Chapter Forty-Two
Rion
Vairik stood in the center of the chaos with two others flanking him. The male wore black robes that concealed his entire body and any weapons he might have hidden within.
The Dark Fae gave him a wide berth, as if there were an invisible barrier surrounding the male. His vile magic covered everything with a sickening slickness.
Rion’s lips pulled back in a fierce snarl as he met the smugness on Vairik’s face without flinching.
Seems your mate, Vairik spit the word, has abandoned you after all. So much for an unbreakable bond.
“Get out of my head,” Rion snarled before charging, his magic a whirlwind, ripping up the very ground he walked upon. The creatures before him lunged, mouths gaping, but ice and flame raced across the field, colliding with them first.
Vairik threw his robes open, brandishing his own long blade, the steel thick and ancient. A relic he’d probably stolen from a past king.
Magic burst from the male in a wave so strong it stopped Rion in his tracks. He planted his feet and used one arm to shield his face as he skidded across uneven ground, nearly tripping on the still warm bodies of their enemies.
Rion let his own magic burst free. It roared in his veins.
The pain. The grief. The rage. Vairik had orchestrated all of it.
Vairik had taken everything. Rion shoved forward again, sprinting, jumping between the broken bodies.
The Dark Fae surged, but Rion’s magic ripped them to shreds with half a thought.
Vairik was the only one he cared about now. If Rion could bring him down, right here, right now, they would accomplish their singular goal. Erase him from the world.
Maybe then Arianna would be free.
Maybe the entire continent would be free.
Rion broke through the line of Dark Fae, entering the empty space that surrounded Vairik.
The male still had a smirk on his face, then he rushed forward so fast Rion barely caught the movement.
He raised his blade to block Vairik’s onslaught, but the moment their weapons clashed, Rion was thrown back again, soaring through the air.
He landed right in the middle of the Dark creatures, then rolled to his feet.
Rion obliterated them with half a thought.
If that’s all you have, this is going to be severely disappointing. At least your predecessor put up a fight.
Rion snarled again and shot forward, magic tearing the ground into pieces that he hurled at Vairik’s body. Vairik blocked them with little effort, then surged forward, sword clashing with Rion’s yet again.
Rion’s foot slid backward, but Vairik didn’t use his magic this time.
Instead, the two stared at one another for a split second.
Rion saw the hatred there. The willingness to let this drag on as long as possible.
He was a male with nothing but eternity laid out before him.
He didn’t need a quick battle. He didn’t want it.
Vairik craved the suffering. He relished the pain in a Fae’s eyes right before they lost everything.
And Rion hadn’t lost everything.
Not yet.
The line of Fae behind Talon and Raevina drew closer, fighting off the Dark Fae that surrounded him and Vairik. They were too close.
Varick’s gaze drifted toward them, then the male pushed off, sending Rion flying once again. Finally made friends?
Rion didn’t answer. Instead, he tore the ground out from beneath Vairik’s feet and raised it up, cocooning the male in his magic. Vairik burst the dirt and rock away as if breaking away from a youngling.
You know, Vairik continued, I took everyone he loved, too. It’s what finally broke him. He watched them die, one by one, and even though he still had Laoirse, he couldn’t take any more. Vairik smiled. I wonder how much more you can bear before you give in?
Rion spun toward Talon. “Run!”
His voice rang loud in his ears, but the clashing of steel and snapping teeth made it impossible to warn anyone. Vairik lifted his hand. The world shifted, magic expanding to engulf the entire battlefield.
The sky grew darker, the monsters larger. Thunder rumbled overhead and lightning streaked across the dark sky, momentarily blinding him. More winged creatures appeared from above, but Rion couldn’t tell if they were real or illusions.
Their warriors reacted exactly how Vairik wanted. They balked from the shift. Fear engulfed their hearts, and many who had been fighting relentlessly stumbled and fell never to rise again.
Rion turned back to Vairik, steeling himself. He had to kill him now. If he didn’t, all would be lost. Nàdair would be overrun. Arianna would die.
He wouldn’t let that happen.
Rion lunged for the male again, hoping to catch him off guard, but Vairik lifted an arm and Rion froze mid-stride, his muscles locked against his will. Rion struggled to draw breath. He fought, shoving against whatever held him in place.
