CHAPTER 49
“The map will be seen only by a huntress, only with the stones and the sword. This must be done in order to bring peace once again for the Realms if a war breaks out.” - Book of Azure
MY NAILS DIG INTO MY palms with a violent, piercing sting that radiates up my arm. The agony matches the scorching wind slashing across my face. The heat seizes the tears that streak down my cheeks.
So much heartbreak. So much pain.
Was she ever truly my sister?
“You killed the Queen?” I demand, my throat rumbling with barely-contained fury.
I’m about to lose it.
She planned this. All along.
Her lips curl into a sinister grin that stretches towards her ears.
“Spark.” A gentle, yet urgent voice jolts me from my trance. “We must go now. You are in no condition to fight this. You can get revenge later.”
Koen’s finger brushes against mine, gently, making my breathing hitch.
My eyes falter to his bruised and bloody knuckles, my heart twisting in pain knowing he has been through so much.
But when I glance up to get lost in his emerald eyes that are full of fear, my shoulders drop.
I follow his gaze, my heart pounding fiercely against my chest as I spot the darklings clawing viciously at the mountain's edge behind us.
She’s afraid to kill me. She plans to use the darklings or the dragon to do her dirty work.
Smart. Yet, this proves why the Gods never chose her.
She’ll never be fearless.
She’ll never be me.
“I can't leave,” I insist, my eyes reluctantly tearing away from the cliffs where rocks cascade ominously to meet his exhausted gaze. The dried blood along his forehead is mixed in with dirt and ash, while his tousled curls fall along his shoulders. “I must find out where Alice is. She needs me.”
Florian limps up to us. “I know she is here.”
“Sweet Florian.” Tileatha presses the dagger's tip harder against her lip, a wicked grin curling as she speaks. “How foolish my little sister was to choose Koen over you.”
Florian's shoulders tense and rise as he lets out a furious snarl, the sound sending chills along my spine as he grips a dagger against his thigh.
“Don’t let her get to you.” I lean towards him, eyes searching for his to meet mine. A desperate plea as my eyes finally lock onto his, begging him to hold his ground. “She isn’t worth you shifting, not right now. I need you strong.”
“And dear Koen,” she takes a deep breath, “I still have the flame. You forget I control you. How heartbreaking would it be for my sister to reunite with the love of her life only to have him kill her?”
I step in front of him within a heartbeat, glaring at my sister with raging eyes. My footing falters, betraying me as the blood from my wounded thigh seeps into the fabric of my onyx suit. My heartbeat slows down—my power, my life, is draining from me.
In a split moment, I feel the hands of Koen gripping me tightly under my arms, steadying me.
“I can handle this,” he whispers against my head.
My head subtly shakes. “No. Not with the flame controlling you.”
“You are going to die!” he growls, feeling his fingers dig into my skin. “You will not die for me.”
“That isn’t your decision,” I snap, taking my hands to rip his off of me. “You have no say in this.”
“Serene—” he breathes out, stepping closer towards me, and I close my eyes. His head rests against the back of my head for a split moment before I walk towards my sister.
How I wish I could have stayed in that moment.
A moment in time where life freezes, pauses, for just the two of us. How I beg the Gods for that.
How my heart longs for that.
But, I move. Even if everything inside me screams to run back towards him and flee.
She won’t stop until I am dead.
And that means, Koen will never be free.
One step after another, my boots beat against the charred ground, and my chest heaves.
My blood trickles in my boots, and I prepare myself to run towards my sister to stop her.
Towards death if I must.
As long as he lives.
“Where is Alice!” I rip my dagger from my sheath, gripping the handle tightly.
Tilly’s dragon drips lava from its mouth, wings stretching wide as if it's ready to launch its way towards me.
“She is safe.” Tilly’s eyes roll to the side before licking her lips. “For now, at least.”
I stride forward even with the sharp, piercing pain of my flesh feeling as if it's ripping apart all over again.
My eyes widen, burning as I glare at Tilly. “How the hell did she travel through the stones!”
“There was another pendant. They were made only for us Royals and now look at what has happened.” Her chin lifts. “She was foolish to follow you through the stones. Lykia could have had her killed, all because you led her right here.”
“There should be only two pendants!” I hear Theon shout, arm stretching wide towards Florian who hunches over. He must still be in pain. “One for the King and Queen of Azure.”
