Chapter 26
Lana
Drip.
Drip.
Drip.
Even after all these years, the dripping never stopped. Hearing the splatter of the water droplets on the cool stone still sent shivers up my spine.
The memories of the dungeon, of this particular cell and the horrors committed against Ian and me would never be forgotten. The pain would remain etched into every fiber of my being. The walls permanently soiled with what had been done here.
Every panic attack. Every nightmare. Every moment of self-doubt. They all stemmed from the torture I’d received in this very cell.
None of it had mattered in the end though. The words of a hate-filled, cruel man meant nothing now. I worked harder every day, overcame every obstacle, and in the end, even got my own fucking magic.
Andras would never win now, and he would never see the light of day again.
He stood chained against the wall, arms above his head. Despite the blood dripping from his ear and the black eye, he still laughed, eying each of us with arrogance despite his precarious position.
“Play all you want, Princess,” Andras spat. “Thames will be here soon to stop this farce, and then you will truly understand what pain and suffering is. What I did to you will look like child’s play.”
As much as I wanted to let my emotions take control, I knew I couldn’t let him see that part of me. He knew all too well I had let feelings rule my decision-making in the past. He would never get a reaction out of me ever again.
I leaned coolly against the bars of the cell. “Ah, well, you see, there’s just one problem with that little plan. You’d have to be alive in order for Thames to save you, and I don’t intend on letting you breathe for that much longer.”
Andras sneered at us, his tattered purple robes falling off his shoulder. “I have served faithfully for years, and that kind of loyalty means something. I will be rescued and you will be nothing.” His shouts echoed in the dungeon as he pulled against the chains at his wrist, but he couldn’t go far.
Ian unlocked the cell door, allowing it to creak open. He paused, closing his eyes once. I wanted to reach for him, but with Andras watching our every move, I didn’t want to give him the satisfaction of seeing any of us hesitate.
He said nothing as he stepped inside. Kade followed close behind, his shadows remaining ready just in case Andras got out of hand.
The rest of our friends stayed outside, waiting.
We were all exhausted from the battle, yet still we found the energy to care for the wounded and reestablish a chain of command.
We’d worked until the middle of the night before starting to go our separate ways.
Kade and I put people we trusted into place to start securing the palace and searching it to ensure the dark ones were gone.
We all needed respite. Time to sleep. Time to heal.
Yet every one of them remained here by my side now, in the early morning hours.
With careful steps, I moved toward Kade and faced Andras.
“Perhaps if you answer some of our questions, we will make your death a little less… How should I put this? Drawn out? Painful? Take your pick.” Crossing my arms over my chest, Apollo practically hummed in its sheath, beckoning me to use it, as if the darkness called to it. But I wouldn’t use it just yet.
“Like I would tell you anything.” Andras sneered.
I nodded toward Ian, and he walloped Andras in his side. He must have knocked the air out of his lungs, because the coward was already gasping.
I waited a moment, picking at some dirt under my nail. “Ready to begin, then? What is Thames’s weapon?”
Andras paused for a split second, barely enough time to register the confusion crossing his expression. “If by weapon you mean me, or Kade, or his army of dark ones, then there you have it. We were created by him, for him.”
“Again, Ian,” I commanded to my friend, who smashed his fist into Andras’s side once more. I swore I heard a rib crack. “Now, Andras, didn’t your mother ever tell you it was in poor form to lie? Let’s try this again. What is hidden at Firestone?”
Andras couldn’t mask the confusion this time. I hadn’t imagined it a moment ago. “If Thames had a weapon, I would certainly know about it. I think you’re making up lies, girl.”
Kade stepped forward and swung at the pitiful royal advisor, splitting his lip. Blood, dark and thick, dripped slowly down his chin. “Your queen asked you a question.”
I stepped forward and put my hand on Kade’s shoulder, smiling. “It’s all right Kade, he doesn’t know. Clearly, he’s not all that useful to Thames, not even knowing about this big secret weapon.” I sauntered back to the edge of the cell.
Andras pulled against the chains as if he could get to me. “I am important.”
Turning back to face him, I wrinkled my nose, not bothering to hide the disgust that came any time I thought of this man. “Not important enough, it seems.” Placing my hands on my hips, admiring the scene before me. Oh, how the tables had turned.
Andras didn’t falter. He remained strong in his conviction, raising his chin in a pathetic attempt at defiance. I heard my friends snicker outside of the cell. They would have their moment too.
“This is what’s going to happen. Every single one of my friends will exact whatever punishment they deem fit for the crimes you committed against them. I will sit here and watch. Then, when they are done and have had their fill, I will end your miserable excuse for a life.”
Andras cackled, but Kade’s shadows gagged him before he could produce another sound.
I continued, despite the adrenaline threatening to take over.
