Chapter 44 Violet #2
Pressure snapped outward with every movement of his hands, invisible waves slamming soldiers backward as if they’d been struck by walls of force. Bodies flew through the air and crashed against stone and earth.
He was winning.
And above him, one phoenix remained close.
She didn’t range wide like the others. She circled Daemon tightly, protective and precise.
Every time a soldier slipped past his reach, she struck.
Every blind spot he left behind, she covered.
Her flames came down in perfectly timed arcs, burning through anyone who dared come close enough to threaten him.
His mate.
My mother, Oriane.
She screamed as she dove again, her wings blazing as she engulfed a line of attackers in fire. Daemon didn’t even glance upward. He trusted her completely.
Then something changed.
I saw it first in his eyes.
His sharp focus dulled. His movements stuttered for a fraction of a second.
“No,” I whispered, though no sound came out.
He lifted his hands, and the air screamed.
A massive surge of force exploded from the sky. It was invisible, but the violence of it was unmistakable. Phoenixes were struck mid-flight, their cries turning shrill with confusion and terror as they were ripped from the air.
Bodies slammed into the ground.
Flames vanished instantly.
Phoenixes shattered across sand and stone—and where they fell, their forms collapsed into fae bodies. Soldiers surged forward immediately, blades flashing, magic flaring in bright bursts as they closed the distance.
Oriane lay among the fallen.
Her phoenix form collapsed inward as she shifted, fire folding back into flesh as her body slammed hard against the ground. She tried to rise, but the air crushed her down.
I could feel the pressure holding her there, the atmosphere refusing to move around her body like the world itself had become a cage.
She lifted her head and looked up.
Straight at him.
“What are you doing?” she cried, her voice breaking.
Daemon didn’t answer her.
Instead, he turned to his Commander. I didn’t notice him before, but Alastor stood several yards away. My heart sank. He told me he wasn’t there. He told me he was with me during this but if he was here, then where was I?
“Kill them all,” Daemon said.
“What? No!” Alastor yelled.
“That is an order from your Sovereign.”
“I will not kill them. What is wrong with you?”
“Then you are no longer my Commander. You are stripped from your title. From your bond to me.” Daemon turned to his Guard. “Kill them all!” he yelled.
His soldiers didn’t hesitate to begin the slaughter, and Daemon looked at Oriane once more. He walked toward her slowly, sword already in his hand.
I tried to scream. My throat burned as I forced the words that wouldn’t come out.
That’s your mate! That’s your mate!
“Daemon, stop!” Alastor yelled at him as he ran toward him. “What are you doing? She’s pregnant!”
Pregnant? But I—
The sword came down in one clean, brutal arc. Her head separated from her body instantly, blood spraying across the sand.
The scream tore out of me then, ripping through my chest like something inside me had been torn open—
and suddenly I was back at the border of Queen Mother’s lands, gasping for breath, my entire body shaking as the vision finally released its grip. My knees nearly gave out beneath me as the memory settled into place like a piece of history that had been waiting a century for someone to see it.
Evidannen’s voice slid smoothly into the silence that followed the vision, calm and measured in a way that made my skin crawl.
“I did send the Sovereigns to wipe out the phoenixes,” Evidannen continued, her tone almost conversational, as if she were recounting a minor political decision rather than the destruction of an entire people.
“Those volatile creatures were always going to be a problem. Too much freedom. Too much fire. Too much choice. But I came up with a different plan when they got there. It was more entertaining this way.”
My hands curled into fists at my sides before I could stop them.
“I thought I handled it. I thought killing her would fix it and he’d eventually marry to continue the bloodline. But I underestimated the bond. I should have severed it before she died. Because the moment he realized what he had done—”
She smiled.
“—he turned the blade on himself.”
Sebastian went very still beside me. I fought the tears that tried to force their way out.
“With no crowned Sovereign to anchor it, the realm collapsed,” Evidannen continued calmly.
“And suddenly I was down to five realms instead of six. Inconvenient. Messy.” Her gaze slid back to Sebastian then.
“So I returned my attention to you, Shadow King. I took my time. I searched for a way to stop you before you became a problem.”
My pulse roared in my ears.
“It would have worked, if you hadn’t interfered.” Her smile widened slowly. “But in the end, I suppose you did me a favor. Because if you hadn’t, I never would have discovered you. And now I can correct two mistakes at once.”
“Then do it,” Sebastian said.
His voice was completely flat.
Lethal.
“You want us dead,” he continued, stepping closer to the border. His arms spread slightly as if presenting himself as a target. Behind him, the shadows writhed violently against the ground, straining against an invisible leash.
“We’re right here. What’s stopping you now?” His eyes were completely black as he stared across the barrier at her. “Come out and kill us.”
She faltered.
I saw it.
“You can’t get into our minds at the same time, can you?” I said.
