Chapter 9
CHAPTER NINE
Jessina snickers. “Good choice.”
“Orion,” Draven growls from where he is standing on the ash-covered ground, just outside the melted iron. “Is this how easily you betray your allies?”
“My allies?” Orion scoffs, his gaze still on the ground where he kneels before Jessina’s feet. “You mean the allies that were deceiving me for weeks? The allies that blackmailed me into a bargain that risked my court and then trapped me in that deal even though it was all based on a lie?”
Nausea rolls through me, because Goddess damn it, he’s right.
We have been deceiving Orion and we have been forcing him to risk his court against his will.
And if there is one thing I have come to realize about Orion Nightbane, it’s that he takes the title of Unseelie King very seriously.
He genuinely cares about his court, and he does everything in his power to protect it and to keep it strong and prosperous.
Across the ground, Draven opens his mouth to reply, but he must be thinking the same, because no words make it out.
“So yes,” Orion continues. “I would betray you in a heartbeat if it means saving my court, and there is—”
A knife shoots towards Jessina’s heart.
She gasps, but there is no time for her to react.
Ice cracks as the knife slams into a small shield of it right in front of Jessina’s chest.
It all happened so fast that, for a moment, I have no idea what I’m looking at.
Then the ice spreads downwards in a flash, quickly encasing the knife and the hand that is holding it.
Reality snaps back into me as more ice shoots through the air, trapping the would-be assassin in place.
Orion lets out a humorless huff of both amusement and disappointment. “Damn. Almost worked.”
Fury flashes over Bane’s face as he stalks across the ground towards Orion.
Jessina is still staring wide-eyed down at the knife that is frozen in ice just a hair’s breadth from her heart.
Because of the ice that is now encasing his body, Orion remains frozen in place as well. As if time has stopped moving.
I shift my gaze from the knife that almost killed Jessina, down to Orion’s hand, which is holding the blade, along his arm, and then over his body.
One moment, he was down on one knee with his head bowed. Then, right in the middle of his own sentence, he yanked up his arm and rammed a knife straight at Jessina’s heart. And because he was so close, it almost worked.
Almost.
“You slippery little snake,” Emperor Bane growls as he reaches the three of us.
With rough movements, he shoves his hands out and snaps an iron collar shut around Orion’s neck. The Unseelie King sucks in a hiss between his teeth, but Bane’s ice is still keeping him immobile. And after the contact with all that iron earlier, he barely had any strength left to begin with.
Stunned, I shift my gaze up to Orion’s face. “You…”
“How easily you all doubted me,” he replies, an exhausted half-smile on his face. “If I had a heart, I would be wounded.”
A pang of guilt hits me straight through the chest, but before I can respond, Bane grabs Orion by the collar and makes the ice vanish.
With a harsh yank, he throws the Unseelie King to the ground and shoves his boot down on Orion’s wrist, forcing him to press his naked palm flat against the massive pile of melted iron underneath us.
Another sharp hiss rips from Orion’s throat as the strength of the iron, due to its sheer massive size, sucks every drop of energy out of his body again.
“As untrustworthy as all fae,” Bane grinds out while removing his boot and straightening again. “We should—”
“Hold her,” Jessina interrupts.
The utter coldness in her voice makes dread explode inside me and ice crawl down my spine.
To my left, Grey and Hana are stirring. They probably still won’t be able to use magic. At least not yet. But if we can just stall the Icehearts until then, maybe we have a chance.
At her words, Bane looks up at Jessina in surprise. But then he just moves to my other side, slides out a blade, and presses it against my throat while taking a firm grip on my upper arm.
Across the ash-covered ground, Draven flexes his hand and clenches his jaw. Murder shines in his eyes as he looks at Bane, and lightning still crackles along his arms and across his massive black wings as he begins to take a half step forward.
“I grow weary of watching your little lightning show, Shadow of Death. So you’re going to have to decide,” Bane taunts as he presses his blade harder against my throat.
“Shoot that lightning at us, or extinguish it and stand down. If you attack, you will most likely succeed in killing at least one of us, and then you might have a shot at winning this war and freeing this world from our rule. However, the moment you shoot, I slit Selena’s throat.
