Chapter 54 Serena
SERENA
My shadows drop me near the edge of the forest. The trees blur together as I dart between them, pushing myself to the absolute limit.
Everything about being fae is a rush. The speed, the strength, the adrenaline, the magic. I’ve barely had time to adjust to it, let alone appreciate it.
A flood of endorphins hits me as I slow to a stop at the mouth of a cave. Catching my breath, I press my palms into the stone and rock back on my heels, bowing into a stretch.
The hair on the back of my neck stands up. Zadyn must be close.
It’s exhilarating—the thought of him chasing me. Catching me.
I slip behind a groove in the rock, smirking at the sound of his footfalls. A shadow darts into my vision, and I open my mouth to greet him with a witty remark. That anticipation morphs into dread as something hard slams me back into the mountain and a hand shoots out to silence me.
“Don’t scream. Don’t make a sound.”
I meet Kylian’s gaze with a bitter intensity. He waits until I stop struggling to slowly lower his hand from my mouth.
“I could kill you right here and now,” I bite. He rattles off a laugh. “Give me one good reason not to burn you alive before you can even blink.”
“You’ve been dreaming about me.”
I’m taken aback. “I’ve been having nightmares about you,” I hiss, shaking off my surprise. “There’s a difference.”
“Come home.”
“How did you find me?”
“I told you I would. Come home.”
It’s my turn to laugh. “You’ll have to drag me by my hair.”
“That can be arranged.”
“You touch me and I will fry your ass.”
He suppresses a smile. “You’re awfully confident in your power.”
“Rightfully so.”
“Come. Home.” He leans in, lowering his eyes to mine. When I make no move to answer, he continues, “I will go to war if I have to.”
“I have a dragon. You don’t stand a chance.”
“You think I don’t know how to handle a dragon? Darling, I’ve been preparing for this for longer than you’ve been alive.”
I shove against his bare chest. “I will destroy you.”
“I welcome you to try.” That arrogant smirk boils my blood. My magic gathers, coiling within me like a snake preparing to strike. “I’ve missed this mouth. This neck—”
Fitting his hand over the side of my jaw, he tips my head back and presses his lips to my throat. I push him back and move to slap him across the face. Long fingers shoot out to stop me, wrapping around my wrist in a vice-like hold. “And your spirit.”
I focus, sending out a wave of heat to scorch his palm. His eyes shift to my searing arm. Steam rises from where we’re connected.
I stare in awe.
He just put out my fire.
“I’d like to propose something.” He scans my body, head to toe. “Two weeks.”
“What?”
“I will give you two weeks to bid farewell to your life in Aegar—say goodbye to your friends, your so-called home. Then you join me.”
“How is that a fair deal? You plan to kill them all anyway for your ceaseless ambition.”
He hangs his head and sighs like he’s dealing with a petulant toddler. “Fine. I solemnly swear to leave your friends unharmed.”
Real convincing, bucko.
“Are you still hell-bent on world domination?”
“If that’s how you choose to view it.”
“Hmm, well in that case, let me think. No. What makes you think I’d go anywhere with you? After all you’ve done?”
“After all I’ve—” His voice rises, a rare look of surprise skipping across his face. That scent of his breezes toward me as he takes a step closer and says in a lethal whisper, “I’m not the one who drove a dagger through her heart moments before her nuptials.”
“You didn’t leave me much choice,” I snarl. “How do I know you won’t just chain me up like last time?”
He smiles, his eyes giving nothing away. “We have to be able to trust each other, darling.”
“That is the single most hilarious thing you’ve ever said to me.”
“I’m being serious.”
“I know you are. That’s why it’s so absurd.”
“The bargain seems more than fair.” His hard body grazes mine as he palms the rock behind my head. “Two weeks, then you’re mine. It’s simple. I won’t even punish you for running from me.”
Oh, gee, thanks.
“All I need in exchange is for your friends to bend the knee to me, and they can keep their little lives.”
