Chapter 65 Seren
Chapter sixty-five
Seren
The tall, arching door to the orangery shuddered open once more. Its wooden edge slammed against the wall with a discordant sound that rang through the glass atrium and ended in deafening silence.
Lady Lydia Adiran stalked forward—a predator hunting her prey.
Her white hair cut a severe line against her collarbones, slicing with every step. Her pale skin was wrapped in lightest gray clothing.
I squeezed Harkin’s hand in a quiet act of comfort. We had said all we needed to say in case the night did not end in our favor, and if it did, the future was ours to claim.
Lydia stopped in the center of the room. Claudian and the council moved to her side.
Her mouth tilted in a vicious slant, and when she spoke, she was all flashing, sharp teeth.
“Foolish children. Your taunts and plans are so quaint—so misguided. You think you lured me here? I planted that ritual for you to find, Théo Saitan. I hunted for years for the answer to my problems. You did not happen upon them in a single afternoon. No, you stumbled into my waiting hands just as I always intended, but worry not… You will not be alive long enough to feel the pain of regret.”
I gave her a stony look, tired of games and preamble. “Are you sure about that?”
With a flick of my wrist, the guards rose from their seats. Weapons glinting in one hand and mágik manifesting in the other, they faced down Lady Adiran.
She laughed, a keening, unnerving sound.
The guards moved toward her.
She raised her arms and uttered a single word. “Yes.”
A wet, tearing sound ripped through the space, then the drop of a hundred bodies as each of the guards collapsed to the floor. Blood poured from their mouths, dribbling down chins and staining coats. Unseeing eyes stared blankly into the distance, and not a single chest fluttered with breath.
Ayla’s gasp cut through the silence, breaking me from my stupor. Lady Adiran had just murdered an entire room full of guards with a casually raised hand.
“I burst their hearts within their chests,” she explained clinically, glancing unconcerned over the bodies at her feet.
No one dared to say a word.
“Let’s try this again. If you think I was not immediately informed of this little trap you set for me, you are mistaken.
As if I even needed the warning. That pathetic dreamwalk you attempted reeked of failed subterfuge.
” She shook her head dismissively. “If you thought you had a sliver of a chance at defeating me, you are even more idiotic than I imagined. Regardless, I am willing to make you an offer.”
“There is nothing that you could offer that we would accept,” I spat venomously.
“Is that so?” She snapped her long-nailed fingers, and Mira Pálikás fell, blood welling in the whites of her eyes, clear even from across the room.
“I can continue killing each person in this orangery until there is nothing between me and the power that I shall claim. Or, submit to me now, and the others may live.”
“Lydia!” Claudian exclaimed, shock and betrayal in the lines of his bitter face. “Mira was our ally, not theirs.”
She barely deigned to glance at him. “It was merely a warning shot. Their allies are next, if they do not agree to my terms.”
“This was not part of the agreement. Seren is here, ready for the taking, so let’s get on with it.” Claudian’s face flushed as red as his hair.
“No,” Harkin growled, holding tighter to me. “We can still win this.”
Lydia made a tutting noise, mocking in its insincerity. She strode closer, heeled shoes clicking a spider's path toward us. “You cannot. You can only mitigate any further bloodshed.”
“Théo?” I asked, keeping my eyes firmly on the woman before me.
“I can protect you and Ayla while you push forward, but only the two of you.” His tone was grim. “Harkin, his family, and Safiya, will remain in danger, but if I do not guard you and Ayla, she could begin the ritual.”
“Fuck,” Harkin swore. “The rest of us can take care of ourselves, Ren. Please. You are more important. The fate of Acsilla is more important.”
I drew in a deep breath. Lady Adiran was nearly upon us.
“Do it,” I conceded. “Harkin, protect Yvett and Adina. Please, I will never forgive myself if something happens to them.”
He agreed reluctantly and slunk off to the side of the room.
Claudian stalked forward, putting himself between Lady Adiran and the dais. “What role does Ayla play in this?”
