crimson light pulsing from his skin. His snarl rolled through the hall.
Lysander lunged at Kairos.
Kairos thrust out his hand, and a column of mist surged from his palm, slamming into Lysander. He hit the wall with bone-cracking force. A nymph shrieked, scrambling away from the impact.
The fae roared, his wings snapping. Magic pulsed around him in a golden haze. The coral behind his head fractured, chunks crashing down. Courtiers dove for cover.
“Get back!” someone screamed.
Lysander hurled a fireball. It missed Kairos, engulfing the table in flames. Kairos slashed the air with his arm, and blood sprayed from a deep gash in Lysander’s chest.
I gasped, my heart thundering.
The ceiling cracked wider, dumping more seawater in a violent torrent. Water flooded our ankles.
“The exits!” a Thalir guard shouted. “Everyone out!”
Lysander’s wings snapped open, and he shot into the air. He unsheathed a white sword with a serrated edge, wreathed in flame, and dove at Kairos.
Kairos blocked the first strike, but the second hit his shoulder. He skidded back, wincing.
I ran forward. “Kairos!”
“Stay down,” he barked.
Sparks erupted where their weapons met, steel ringing through the chamber. The Skyborn royal sneered, dodging a hit aimed at his ribs.
A tendril of mist shackled the winged fae’s wrist, dragging him down. Kairos twisted his dagger, driving it toward the Skyborn’s throat, but he wrenched free and blasted Kairos with black wind.
Kairos flew back, slamming into a column.
The sound cracked through me. My knees buckled as pain bloomed beneath my ribs, like my body had taken the hit with him.
Oh gods, he’s not moving.
I sprinted to him.
Lysander dropped in a golden blaze. His boots struck the marble, shaking the floor. He raised his weapon over Kairos, and time seemed to slow.
No, you don’t.
I pumped my legs harder, reaching the fae as he started to slash downward, and then I jumped. I soared through the air and collided with the fae’s back.
I sank my nails into the base of his wings. The membrane was surprisingly thin, almost translucent. I dug in. Hard. He let out a deafening roar.
He swiveled, trying to reach me as I ripped out his feathers. Fistfuls of them, the ends tinged with blood. I threw them aside and tore out more. He screamed with fury.
I bared my teeth and bit.
His wing jerked in my mouth, and I tasted iron. Then his wing snapped down and smashed into my face and I flew off him, tumbling to the floor. Air whooshed out of my lungs as I skidded across marble. I gasped, stars blotting my vision.
He stalked forward, snarling. “You little bitch.”
His sword ignited with golden flames as he lifted it over his shoulder.
I scrambled, groping for something to throw at him.
His blade swung down, then mist slammed into his ribs. It looped his hands and legs, the thread of it connected to Kairos’s fist.
“Aelie, to me!”
I ran to Kairos’s side.
Water gushed into the room as another bolt of lightning flashed overhead.
Soren faced the crumbling walls, shouting. “The runes are failing. Everyone, get to the surface. Now.”
The room trembled. Water seeping through the cracks surged, no longer following anyone’s command. It twisted toward the center of the room like grasping hands. Shattered glass floated upward, caught in currents that should have been under control.
“I can’t hold it!” Soren growled, his arms glowing blue. “The runes, they’re collapsing too fast!”
Kairos swore fluently, tugging me closer.
Soren’s magic strained against the flood, trying to contain it, but more runes were shattering. The water rotated into a massive vortex. Then it crashed forward.
It devoured the chamber, sweeping me under my feet. Water climbed up to my chest. I gasped, and the world swam with blue. Everything spun. Fae, furniture, pieces of coral.
Through the murky chaos, I saw Vaeris, untouched by the rushing flood.
Smiling.
I couldn’t breathe. I thrashed, but the current pulled me deeper. It all broke apart—walls, floors, the roof. The fae were dim shapes, struggling against the spiral.
Kairos yanked me against him, his arm locking around my waist. My lungs spasmed. I needed to hold my breath.
Kairos kicked hard, fighting the pull, but we didn’t rise. The current jerked us sideways. I clung to him, digging into his shoulders as the sea twirled around us. Columns tumbled end over end.
Kairos angled us toward a sliver of light, but we barely moved. Every inch gained was stolen by currents, and my lungs screamed for air.
A voice rumbled through the deep.
Aelie.
Gold flashed through the dark as the palace crumbled around a rune. Massive. Carved into the seabed.
A fine crack had run through its center, and something inside roared. The fracture spread, branching like lightning across the rune’s pattern.
Aelie…break it.
The glow intensified, and the rune shattered. A fissure ripped open, gaping, bleeding heat into the freezing water. It tore through the ocean floor like a wound, spreading wide.
I slammed against Kairos as the current reversed, rushing away from the fissure. An earsplitting shriek cut through the water, the unholy wail of an ancient beast.
I needed to breathe. I tried to clamp my mouth shut, but my lips parted and saltwater rushed in, burning my throat. Black dots crowded my vision. My body convulsed, and this time I couldn’t stop it. I sucked in a desperate breath.
Water seared down my throat. I choked, thrashing in Kairos’s grip. The roaring in my ears drowned out the sea, and darkness pressed against my skull.