“No one is going to bend the knee to you, you sadistic fuck!” I shout, shoving against him. Kylian catches my face in his hands.
“You want to avoid a war?” His eyes gleam. “This is your chance. No one has to die. Your friends…your kingdom. Think of the lives you’ll spare.”
I bite my lip. A victorious smile spreads over his face as he releases me and slips a hand into his pocket. “Two weeks.”
He begins backing away.
“I haven’t agreed to anything.”
“You agreed to marry me, darling. A deal is a deal. Don’t you know about faerie bargains? They are ever-binding. So you will be my wife. Or you will pay very dearly. I’m offering you a chance to make good on your word. I’ll see you in a fortnight.”
“No—”
“And if you try anything, the bargain is forfeit, and your little friends are fair game.”
“Kylian—”
But he is gone. Vanished into thin air.
How the hell…
“Serena?” Zadyn calls. I smooth my jacket and step out to meet him. “I’ve been looking everywhere for you. Your scent just kept leading me in circles. What happened?”
“I just had a little run in…with Kylian.”
Zadyn’s pupils flare. “What?” Gripping my shoulders, he looks around, snarling. “Where is he?”
“He’s gone.”
Zadyn stares at me. “He left?”
I nod.
“Well, are you alright? What happened?”
“He offered me a deal.”
“What deal?”
“He’s giving me two weeks. To say goodbye to everyone. And in exchange, he’s promised not to harm any of you. If you all agree to bend the knee to him.”
Zadyn laughs, releasing my shoulders. “That’s ridiculous.”
“Is it?”
He scoffs. “Yes. It is. I don’t think I have to explain to you how fundamentally preposterous that is.”
I stare at the ground.
“Hold on. You’re not actually considering this, are you?”
“I’m not ruling it out.”
“Serena.”
“The other half of the star is in Vod. This could be our shot to get it and shut that portal down.”
“You are not fucking going with him.”
“Zadyn, if I don’t go willingly, he will use force, and he will kill you all.” I reach for his hand, but he rips it back.
“I don’t care! Don’t you get that? I’m not giving you up, I’m not letting you go. He will have to pry you from my cold dead hands,” he fumes, pacing in circles.
My shoulders slump. “And what about me? Don’t I get a say?”
“Not when your say is sacrificing yourself. Again.”
“No one wants a war. What if—what if it can be avoided? I can save you, I can save all of us. No one has to die.”
“I will never bend the knee to that bastard! Do you think Jace will? Do you think after everything that’s happened—after taking you, after Derek—he’ll just fling his sword away and fall at Kylian’s feet? You’re out of your mind.”
“So what’s your plan, Zadyn? Because right now we don’t have one.”
“We have you. We have a dragon.”
“Kylian said he has ways of dealing with Furi.”
“He’s bluffing.”
“What if he isn’t? Am I to risk her too? When we don’t know what he’s bringing through this portal? He is powerful. I just watched him extinguish my fire like it was nothing more than a candle in the wind and then vanish into thin air, Zadyn. And I’m—I’m worried, okay?”
“There is no way in which this doesn’t end horribly. So what? We’re safe, but what about everyone else? Kylian is not the gentle giant type. He will burn through the kingdoms like a wildfire, no matter what he promises you.”
“I made a deal with him, Zadyn. It’s done.”
“You what?”
“Before you came for me in Vod, we struck a deal. That I would marry him if he promised not to hurt you all.”
“Serena, what have you done? Faerie deals are binding.”
“I know that,” I snap. “I was doing what I thought was necessary. If I honor it, I keep you safe. That’s all I want—do you understand that?”
I slide my hand over his cheek, but he refuses to look at me.
“He will be back for me in two weeks. So we have until then to figure this out. Two weeks to figure out how to destroy him and end this.”
“And what if we can’t figure it out? What then?”
“Then in two weeks, I marry him,” I decide. “I find the star. And then I kill him in his sleep.”