Chapter 3 #2
Vyr took hold of my arm, supporting me and keeping me upright as she whispered over the howling wind, “Let me, brother.”
I nodded, grateful she had come with me, that I was not doomed to follow those seelie into that churning water and the sharp teeth of the waiting merfolk, as she pulled me into a teleport with her.
I somehow managed to keep my footing as we landed back where the others waited for us, locking my knees to prevent the ground from greeting me as Vyr released me but remained close. In case I needed her.
I was not that weak.
Lightning forked, a beautiful display of power that split the sky a thousand times before it crashed into the mountains and my court.
I revelled in it, drawing from it, letting it fill me as I hungered to turn that power on another court, the fight against the fleet nowhere near enough to satisfy me.
Someone growled.
I lowered my gaze to Malachi and narrowed it on the demon as he tucked the redheaded female close to him, shielding her with his wings.
“Threatening me, Malachi?” I drawled and eyed the female he protected as lightning cracked again, as the rain fell harder and the wind blasted up the cliff at my back, slamming into us all.
“Rein it in,” he growled right back at me.
I arched a brow at that.
My spymaster dared to order me around?
I looked from the demon to the wolf sheltering in his arms.
She shook as she cowered against him, fearful gaze darting over everything but me.
Refusing to land on me.
I bared fangs at Malachi, the only warning the demon would get. If he stepped out of line again, I would see to it he was punished for it.
Chase and Morden, both soaked to the skin and pale from cold due to their ridiculous lack of clothing—nothing more than a pair of shorts—closed ranks with Malachi. Coming to shield the wolf female too.
“It is not that female you should have shielded so well,” I snarled and the flagstones fractured beneath my boots as I stalked towards them. “Where were you when Saphira needed your protection?”
Morden flinched.
I scowled at him, crimson gaze narrowing and fangs flashing between my darkened lips as I turned on him, singling him out. “Where were you when she went to fight for that sister you proclaim to love so much?”
“Brother,” Vyr said softly and touched my arm.
I jerked out of her grip, blood blazing, scalding my veins as I growled at the wolf. I could not turn my wrath upon the Summer Court, satisfying this seething need for violence, and I could not control the need to unleash it all.
“Where were you all when she was being taken from me?” I yelled, the pale paving beneath my feet splintering, great cracks streaking across the entire patio as the ground quaked and the castle shook, and a thousand jagged spears of lightning struck around Falkyr.
Everyone suddenly found their boots interesting.
Even Malachi did not dare to pick me up on making the female wolf he coddled yelp in fear.
“I am sorry. We did not know where you went or why. Had we known you were chasing a seelie, we would have followed,” Jenavyr whispered, as solemn as she felt on my senses, and I fought the dark urge to lash out at her, to take advantage of that guilt she felt to satisfy this need to spill blood that refused to let me go.
I would not harm my sister.
The wolves, however.
I picked each word carefully, letting the lightning punctuate them, letting my emotions affect this world so they would know I meant them.
“Saphira would have run to join you… to fight for you. She would not have waited to learn why you had run. She would have followed without question. She would have had your backs… as a wolf should. She always tells me wolves take care of each other. That the pack takes care of each other, no matter what.” I scoffed at that.
“Her pack means everything to her, but where were you when she needed you most?”
Chase’s eyes slipped shut. Morden turned his cheek to me.
This time, my sister did not admonish me.
Because she knew I was right.
My little wolf would have run into danger for these males.
“When she learned your precious sister had been taken to the Summer Court, her first instinct was to follow.” I slowly shook my head, fighting to tamp down the urge to sever both their heads from their necks, using every scrap of my iron will to resist it because I knew she would never forgive me if I harmed them.
Her beloved wolves. “And follow she has. Gone to the Summer Court… for your sake. And though I told her I did not wish it, that I did not want it, she has gone for my sake too. She has thrown herself into danger… into a court she might never return from… and, by the Great Mother, none of us deserve that sacrifice.”
The fractures in the flagstones widened as the storm raged, battering my back with wind and ice-cold rain, an echo of the wildness that lived within me as my emotions got the better of me.
As the thought of her in that dreadful land, so far beyond my reach, clawed at my insides and hollowed out my heart.
“I have to go to her,” I muttered, unable to hold back those words as the need to see her grew too strong to tame.
Before I could take a single step to close the yawning distance between us, hands claimed my wrists and darkness devoured me.
When it receded, I stood upon the battlements of the castle, high on one of the towers that intersected the innermost wall.
Thunder rumbled across the black sky, crimson lightning pummelling the lands beyond the city.
My sister seized hold of my face and shoved it towards that city, towards the broad avenues teeming with frightened citizens.
“Look at Falkyr,” she bit out. “Look at everyone and everything you would risk by being so reckless.”
I snarled at her.
“I will keep my vow to her. Nothing will stop me from reaching her.” I shook off her hold and stepped back, placing as much distance as I could between us on the narrow tower.
Lightning lashed at the mountains and fields, and struck dangerously close to several vessels entering the harbour, seeking shelter from the towering waves beyond the walls.
I growled, “I would destroy all the realms to take her back!”
The earth trembled in response, sending black rocks tumbling down the mountains to crash into the lake and the forest.
My sister calmly cleared her soaked black hair from her eyes as the wind whipped around us, her back rod straight and her voice even as she faced my wrath, unflinching.