Chapter 26 #2
The god throws back his head and laughs.
He’s enjoying every second of this. He’s aware that he’s in control of this situation.
“Do you know what happened the last time I told you my plans? You played me. You dragged me along and fed me stories about how you were prepared to assist me. And then you used all of it to tear me apart. You are conniving. The only difference right now is that you’re weak.
So I’m not sure I even have a use for you. ”
I watch him closely, knowing that he’s lying. There’s a reason he asked me to come here. He’s not going to push me away now that I’m here. He wants to see how desperate I am.
Aemon suddenly smiles. “How about this. I will fix the hourglass, but I cannot repair the damage that’s already done. And then, if you prove to me that you’re worth it, I will keep you alive.”
I notice that he never said that he’ll release my horse, just that he’ll “keep me alive.” Likely stringing me along, only giving me enough to keep death at bay.
He holds his hand out. “Give me the hourglass if you’d like it to be fixed.”
I don’t know what I was expecting, but I have absolutely no desire to hand over the hourglass. The very thought of it causes anxiety to wash through me while I wrap my burned hand around it.
“How do you expect me to fix it without letting me touch it?”
I look up and suddenly discover that War is gone. I can no longer see him as I step back. “Where is War?”
“I’m not his babysitter. I can’t tell you what he’s up to. I can control him about as well as I can control you.”
Something is not right. Something is not—
I feel a strange magic tangling with mine, almost like it’s smothering me and trying to choke my magic out.
I jerk back, but whatever it is isn’t something I can physically see or touch.
I can only feel it as weight tears through my body, much as it did in the vision I’d had with the god.
It makes me feel like my body weighs a thousand pounds while I struggle to stay standing.
I begin to sink down as Mickey’s undead hurry to move between us, but they are ripped apart, returning to death in seconds.
Gasping, I try to stagger back, hoping some distance will save me from whatever he’s doing to me, but Aemon simply steps forward with a grin.
“You come into my realm and think you can play me? You were always conniving, but you’ve certainly turned into a fool if you think you have any say in this.
You are weak. You are falling apart.” He rushes me, but Imani throws a barrier between us from where she safely waits by the mansion door.
It means I can’t attack him, but right now, I don’t need to.
We merely need a few minutes to keep him and War out.
The barrier gives me a moment of reprieve as I jerk back, my magic spiraling, almost like it’s uneasy after the attack.
The white orbs of souls push forward, likely coming from the bodies that were locked up the last time I was here, but in this state, I don’t know what they can even do to help me.
Instead, they just hover around me, anxious to do something.
Aemon grins while he lifts his cane, drawing a blade from it and smashing the tip of the sword against Imani’s barrier.
It shatters, crumbling to pieces as quickly as it’d gone up.
“Mickey, run,” I order as I swing Conquest’s bow off my shoulder, but what exactly can I do with it when I feel Aemon’s magic immediately stifling mine, like it’s consuming it?
I clutch the hourglass and throw my focus into my magic, trying to shove Aemon’s magic out of my body, but its grip is so tight I can’t free myself from it.
“Riley, run!” Mickey yells. “Come on, I can’t grab you.”
My body weighs so much that I feel like I’m suffocating. I’ve fucked up. I’ve played right into Aemon’s trap, and it’s costing me the very magic that is seated deep in my core.
“Riley!” Torin shouts as I gasp for breath while my body is being scraped of magic.
The hourglass in my hand is burning so hot, I know the horse is trying to protect me, but we’re both so weak from being separated from each other that the protection isn’t going to be enough.
It might be delaying the inevitable, but it’s not enough.
Something suddenly strikes me, and I realize a magic arrow has just torn through my back.
It doesn’t hurt but instead fills me with relief when it lessens the hold Aemon had on me.
It sends me staggering back, like I’m catching my breath after suffocating.
The god’s face twists into anger as he looks past me to the person who shot me.
“I will tear you apart,” Aemon snarls. “I will start again with both of you. Even if I have to wait years, it’s better than this nonsense.” He flings his arm forward and a flash of magic flies at Torin, who is racing toward me on Quill, a second before Conquest steps in front of me.
The souls surrounding me hit Conquest’s magic and drop to the ground as wolves.
“He’s draining you to consume your magic, get back before it kills you,” Conquest shouts a second before a vine shoots out of the ground and pierces right through his chest.
I feel Conquest’s magic ripple and then surge forth as his blood splatters me. The surge of magic completely severs the hold Aemon had on me, relieving me of the vestiges of that crushing feeling. Then the hourglass shatters in my hand, and panic tears through me.
Staggering, I attempt to reach for Conquest while Aemon snarls and sends another vine through Conquest’s body, pinning him there and lifting him up off the ground as his wolves are pushed back by Aemon’s magic.
Torin and Vero rush to assist but can’t get past the wall of magic that’s built up between Aemon, Conquest, and me.
The magic inside of me spirals out of control, making me feel like I can’t breathe while I try again to reach out to help Conquest, but how can I help him when I can’t even help myself?
“You’ve fucked up, Aemon,” Conquest says with a grin, blood dripping from his lips as he smirks at the god.
I need to help. I need to do something. My eyes are trained on the blood that runs down the vines and coats the ground in red while I feel the magic from the hourglass take root right into my soul.
I gasp and Conquest smiles at me, like he realizes what’s happened before I do.
“You better stop him, Brother,” he says as he lifts his hand and his wolves stop protecting him to grab on to me.
They drag my body back while Aemon roars in fury and swings his sword through the air.
An arc of magic tears off the blade and I watch it cut right through Conquest’s neck, severing his head before his magic explodes around him.
Pain slashes into my chest like I’ve lost a part of myself, marking the end of Conquest’s life. I scream as the grass beneath me withers and dies, and Aemon’s smile disappears while he jolts back from the grass shriveling up. He looks panicked, almost terrified.
The wolves drop me then howl in agony before turning back into white orbs that hover around me. I reach for them, wanting to help them but having no idea how.
Mickey grabs me and my vision disappears as I’m yanked back. Strong arms wrap around me, telling me that I’ve found myself in Torin’s arms, before darkness consumes me.