Her gaze snapped to me instantly.
“Yes,” she admitted. “That is the issue.”
“Then why not leave us alone?” I demanded. “You have your lands. Your power. Your barrier. Your throne. We can make a deal and walk away.”
Beside me, Sebastian’s shadows surged violently in protest.
“Don’t you understand?” Evidannen said. “All of Alentara is mine. It became mine the moment I created the first Sovereigns.”
The ground beneath our feet vibrated faintly, the magic in the soil responding to her words like the land itself recognized her authority.
“You are the ones trying to take what does not belong to you,” she continued calmly. “I will never stop coming for you. I don’t need to.”
Sebastian’s jaw tightened, his shadows rippling harder against the edge of the barrier.
“I am safe here,” she said. “You cannot enter my lands. Your magic weakens at the borders. Your bond means nothing here. You can’t hurt me, but I will eventually succeed in killing the two of you, whether it’s tomorrow or centuries from now. And until then, you will never know peace.”
Then her attention shifted.
Not to us.
Past us.
Toward the forest behind.
“But… you are in possession of something else that belongs to me. And right now,” Evidannen continued, a slow smile spreading across her face, “its importance outweighs the two of you.”
I knew what she meant.
Even if I didn’t fully understand it yet.
“No,” I said, the word ripping out of me before I could stop it.
Her smile widened.
“And here they come.”
Movement exploded behind us.
August flashed past so quickly, I barely processed him as a person—just motion cutting through the trees. My heart lurched violently in my chest. A second later, Bronwen appeared behind him, running hard, her speed terrifying even compared to fae.
But she was too far back.
“Sebastian!” Bronwen screamed.
Shadows erupted from the ground in response, surging toward August in a violent wave—
—and then they vanished.
Sebastian staggered. The air tore from his lungs as he dropped hard to one knee, his shadows convulsing wildly around him.
August didn’t even slow. He stepped straight through the barrier, a sinister laugh spilling from his mouth.
Evidannen clicked her tongue softly. “Sebastian, do not interfere in matters that do not involve you.”
Sebastian tried to push himself upright as the pain in him eased.
“They will only get you—”
Pain slammed into me.
It came out of nowhere, violent enough to drive me straight to the ground. My vision flashed white as the air left my chest in a choking gasp.
Evidannen’s voice remained calm as she finished the sentence.
“—or the Phoenix—”
The pressure in my skull sharpened.
“—hurt.”
Then the pain disappeared all at once just as Bronwen skidded to a stop at the edge of the veil.
“What are you doing!” she screamed.
I pushed myself upright.
“Hello, Bronwen,” Evidannen said.
Bronwen’s attention shifted, and she froze.
And in that moment, I knew she saw exactly what I did.
One of the guards stepped forward and seized August by the arm.
“No need for force.” He snatched his arm free. “I am not the one you’re going to have trouble with,” August said, but I knew it wasn’t August right then. It was Carrow.
He walked himself to Evidannen.
“I brought them here like you asked. Now fix me,” Carrow demanded.
Before Evidannen could respond, his breath hitched. Confusion flickered across his face as he took in his surroundings, like he’d been dropped somewhere he didn’t recognize. His gaze snapped from the guards to the barrier, then to the woman standing calmly beside him.
And then he saw Bronwen.
Everything about him changed in an instant.
“Winnie?”
Evidannen didn’t hesitate. She gave a sharp nod, and her guards moved in immediately, grabbing him before he could take another step.
He reacted just as fast.
“Don’t touch me!” he snapped, shoving one of them back hard enough that the guard stumbled. The second hit the ground a heartbeat later, taken down with brutal efficiency that made it clear this wasn’t just some confused man dragged into the wrong place.
This was someone dangerous.
Another guard charged him, and this time he didn’t bother holding back. He caught the man by the throat mid-lunge, lifting him just enough to unbalance him before ripping the helmet from his head and tossing it aside. His eyes shifted to red and fangs slid into place as he dragged the guard closer.
Then Evidannen lifted her hand. A few quiet words left her lips and his eyes rolled back as his entire frame seized violently, the guard dropping from his grip as his knees hit the ground.
And then Bronwen made a sound.
I had never heard anything like it.
It wasn’t a scream—not fully. It came from deeper than that, ripped from somewhere inside her that had been buried for a long time. The sound tore through the space around us, raw and feral.
The guards didn’t pause.
They moved quickly, dragging him forward as his body fought weakly against whatever hold Evidannen had on him.
“What do you want with him!” Bronwen shouted.
“Oh, I don’t want him,” Evidannen said
She turned her head slowly, her attention shifting with deliberate ease, like nothing about this moment required urgency. Her gaze settled on Bronwen, and for a second—just a second—she said nothing at all.
She simply looked at her.
Then, slowly, her lips curved.
“I want you.”