Chapter Fifty-One
Daxton Aegaeon
My ears rang from the roars of monsters and the clash of steel.
I tightened my grip on Valencia, muscles flexed, ready to spring into action and kill the false queen myself.
In fact, nothing would bring me more satisfaction than to slay the monster with my bare hands, feeling her final breath slip from those cursed lips, and then watch her corpse ignite and disappear within my mate’s flames.
The Labyrinth, posing as Seamus, stumbled slightly as he knelt before Minaeve, and I had to admit, his act was convincing. He lowered his gaze, the shadows around him twisting as if he truly were under the influence of her blood oath.
Minaeve’s cold eyes glimmered with triumph. “Come closer,” she said, her lethal voice cutting across the battlefield.
This was it. Minaeve was distracted, her attention solely on the imposter at her feet.
And thank the gods, my mate didn’t hesitate. From her elevated position along the mountainside, Skylar notched an arrow, her hands steady despite the chaos around us. Inhaling a deep breath, she drew back on her string, eyes locked and focused.
“For you, Daxton,” Skylar said, her arm steady, gaze locked on Minaeve’s blackened heart.
The arrow flew with a purpose, a force, a promise, aimed directly for Minaeve’s heart, if the vile creature even had one.
But… the arrow never hit its target.
My heart stopped, eyes widening as panic trickled along the bond from my mate.
Gods above, no.
With a flick of her wrist, the arrow froze mid-flight, suspended in the air like it had hit an invisible wall. Slowly, Minaeve summoned the arrow to her outstretched palm. Then, almost lazily, she plucked it from the sky as if it were a feather, her gaze never leaving the false Seamus before her.
My head snapped toward the Labyrinth at Minaeve’s feet. No.
My pulse quickened, my grip on Valencia tightening as the reality came crashing down like a tidal wave. Minaeve knew who she held in her grasp. Gods, the bitch knew. I frantically scanned the field for Seamus, but curse the gods, I was too late.
The real High Prince of Aelius emerged from the shadows, eyes blazing with revenge.
He lunged at Minaeve with a surge of his magic as he tried to gain control of her mind.
The force of their colliding powers sent a shockwave across the valley, knocking the air from my lungs and pushing me flat against the surrounding stone.
Seamus was pouring every ounce of his hatred, his sorrow, his pain into this one blast of his magic.
He would never bend to Minaeve’s will again. She would have to kill him.
The earth cracked and splintered under the force of their colliding powers, a storm of will and magic that shook the ground beneath my feet. Blood dripped from Seamus’s nose and ears, his mind bending but refusing to break as he released a battle cry to the skies.
Hold on, Seamus.
I readied Valencia, the edge of my sword catching the fractured sunlight from the fading sun, as I forced myself onto my feet and charged toward them, every step pounding the earth like a war drum.
Minaeve turned toward me, her expression calm, almost amused, and with a sweep of her hand, more fallen creatures appeared on the battlefield.
Twisted forms of shadow and shattered flesh stalked toward me, forcing me to alter my course. Their hollowed gazes set only on me as with the unholy magic of the false queen twisting through them.
Bearing down into my magic and steeling my senses, I cut through the fray, teleporting between the creatures and decapitating them one by one.
Minaeve could call upon the gods herself, and I would cut them all down to get to her.
Arrows from Skylar soared through the space, meeting their mark as she guarded my back.
Every swing of my sword sent creatures back to where it is they came, but for each one I destroyed, I swear two more took their place.
The ground beneath me rumbled with each impact of the shadow giants stomping through the battle beyond, their jagged fists smashing anything in reach.
Magnus roared from behind me, his massive bear form clashing with foes created by Minaeve’s magic. He was wounded, but still, he refused to give up.
Off in the distance, Gunnar released a war cry to rally our warriors, followed by roars and bellows of shifters still in this fight. And then, the call of human voices joined the chorus.
A pulse of hope fluttered in me once more, just before it shattered.
I turned just as Seamus cried and dropped to his knees. I felt his scream burrow down into the marrow of my bones, the dreadful horrors emerging from his throat carrying all his sorrow and regret. Minaeve only laughed, lifting her hand in a careless wave.
I gasped as the bright light in Seamus’s eyes flashed, then faded, and he collapsed onto the scorched ground beneath her feet.
“No!” The scream was a sound so raw it felt like it split the world.
I turned toward it instinctively, and there she was, collapsing onto the bloodied ground, her scream tearing through the roar of battle as she cradled her mate.
Gods above, I’d never heard anything like it. It was a sound pulled from somewhere deep, a place reserved for the severing of a piece of your soul.
Neera willed herself forward, stumbling as she ran to Seamus’s lifeless body. Tears streamed down her cheeks as she bent toward his neck, burrowing her face into him as sobs continued to tear through her.
“Pathetic,” Minaeve said. “I did you a favor, girl. Even after centuries, he still missed the mark.”
