Chapter 33
Chapter
Thirty-Three
LYRA
The chamber shuddered, and darkness swallowed me as shadows spilled from the wound. A bitter chill wrapped around me, stealing all the warmth that had stretched down the mating bond and shrouding me in misery so acute that it nearly brought me to my knees.
Then Semphrys began to disintegrate, his body exploding into a torrent of black mist that formed a cyclone around me. The droplets of mist spun faster — the dark tempest blotting out the chamber and obscuring my view of Kaden.
The king’s dark essence blanketed the room, snuffing out all hope. All goodness.
A heavy weight settled in my chest, pressing in on me and making it impossible to breathe. The cyclone of mist spun faster. A volley of piercing shrieks filled the air, and I clamped my hands over my ears as the king’s wicked magic bombarded me in its final death throes.
Finally, the screams abated, and that infernal black mist cleared.
I stared at the place where Semphrys had lain. All that remained was a heap of black fabric and a crown fashioned from jagged shards of obsidian.
I swallowed to wet my parched throat. My mouth tasted of ash.
Dragging in a breath, I turned toward my friends. Adriel was breathing hard, a rowan-wood spike clutched in each hand and his face splattered with blood. Sorsha grunted as she pulled her blade from a demon, who took one look at the crown on the floor and disappeared on a wisp of smoke.
One by one, the other demons vanished — fleeing now that their king was dead. My friends watched them go with grim expressions, but I scarcely cared about Semphrys’s army.
My gaze found Kaden across the chamber, and my heart stopped beating.
He was kneeling on the obsidian floor, staring at the place where his father had been. One pale hand clutched his chest, and all the blood had drained from his face.
A soft whimper slipped from my throat as I dropped my blade and staggered toward him. Falling to my knees in front of him, I clasped his cheeks, searching his eyes for any sign that he was about to disappear.
Kaden’s bloodless lips parted, and his ragged breath warmed my face. “I . . . don’t feel anything,” he rasped, staring at me in amazement.
My bottom lip quivered, and I broke into a watery grin, not sure whether I wanted to kiss him senseless or knock him on his ass. Maybe both.
“You bastard,” I choked out, equal parts furious and relieved. “How could you do this to me?”
Tears blurred my vision and trailed down my cheeks, but my heart was swelling with happiness.
“Don’t cry for me, little huntress,” he said, though his own voice was husky as he wiped my tears away with the pads of his thumbs.
“I’m not crying for you, asshole,” I whispered.
Confusion crumpled my mate’s handsome face, and I wanted to deck him.
“I’m crying because I’m so happy.” I gave a demented-sounding chuckle. “I’m going to hold this over your head for the rest of your damned life.”
Kaden’s face crumpled with pity, and his voice was gentle as he said, “I’m afraid that won’t be long, love. But feel free to berate me for however long I’m here. I deserve it.”
I let out another watery chuckle. He didn’t understand — still didn’t know what I’d done.
“You’re not dying today,” I croaked, fisting his shirt with both hands as if to reassure myself that he was still here. “Probably not for a long while — unless I decide to kill you myself.”
A sad smile twisted his beautiful face. “I’m so sorry I didn’t tell you about the sire bond.” He swiped a thumb under my wet lashes, his touch heartbreakingly tender. “Perhaps it was conceited of me, but I was afraid you wouldn’t go through with it if I did.”
“Good thing I’m in charge of our bargains with the Three.”
Kaden only looked more confused, so I added, “Morta granted me one favor in exchange for restoring her hands.”
He nodded, though the crease between his brows deepened.
“I didn’t ask her to cut the threads bound to Semphrys,” I murmured. “I asked her to separate your thread from his at the moment of his death.”
Kaden’s mouth fell open, something like awe brightening his stormy gray eyes.
“I figured if killing him once wasn’t enough to end his existence, I would have to kill him twice. Hence the vikkarni venom. His first death severed his ties to those souls . . . and to you. The second one did the trick.”
Kaden broke into a wide grin, stroking my cheek with a look of stunned amazement. “Where on earth did you get your hands on vikkarni venom?”
“From the fang that lodged in Adriel’s boot when we went through the in-between.”
“Clever little huntress,” he purred, pressing a kiss to my lips.
My blood heated at the light contact, but then Adriel cleared his throat, and we broke apart.
“How are you here right now?” I asked the royal guard, irritation swallowing the relief I’d felt at seeing him alive.
“I got him out,” Kaden said with a shrug. “When Xadorsch dropped the apokropos stone, I could feel that it was him. I asked Sorsha to divert his attention while I went to retrieve the real Adriel.”
“And you didn’t think to bring him with you?”
My prince smirked. He actually smirked. “I wanted to see what Xadorsch was up to. Should have known he’d stab me in the back.” He winced, rolling his shoulder experimentally, and the movement of the stake still embedded in it made bile rise in my throat. “I might need you to help me with that.”
“Yes, well . . . as much as I love that you’re not dead,” Adriel said to Kaden, “there’s still the issue of all the rogue demons who just lost their king. And what remains of the Drathen army. They will want to lay their dead to rest.”
Kaden sighed, and my heart sank.
Adriel was right. Though Kaden had never wanted his father’s crown, he was still Semphrys’s heir.
What had the Death Bringer said? Dorthus must have a king.
Dorthus was always meant to be a place of rest for souls along their journey to the Otherworld. Who knew what sort of destruction Semphrys’s former soldiers would wreak if left to their own devices in a lawless wasteland?
Slowly, Kaden rose to his feet, his gaze settling on the obsidian crown with a look of disdain.
Then he looked down at me, and the storm in his eyes seemed to quiet. He held out a hand, and I took it, his heated expression stealing the air from my lungs.
“Tomorrow,” he said. “Tomorrow, we can rally the Drathens and discuss what will become of Dorthus. For tonight, I am a free male.”