Chapter 51 #2
The whole world slowed as I twirled my dagger in my grip, reached for another throwing knife, and threw it at the male coming up behind Kaeleron with his sword raised. The male grunted as it struck him in the side of his head, lodging in his temple, and fell.
Kaeleron whirled, gracefully pirouetting to cut down two more males, one with his sword as he brought it up in a devastating arc that sliced deep into his armour, and another with a swarm of shadows that shot up from the grass like a hundred needles to pierce every inch of the warrior who had been raising his sword to strike him in the back.
I turned my sights on Sylvan as he appeared behind Kaeleron.
The male I had knocked over seized my ankle.
The ground came up at me fast.
A grunt burst from my lips as I collided with it.
Followed by a scream of rage as Kaeleron arched forwards, the tip of Sylvan’s sword punching out of his side, stained with his blood.
I saw red.
The ground beneath me quaked as darkness crowded every corner of my heart, as I watched Kaeleron fall as Sylvan shoved his boot into his back and pushed him forwards, yanking his sword from him.
My fingers pressed into the dirt, the last thirds of them daubed with gold as my nails became talons, and my fangs sharpened as I shoved to my feet, hurtling towards the males threatening my mate.
All would die.
That hunger consumed me, the oily darkness coating my every thought as I swept my hand before me, as shards of solar magic flew from my fingertips like throwing knives, punching straight through three of the males, filling the air with the scent of burning flesh.
The ground shook in fear of me as I danced through the males, barely aware of what I was doing, listening to that seductive purr of the darkness as it whispered to me, goading me into unleashing it.
I did, the wind rising to whip at the trees, sending pink blossoms showering down to swirl around me, following every elegant sweep of my dagger or graceful turn of my body.
A cacophony of screams filled my ears and I grinned, flashing my jagged fangs as pleasure rolled through me, as the darkness demanded more. And more.
And more.
I surrendered to it, close to laughing as blood splattered my face and hands, as it sprayed in beautiful arcs from the throats I slit and the sky howled my name.
I moved in an arc around my mate as he fought to find his feet, as the scent of his blood filled my nostrils, fuelling the darkness that bayed within me.
It sung in my heart as I danced through my foes with claw and fang, with blade and magic, too swift for them to touch me, too deadly for them to survive.
This power.
This power that controlled my every move, that thrummed within me, that shook this dreadful land.
It was everything.
I let it consume me. Revelled in it. Grinned as my dagger grew hot in my hand, as light and flame devoured the blade of it to melt the armour of my enemy as I slashed and stabbed, and silenced them.
Only when the blade burned red-hot did I drop it, backing away from it as fear swept through me. Fear I would destroy it. Fear I would ruin something so beautiful, something given to me by my mate.
My mate.
My gaze sought him, my vision swimming as my head turned, as the cloying darkness parted enough that I could see the devastation I had wreaked upon the glade.
Kaeleron knelt in the middle of a ring of dismembered bodies, staring at one in particular.
A male whose sightless blue eyes gazed into that forever too-bright sky, his throat painted crimson.
But it had not been that blow that had killed him.
I shook my head as I staggered on trembling, weak legs towards him, the last vestiges of the darkness falling away as panic consumed me.
I hadn’t done that.
I stared at the hole in his chest that still smouldered, smoke rising from his charred flesh.
I couldn’t have done that.
Bile rose up my throat.
I stared at my hands as my claws became nails again, as the gold daubed on them faded to pink skin.
I stared at all the blood on them.
“All is well, my love,” Kaeleron murmured softly. “All is well. It is shocking the first time the change comes over you, even I struggled with it, but in time you will learn to control the urges and even harness them.”
I shook my head, swallowing hard. “I don’t want to control them. I don’t want that side of me to ever emerge again.”
It frightened me.
So much power. So much rage.
I looked at the glade, at the bent and twisted bodies, and the broken trees and fractured ground.
I looked at the destruction I had wrought.
I looked at Sylvan, lying there, dead because of me.
“What have I done?” I croaked as my gaze sought Kaeleron, and the moment it landed on him, I no longer cared that I had killed Sylvan and given Kaeleron his vengeance—closure that might end up costing us both.
Vengeance that might see our love story end in sorrow after all.
No, all I cared about was Kaeleron as he knelt there, gripping his side, his face pale as crimson drenched his hand and thigh.
My hands shook as I went to him, my brow furrowing and voice unsteady. “We have to get you home. We have to get you healed. How bad is it?”
He did that annoying thing he always did.
To protect me.
“It is fine. I will be fine.”
Playing it down. Pretending it was nothing.
I refused to let him do that this time.
“I won’t break if you tell me the truth.” I fell to my knees beside him and reached for the hand he had pressed to his side, a hand that was doing nothing to stem the flow of blood.
He caught my wrist with his other hand to stop me, his smile tight. “I know that, and yet I do not want to tell you, because I do not wish to scare you.”
I swallowed again, lifting my gaze to his dull silver eyes. “You’re scaring me enough as it is. You know the words. Tell me them, Kael. Tell me them and I will give you my strength. I will give you all of it so you can heal. I’m willing to risk the spell taking too much.”
“I am not,” he said, his thumb brushing the underside of my wrist, that tender touch undoing me, stripping all the strength from me.
“I have to do something,” I croaked.
He grimaced, swallowing hard as he peeked at his hand. “I will be fine.”
“Liar.” I blinked back tears. “At least let me teleport you out of here.”
He nodded.
I went to stand.
And froze as more warriors appeared around us.
At the head of them was Lorien.
His blue eyes widened and then darkened as they landed on Sylvan, and then he levelled a black look on me, one that told me that if Kaeleron died, it wouldn’t be long before I joined him in the afterlife.
“Seize the traitor,” he growled.
I grabbed Kaeleron, my heart shooting into my throat as the warriors rushed us.
A blur of night—of shadow—swept around us both but it wasn’t a teleport.
It was Oberon.
He appeared behind one of the males, his claws slicing a shallow line up his throat and his tongue following it as his silver eyes flashed wickedly.
He whispered something in the male’s ear before he disappeared again, reappearing behind another just as the first male turned on his own comrades. He turned that one against them too, grinning as he watched them fighting.
Kaeleron grunted as he tried to get up, and I rushed to help him, bearing his weight on my shoulders.
Oberon appeared next to Kaeleron on his other side, taking most of his weight from me with his taller frame, throwing Kael’s arm around his shoulder.
Kael pressed his hand to his side, the pain swimming in his eyes joined by darkness as he looked at Oberon, that look enough to tell me that as soon as he was healed, his favourite thing would happen.
There would be a reckoning.
I grabbed our things, bundling up his sword and my dagger, and the satchels, dodging the seelie as they fought each other, only noticing as I returned to Oberon and Kaeleron that Lorien was gone, and so was Sylvan’s body.
Oberon grabbed hold of me as soon as I was close.
And teleported us.
Not somewhere in the Summer Court as I had expected.
I recognised the bleak land of grey glittering sand that surrounded the grim, dark tower looming before me.
The Forgotten Wastes.