Chapter 20
Chapter Twenty
Dara
Dust fills the air around me and Harlan, Declan, and Blair come up to me, pulling me to my feet. I’m crushed into the centre of a group hug, my warriors surrounding me. I feel safe, protected. Then Elijah’s screams rip through the room above us. My head snaps up to find him just up ahead still in the pit, leaning over a body. I run toward him and drop to the floor by his side to find Jolie passed out on the ground. Her skin is a sickly white. Her chest rises and falls but her breathing is coming out in shallow bursts. Elijah’s hovering over her, shouting her name, trying to get her to respond. But she lies there, still. I freeze. My body clams up.
“Tie me to her, Dara. Let her take my energy,” Elijah pleads, shaking my shoulders.
My eyes move to his. I break out of my frozen state. “Are you sure you want to do that?”
“Yes. Hurry up! We’re losing time.” It’s risky. He could die.
But without it, Jolie will.
And as I look into his eyes, I see it—his love for her.
We’d all die to save the ones we love. Isn’t that what we’ve been fighting for all along?
“Place your hand on her chest and close your eyes,” I order Elijah.
He gently places his hand on her chest. I take his other hand and reach over Jolie to grab hers. As soon as our hands touch, my breath catches. She’s cold as ice. She’s used too much magic today, bringing down the slayers herself and with me, breaking through the ground. She overdid it.
But this can’t be it. She needs to be awake; I need her. We need her.
My breathing slows. My magic is right there, awaiting my command. I recall Jolie teaching me this spell at one of our training sessions.
“You’ve got this, Dara,” Blair whispers into my ear.
My magic trickles through my palms, going into Elijah, and I repeat the spell over in my head.
Transfer thee, take thine strength. Transfer thee, take thine power. Transfer thee, take thine mettle…
A cloud of magic pours out from me, going into Elijah and transferring into Jolie as I keep repeating the spell over and over again. How will I know when it’s time to stop? Will there be a feeling? I pray that something will happen to help me realise. Pushing my thoughts aside, I keep going. Someone screams my name.
My hands drop, and my eyes peel open to find Jolie awake. She’s sitting up but she’s yelling, screaming out Elijah’s name. Her words are muffled; I can’t hear them properly.
Everything happens in slow motion. I watch Jolie yelling over Elijah, who now lies deadly straight on his back, unmoving. She looks toward me, saying something, but I can’t hear her. My ears are ringing.
What the hell have I done?
Blood pours out from his nose and his eyes are rolling back in his head. His body shakes as if he’s having a seizure. It stops. His chest stops moving with his breath.
My heart breaks.
Jolie falls apart. She jumps on him, pushing her magic into his chest, trying to bring him back. I move up to join her. We both try to bring him back but it’s too late. He’s gone.
Jolie lets out a loud animal-like growl just as my ears pop.
“I’m so sorry, Jolie. I didn’t mean for this to happen. He wanted me to tie himself to you, to save you,” I say, pulling her into me. She tries to move back but then she falls apart, crying on my shoulder.
“Why did he have to do that?” she sobs, her voice breaking.
“Because he loves you, Jolie.”
We stay like this for several minutes until Jolie pulls back, wiping away her tears. She lifts my chin, looking me deep in the eye. “He’s not gone—not really. I feel him here with us, with our parents. We will make them proud, Dara. Silvia is now ours.”
Her words hit close to home, and I can’t believe that James is really gone, and Silvia is now ours. No one will ever have to suffer under a tyrannic rule again—not in this lifetime. As long as I’m ruling Silvia with my warriors, we will all live in peace.
Oliver leans over me, offering his hand. He pulls me up and my warriors surround me. I look to each of them. We all look pretty beaten up. Cuts and bruises line our bodies, but we are safe. No one else will have to be sacrificed.
“Ready to go and rule Silvia, my queen?” Harlan steps forward and bows in front of me, followed by the rest of my warriors. My heart rate picks up.
“Get up. We rule together, as one,” I say, raising my voice and glancing at each one of my warriors. Jolie, Declan, Blair, Oliver, and Harlan smile, joining me. We get out of the massive hole that’s now in my walk-in closet.
I move toward the double doors. Opening them, I stride out into the courtyard. I hear loud applause. Looking down, I find all the villagers smiling and cheering. My heart bursts at the sight. They are now safe with us.
I jump effortlessly over the boulders. My feet land on the ground, and I start running through the crowd, not stopping until I’m a kilometre outside of the castle grounds. I look around and my eyes light up. I fall to the ground, and my hands touch the lush green grass. My magic pours into the soil. Birds sing. Bright purple and blue flowers fill my eyes as far as I can see. I laugh, screaming to the sky in joy.
Silvia is back. My beautiful Silvia is back to its vibrant self.
My warriors join me, and we come together in a massive group hug.