You can’t have both, Draven.” A vicious smile stretches his lips. “So, what’s it going to be?”
The lightning immediately disappears from Draven’s body, and he stops trying to move forward.
“Draven,” I breathe.
His eyes are grave as he holds my gaze. “If it’s a choice between you and the world, I choose you every single time.”
Emperor Bane snickers. “Exactly. So stay where you are. Because if I see so much as a single bolt of lightning dancing over your fingers, I will slit her throat without hesitation.”
Fury burns in Draven’s eyes as he drags his gaze to Bane, but with the threat to my life, he can’t do anything about it.
Once Bane has me entirely at his mercy, Jessina releases my other arm. Ruthless fury, cold like the space between the stars, burns in her pale gray eyes as she stalks over to where Orion is lying and grabs him by the collar of his shirt.
With a firm grip, she yanks him up from the ground and deposits him on his knees instead. Orion, still dazed from the contact with so much iron, can do nothing but let her move him around like a limp doll.
“You thought you could kill me?” Empress Jessina demands, her voice tinged with insanity. “You thought you could put your filthy fae hands on me?”
On the iron ground a short distance away, Isera is still lying on her side. Her cheek remains pressed against the melted metal, draining her energy and making her unable to move. But rage flares up like hellfire in her eyes at Jessina’s words.
Still gripping Orion’s collar, Jessina flexes her other hand around the hilt of her knife. “It’s time you learned a permanent lesson.”
Dread crashes through me at the vicious edge to her voice, but Orion just continues glaring up at her with mocking eyes.
“You seem very proud of this beautiful face of yours,” Jessina continues. A cruel smile curls her lips as she raises her blade. “It would be a shame if something were to happen to it.”
I suck in a panicked breath, but Orion just keeps holding her gaze with that arrogant expression on his face.
Jessina places the tip of the knife against his forehead, right above his left eye.
Then she drags it downwards.
A cry rips from my throat.
Across the ground, Draven bellows, “Jessina!”
Orion Nightbane, however, just grits his teeth and glares up at her with his right eye as Jessina cuts right through his left one.
Blood spills down from the long vertical cut that begins above his eyebrow and ends at the top of his cheek underneath.
“Oh, that’s right,” Jessina says with that vicious smile still on her lips. “You have a healer.” She lifts her knife again. “Better make sure.”
Yanking him forward by his collar, she moves her knife to the corner of his left eye.
And then she starts carving it out.
Now, Orion screams.
It’s a cry of such pure animalistic agony that it stops my heart and punches the air right out of my lungs.
“Jessina!” Draven bellows, and his body jerks as if he is about to lurch forward.
Bane immediately presses the knife harder against my throat. Blood slides down my skin, and Draven jerks to a halt again. Panic and dread shine on his face as he snaps his gaze between me and Orion.
With a wicked smile on her lips, Jessina just continues carving Orion’s eye out of its socket. And because of the prolonged contact with so much iron, he can’t fight back. Can’t do anything to protect himself. All he can do is scream.
And so does Isera.
Lying on the ground, she curls her fingers against the iron as if trying to claw her way towards Orion. Wordless screams of fury tear from her throat with such force that her voice breaks.
“So messy.” Jessina curls her lips in disgust while summoning her magic. Then she encases the ruined remains of Orion’s left eye in ice and simply plucks it out. “That’s better.”
Locking a merciless stare on Orion, she holds his ice-encased eye in front of his face for a second. Then she drops it on the ground and stomps her heel down on it. Ice shatters, and so does whatever remained of the eye, as she grinds it into the iron ground with her heel.
Orion just sits there on his knees, looking shellshocked.
There is now only a jagged gaping hole where his left eye used to be, and blood runs down his face from that wound as well as from the long cut across his eyebrow.
He stares up at Jessina with his one remaining eye, but his expression is blank.
As if his mind is refusing to process what just happened.
His mouth remains slightly open, but no sound is making it out anymore.
My head rings. It feels as if giant metal bells are clanging inside my skull.