A hot ball of pure hatred burned in my chest. I clenched Valencia in my grasp, helplessly waiting for Seamus’s chest to rise, praying he was still alive.
Time seemed to slow as the battlefield dimmed around us. Minaeve’s attention returned to the Labyrinth, and he grimaced, the shadows twisting around him like snakes writhing in pain.
“I’m sorry,” the Labyrinth called out. “Please consider my favor granted, Champion.”
I gasped in abject horror, realizing what she was about to do.
Minaeve bent forward and kissed him.
Not a gentle, fleeting brush of lips, but a crushing, all-consuming kiss. A kiss of death.
A low hum deepened into a vibrating buzz, as if invisible bands were being wound into a spring before snapping out of existence. The Labyrinth’s body stiffened, convulsed, and then sagged, its form shuddering as its ancient magic flowed into Minaeve.
The Labyrinth faded from existence as Minaeve absorbed every ounce of its essence, and with a sound like the snapping of a hundred brittle bones, the Labyrinth’s children staggered and fell around us.
One by one, the monsters dissolved into nothing, leaving only a brush of shadows and silence in their wake.
The battlefield itself seemed to gasp, a moment of eerie quiet settling over the carnage.
“No… this can’t be—” Magnus growled, shifting from his bear form, trembling beside me.
“Daxton?” Skylar’s voice was shaky, and it damn near broke me. “What… What does this mean? What can we do?”
For once, I didn’t have an answer to help calm my mate. “Just hold on.”
I tried to step forward with Valencia raised, but something pushed against me.
Minaeve’s presence was suffocating. Her power radiated outward in waves, throwing back anyone who dared approach.
Around her, shadows twisted violently before collapsing in on themselves.
Minaeve straightened, her presence towering over the battlefield as if the world had shrunk beneath her feet.
Through the shadows, I could see the outline of the Heart of Valdor pulsing in her hands, glowing with an otherworldly light.
The power she commanded… My gods, it was terrifying.
Magnus growled low in his throat as a surge of desperation washed over me. Even with the Labyrinth and Seamus gone, even with his monsters erased from the battlefield, we couldn’t falter.
Not now.
My jaw clenched as I racked my brain for an alternative strategy. Gods, I wished I had Castor with me; he was the mastermind behind these types of schemes, not me.
The earth quaked beneath me as Minaeve’s shadows writhed, coiling around her like living serpents, feeding off the Labyrinth’s stolen power.
Every step she took sent tremors through the ground; every glance she cast seemed to bend the world to her will as she scanned the battlefield, a foul smile forming at the corner of her mouth.
And then it hit me.
There was one thing. One impossible, terrifying thing that could destroy her. I searched through our bond toward my mate, connecting my mind with hers.
“Skylar!” I called out. “You need to create the eternal flame.”
“Daxton, I—”
“You must, Spitfire.”
There was only one flame that could burn through Minaeve’s shadows. One spark that could consume the stolen life she harbored and leave nothing but ash in its wake. And my mate was the only one who could create it.
I exhaled slowly, steadying my resolve. “Skylar,” I called, my voice cutting through the clash of monsters and steel. “I’ll buy you time, but you have to summon it. You must wield the eternal flame.”
“I haven’t been able to hold it for—”
“I know you’re scared,” I cut in, reaching through our bond to comfort her. “But trust in yourself. Trust that you can do this.”
I felt the seed of doubt take root in her center, sensed the panic in her pulse like fires at her command. “Daxton… I… I can’t—”
“Yes, you can,” I said, forcing every ounce of my will and trust in her abilities into our bond. “I know you can, Spitfire.”
I reached out, erasing any seed of lingering doubt, solidifying that I believed in her. That I trusted her to do this.
“We’ll buy you time,” I said. “I’ll call our friends to help distract Minaeve. But you must swear to me you will not hesitate.”
“Daxton—”
“Swear to me, Skylar Cathal. Swear you will not hesitate. Swear you will end her.”
A surge of unconditional love and trust coursed through our bond, causing our tether to smolder with a rush of power that sang to my warrior’s soul. And I knew, without a doubt, that her spark would turn into a brilliant flame.
“I swear, Daxton Aegaeon,” she said.
I allowed myself a moment to relish in the trust I saw reflected in her eyes and used it as my armor.
I sent every ounce of love and devotion I had for my mate, my wife, through our bond, allowing it to surround her until I could no longer sense that kernel of doubt or fear in her soul.
Until only our love remained, smoldering like an ember of everlasting strength.
“Everyone,” I called out using my mate’s ability to reach through the pack bond, sensing the might and power of her people flowing through my veins. “Bring the fight here. We need to buy Skylar time.”
I twisted Valencia in my hand, charging at Minaeve with every ounce of strength I had left. The shadows around her surged to meet me, snapping and clawing as I used my ice magic to shield her attack, but I didn’t falter.
Every strike, every roar of defiance bought Skylar seconds she needed, and I would never fail my wife.