“Whatever do you mean?” She asked, a mask of false innocence on her pale face.
“Do you intend to betray this allyship by taking the life of my daughter?” Claudian demanded, standing straighter in the face of fear.
Ayla stiffened beside me.
Lydia sighed, an exasperated sound. “Claudian Sgalier, you absolute fucking waste of space. You are so arrogant, you could not possibly imagine any outcome besides your own. You think I would allow you to drag me along for over a decade only to settle for a fraction of the mágik available?”
“You will leave her be.”
“I don’t think that I will.”
With a roar, Claudian launched himself at Lady Adiran, palms blazing with fire that she expelled with every breath.
Ayla and I linked hands, willing the flow of our celestial mágik to move through our bodies as one. Silver and gold, our power erupted through the room. We dug into the depths of ourselves, willing every last scrap of fight to come forward.
Lady Adiran threw her hands up, protecting her eyes from the blinding light which poured off of us. She dodged attacks from Claudian as best as she could in the meantime.
We met in the middle, at the line where the first bodies had fallen.
Harkin and Hesperia Farkas darted across the room, ushering Yvett and Adina from the tremulous space. There was not time to wonder about the loyalties of the council.
I caught Safiya’s movement in my peripheral as she moved to cover Ayla, and though I could not see him, I knew that Théo remained behind, wrapping his mágik protectively around us.
We lashed our mágik like whips, cutting and biting and stinging as they licked upon Lady Adiran’s flesh, but she was healed mere moments later.
I pushed forward, but she did not step back.
Ayla seared through the room with her blazing sunfire, flames catching and licking along Lady Adiran’s clothes, but still her skin did not burn. Safiya cracked the ground beneath her feet while simultaneously throwing blade after blade. They all bounced harmlessly to the floor.
Blood dripped down Lady Adiran’s face, but she smiled grotesquely. Her teeth were stained red, her hair turned pink, and yet she healed and healed and healed, never slowing, never growing tired.
Harkin returned, jumping into the fray and pulling the breath from her lungs. I pushed the force of the tide down her throat. She coughed and sputtered, her face turned purple, but she would not relent.
She laughed, a keening, gargling atrocity.
Safiya fell to her knees, grasping at her chest, and Ayla went to her without a second thought. Claudian followed his daughter, standing protectively over the pair.
“End this foolish charade,” Lady Adiran demanded, “or the earth wielder dies. I have grown tired of your games.”
Tears spilled down Ayla’s face as she clutched at Safiya. She was gasping for breath, the light dimming in her fiery eyes.
“Safiya!” Ayla screamed her name, again and again. She screamed at Lady Adiran, wailing because what else was there to do?
I looked at Théo, but his eyes were shuttered in resignation.
The plan had failed.
She was too strong—far stronger than we had anticipated. She was right. We were foolish children, but we were also far more.
Lady Adiran faltered, clutching at her head and her chest. She dropped to a knee, rose again. Her venomous gaze turned on Théo.
His lips moved with silent prayer.
I did not waste a moment. I pulled at my mágik with every fiber of my being.
“Please, Lunanya. Answer my call, help me rid Acsilla of this evil. Let your mágik flow through me, your loyal servant. Please!” I bargained and pleaded and wrestled the power of the moon into submission.
When the first fragments of the great celestial body crashed through the glass roof, I let out a piercing scream. The mágik moved through me, my will a conduit to the heavens.
Moonrock rained upon us, cutting into the corpses of the dead guards. They sliced into the living bodies of the remaining council members. Araceli Basa went down gracefully, toppling in slow motion. Ignatius Imre went out in a blaze of fire and rage.
The final piece came down like a shooting star, a streak of light racing behind it. It landed on Lady Adiran with a bone-crushing, spirit-wrenching blow. One she could not come back from.
I collapsed to my knees, dizzy and weak. I had drawn too much of my power too fast, and my vision went hazy. In the back of my mind, I was aware of Théo falling to the ground, but I could only focus on the heavy draw of breath between my cracked lips.