I suck in a deep breath, and my lungs expand in sudden relief since I’ve apparently forgotten to breathe.
A short distance from us, Isera has stopped screaming as well, her voice now broken.
Her eyes are wide as she stares at Orion.
Jessina takes her foot off his frozen eye. Only pale dust remains of it, ground like powder against the iron.
Above me, Emperor Bane stares at his mate with what looks like shock. His gaze flits down to the destroyed eye, and for a moment, he almost looks conflicted. But the expression disappears so quickly, and my mind is already so messed up, that I can’t tell for certain if I saw it or not.
With one hand still buried in Orion’s collar, Jessina looks up from the ground and raises her knife again. “And now, the other eye.”
For the first time ever, pure terror crashes over Orion’s features.
In all the months that I have known the Unseelie King, I have never seen him scared like this. And this awful fear on his face is so heartbreaking that my lungs cease working again.
“Stop!” Hana suddenly screams.
We all snap our gazes to her.
She and Grey have staggered to their feet. Exhaustion clings to their bodies, and they sway slightly where they stand, but their eyes are locked on Orion and Jessina.
“We’ll do whatever you want!” Hana keeps yelling, her usually so soft voice almost breaking with desperation. “I’ll open the Gold Clan’s pocket reality for you.”
“And I’ll open any portals you want,” Grey adds, dread and pain pulsing on his face as he glances down at Orion. “Just stop… hurting him.”
A victorious smile full of mockery spreads across Jessina’s face, and she twirls the knife in her hand before looking down at Orion.
“What a surprise. I thought we would need to torture you to get you to order them to obey our commands. But it looks like your people actually care about you. How adorable.”
“Get over here,” Bane commands, jerking his chin at Hana and Grey. “And open a portal.”
“To where?” Grey asks while he and Hana start staggering towards us.
“I’ll tell you when you get closer.” Bane’s black eyes shift to Draven. “Wouldn’t want the Shadow of Death to overhear.”
Outside the patch of melted iron, Draven flexes his hand and clenches his jaw but still doesn’t dare to move while the threat to my life remains.
Jessina at last releases Orion’s collar, letting him drop back down.
He still hasn’t recovered enough energy to even lift his arms, so he just slumps down on his knees again.
While still holding her knife with one hand, Jessina walks over to where Isera is lying.
Then she grabs her by the wrist and simply drags her across the ground.
With a yank, she slides Isera the final distance until she is lying next to Orion.
Isera’s gaze searches his face, but the Unseelie King is just staring straight ahead with unseeing eyes. Eye. My heart twists in pain, but before I can say anything, Grey and Hana reach us.
Still keeping his blade to my neck, Bane tilts his head down and whispers a location to Grey.
It takes Grey three tries to open a portal. Exhaustion practically rolls off his body like waves, and sweat lines his brow. But a glittering blue rectangle at last rises from the ground.
Without warning, Jessina grabs Isera’s wrist and slides her through it. Then she plants her shoe against Orion’s back and shoves him through as well. Grey and Hana grit their teeth. But after a jerk of Jessina’s chin, they follow her through the portal.
My heart slams against my ribs as I stare at Draven.
Bleak light from the overcast sky falls down over him, and ash swirls around his calves as another wind sweeps across the landscape and whirls between the melted remains of the city.
“Draven,” I blurt out, my voice coming out panicked and full of dread, as Bane starts backing towards the portal as well. My knees scrape against the ground as he drags me with him.
That same panic and dread are mirrored in Draven’s eyes as he looks at me. His gaze darts around, searching for solutions, as Bane pulls me closer to the portal.
“Selena,” he presses out, that awful panic increasing when he apparently can’t figure out a way to stop Bane from taking me away. “I will come for you.”
There is such utter confidence in his voice that I almost believe him. But I have no idea where this portal leads, and neither does Draven. If the Icehearts take me to some remote hideout somewhere, he could spend the rest of his life searching every inch of this world and still not find me.
“Draven.” His name rips from my throat like a sob.
Emperor Bane reaches the portal.
“Selena!” Draven screams. “I will find you. I will—”
Bane yanks me through.
And the portal closes behind us.