Vairik eyed the masses once again and smiled. Rion blinked, then Vairik was before him. His long fingers snaked out and grabbed Rion’s throat before lifting Rion’s body from the ground. Rion still couldn’t move.
Disappointment covered Vairik’s face.
So many years of boredom and I’m left with this. Perhaps I should have allowed your predecessor to live in chains. Distort his world instead.
Vairik threw him to the side and Rion skidded across the ground. Rocks and debris bit into his flesh. He caught himself and flipped back to his feet, rising to bare his fangs at Vairik again.
“I said to get out of my head.”
Vairik laughed. I’ve been in your head so many times, it’s practically a second home. No need to kick me out now. Rion’s body seized up again, going entirely rigid. Perhaps I should let you be the one to end your friends; wouldn’t that make for the most tragic of ends?
Rion lifted his sword against his will, turning to face Talon and the rest of their warriors. Would that be what finally breaks you? He could feel Vairik’s breath against his ear. Or would your sanity hold out until you lifted the blade against your mate?
Rion clenched his teeth. I wonder what she’d believe in the end? That I was the one controlling you, or that you finally gave into your old nature?
“I only did those things because of you.”
Because of me? Vairik allowed Rion to turn enough that he could see the male’s face.
His brows were raised. You relished the bloodshed.
You bathed your soul in it. Don’t you remember the exhilaration of it all?
Vairik chuckled. You find a female and now you’re so quick to pass the blame to another.
Does that make you feel better about all the carnage?
The world around Rion shifted. Instead of a battlefield, he saw a burning village. Fae were lined up on the street, all on their knees. Some cried, others whispered prayers to the gods. Rion walked the line, looking down on them with disgust.
One male, barely more than a youngling, dared to meet his gaze in a silent challenge.
Do you remember him? Vairik’s voice floated through the memory.
Rion eyed the male, then his magic lashed out.
He grabbed the young male by the throat, lifting him from the ground.
A female cried out, begging. Listen to that poor mother.
You most certainly didn’t care about her pain back then.
Rion clenched his jaw, then watched as the young male’s neck snapped.
The vision shifted again. This time he was on a battlefield, fighting those who could barely defend themselves. He hadn’t even bothered to draw his weapon.
And them. They were nothing more than civilians, each willing to die to protect their homes and honor.
Rion felt his magic tear through their bodies.
He had not possessed an ounce of sympathy.
He remembered a youngling standing in the middle of that village, staring at the carnage, wetting herself upon seeing him.
He’d walked away and left her there alone.
Though I suppose there were lines even I couldn’t make you cross. All aside from one.
The world shifted again and Rion thought he might be sick as the image focused on a mother and her infant. The youngling screamed as he stood over them, his weapon already bloody from the countless lives he’d stolen.
Rion stepped forward. Lifted the blade.
No.
No, that wasn’t how it went.
You killed them.
“I didn’t,” Rion whispered, hopelessness flooding him. He hadn’t. He’d killed the others sure, but not them. Never children. He couldn’t—
Rion’s weapon came down and he screamed, rage and grief tearing through him anew.
The world spun again, throwing him back onto the battlefield.
I think I’ll keep you. I’ll let you be the one to march beneath Nàdair and end them all yourself. Vairik smirked again. Let those pitiful people see the king they chose for what he really is.
A monster.
Weight pressed down on him, the wind roaring in his ears as it shoved Rion to his knees. He gritted his teeth, palms pressing into the earth. He fought to stand, his body threatening to split in half.
Rion could hear Vairik laughing in his head. The male filled an area in Rion’s mind that he’d never recognized before. It was large and tainted, as if the section had rotted and was spreading to other aspects of his mind with black shadowy tendrils.
Rion clenched his hands into fists so hard his knuckles turned white.
This couldn’t be where it all ended. He couldn’t let Vairik have control.
His body began shaking. Vairik wasn’t going to kill him.
He’d keep him, play with him, experiment on him, until one day he just decided Rion was too boring to keep around anymore.
Even then, Vairik would probably let him die slowly instead of ending things himself. He wouldn’t even care.
Would Niall take him then? Torment him for a few more centuries? Make him see visions of Arianna as he killed her over and over again? Only this time, it wouldn’t be a lie.
No, no, no, no.