“Wrong,” Florian growls, tossing his hair out of his face as he catches his breath.
“Three were made from the God of Fire. Two were sent with the sisters when the Gods sent them away from the Realms for their protection. I have the third. Rumor has said the pendants are a protection from the Gods, no one shall die if they wear one.”
I glance over my shoulder, noticing Koen standing in a close distance near me with a firm grasp around his dagger.
“Where is she!” I beg for Tilly to answer me. “Let her live! Let her go back through the stones!”
“I don’t think so.” Tileatha snaps her fingers and the sounds of the darklings’ claws begin to screech in the air. She runs back to her dragon, climbing up on its back as she watches the darklings crawl over the mountain down towards us.
Koen hustles up to me, grabbing my arm to wrap around his shoulders as we race towards Theon and Kaine.
“What’s your plan!” Theon shouts, eyes widening at the fire darklings that are now walking up on the ledge. Their crimson eyes locked onto us all.
My lip trembles. “I don’t know!”
Koen grabs his chest, grunting in pain as he falls to his knees.
I fall with him, my fingers brushing against the curls that fall across his forehead. His jaw ticks, veins shooting along his neck and up his temple. He takes his fists and beats them against the ground before a dark growl escapes his trembling lips. She is controlling him.
“Go,” he chokes out.
I take my hand, curling my fingers around his chin and lifting his gaze to meet mine. His emerald eyes gradually shift to a crimson red and my heart seizes. “I will never leave you again. No matter the darkness. I vow this to you.”
A soft tug pulls on his lip before his eyes clench tightly in pain.
I cuff his cheeks with my trembling hands, pulling us closer together and breathing out, “And a vow to you is like taking a vow to our Gods. I shall never break it.”
My thumb catches a tear that falls down his cheek before placing my lips against his, and I pull away.
Damn it, I pull away.
I can hear the cracking of his voice, breaking as he shouts for me, pleading me not to go.
But there is one thing about me that he might not remember.
I never listen.
I do what is right.
When my father, King Deskyiara, ordered me to never see Koen again or my throne would be taken from me, I saw him anyway.
When all the men in the battle games shouted for my death, scuffing under their breaths for me to leave or they’d take my life, I stayed and became a chosen. A damn Queen.
I am fearless. I will die for those I love.
I am a damn Deskyiara, and let me show my sister what a Deskyiara can do when pushed to their limits.
“You have me wrong, sister!” Fire flickers against my fingertips, and her eyes widen in fear.
“Arrows, take formation!” she shouts, eyes frantically searching up high. “The toxin must be leaving her system!”
My brows cave inward, never glancing where she does, but keeping me gaze locked onto her. My target.
Death bellows violently as his daggers slice through the darklings that swarm over him, their cherry-red blood splatting on the ground and in an instant, they erupt into ash with just a flick of my wrist. His chest heaves with exertion, a smirk smears across his face as he lets his head crash back onto the ground, sending clouds of ash billowing around him.
Theon hurtles toward him, his white hair whipping in the wind while he grips his hand and yanks him upward with all his might. Meanwhile, Klayra, Kaine, and Hyreo are locked in a fierce battle, struggling against the relentless swarm of darklings leaping from the mountain cliffs.
I know they won't hold out much longer on their own.
And Koen is on the brink of shifting with Tilly's control.
As I surge forward toward her, a blaze ignites in the distance, and in a blur of motion, my Fireninze charges towards us, her hooves beating against the ground, kicking up clouds of ash and dirt.
She soars past the dragon, her flames scorching the edges of its wings, provoking a gut-wrenching roar from its razor-sharp mouth.
I fall towards her, wrapping my arms around her neck as she nestles her nose into my side.
“You’re dying. You need to go to a healer.” I hear her voice, filled with worry.
“Not until my sister is dead.”
I throw my leg over her body, gripping her mane tightly as I begin to charge towards Tileatha. Koen must have been rushing towards her as well. He limps, but yells with his daggers in hand. He must be fighting the shifting with everything he has.
I always believed he was strong.
And Gods, how I love him.
We charge towards the dragon, our screams dancing with the yells of the others. I lift my arms, fire flickering against my palms as I am ready to unleash my dragons towards my sister when my chest convulses.
I suck in a breath. As if it were my last.
The air inside me… leaves. Vanishes.