My hands shook from the overwhelming amount of emotions running alongside it, so I hid them behind my back and moved toward Andras.
I wanted him to know our threats were real.
“I will win this war against Thames. I will officially take my place on the throne, and my first proclamation as queen will be to erase every single bit of your existence. Your name, your title, your picture—all are unworthy of remembering. Not one person will ever utter your name again. Your legacy will die.” My confidence returning, I flipped Apollo in my hand, still coated in Andras’s dried blood from earlier. I hadn’t even bothered cleaning it.
I turned to face my friends. “Who’s first?”
Stepping to the side of the cell, I left the area open for the others to come forward. Lucien appeared from the darkness and weaved his way through my legs before settling at my feet.
I sighed, grateful to see him safe and knelt, stroking a hand over his scales. “Good to see you too, Luci.”
Ian strode forward slowly, deliberately toward Andras. Lucien growled, chuffing a billow of smoke as if signaling Ian to begin.
My best friend stared at Andras and narrowed his eyes. Kade pulled his shadows back, giving Ian his moment.
This time he didn’t hold back. He punched Andras’s jaw so hard, a tooth flew from his mouth and Andras screamed. “This is for every moment of our lives you tried to destroy. You thought you could break us, that you could break her. But you were wrong. We only came back stronger.”
He punched him again right on his cheek, and Andras’s neck cracked as his head flew to the side.
“Your ability to make us think, or see, or feel anything that isn’t real is gone.
We may never have been able to convince anyone of your wrongdoings before, but the truth will be revealed.
” Ian spat on Andras’s feet. “I hope the Fates have a special kind of hell to put you through.”
Andras glared at Ian and tried to wipe the blood off his mouth with his shoulder but only managed to smear it more across his face.
Ian walked backward and joined me against the wall. Reaching out, I squeezed his hand in solidarity. He squeezed mine back and whispered in my direction, “That felt really fucking good.”
Kalliah started to step forward, but Raya moved in front of her, placing a hand on her arm before taking the lead, approaching the injured advisor. Ian tensed beside me.
Raya eyed Andras up and down and grunted in disgust. “I’ve heard many stories about you and what you did to Illiana.
What you did to Ian. The problem with powerful men is they don’t ever understand when their power has come to an end.
Even now, you’re still fighting it. Pathetic.
” She moved closer and struck Andras on the opposite side of his face, leaving an imprint of her ring in his skin.
She shook out the pain in her hand. “That was for touching what does not belong to you. For daring to harm my mate.”
My head whipped in Ian’s direction, shocked to hear her speak the words aloud. Ian groaned and pushed himself off the wall, grabbing Raya by the arm and spinning her around. He threaded his fingers between her braids at the nape of her neck and pulled her close. “Powerful women are my weakness.”
Raya smiled playfully. “Women?”
Ian crashed his lips to hers, and when he finally came up for air, he reassured her. “Woman. Only one. Only you, darling.”
I grinned, turning my attention to Kade. “Did you know?” I mouthed. He shrugged, then winked at me. Even here in this cold dungeon, my heart swelled with joy knowing they would be together.
Jax made a gagging noise. “Gross. I’d rather the blood than all that.” He flourished his hands in the air at Ian and Raya, who remained clasped together in each other’s arms.
“Jax, you do know you’re a terrible liar, right?” Kalliah entered completely into the cell from the doorway. She unsheathed the dagger clipped to her belt and twirled it in her palm.
Kalliah may be quieter, more reserved, but she had a mean streak, and if anyone crossed her or harmed those she cared about…well, I was scared for them. Andras had no idea what was coming his way. So, in part, I was not surprised that she grabbed her blade instead of using her fist.
She moved toward Andras with conviction and stabbed him in the side, exactly where he had stabbed me.
He screamed, bellowing out an angry cry that he clearly hadn’t wanted to give up. Hatred consumed his eyes, but mine ran deeper.
“This is for my friends. For the ones you thought you could break, but I will savor knowing you did absolutely nothing to change who they are today. Your darkness did nothing to change them.” She wiped the blood from the blade on his shirt before turning to Ian and me, giving us a knowing glance.
Quietly, she returned to the outside of the cell, where Leif welcomed her back into his arms. He looked toward me and shook his head, indicating he didn’t want time with Andras.
Jax stepped forward and partially shifted, his hand turning into the deadly claws he used so well.
He swiped Andras’s robe to pieces, displaying his bare chest to me.
Then, with a wicked gleam in his eyes he slashed his claws across Andras’s chest. The once proud advisor cried out again.
Jax bowed his head before returning to the edge of the cell to stand beside Kalliah and Leif.
“I don’t want to waste words on a corpse. ”
Andras spat from the chains, “Is that the best you’ve got? A couple of feeble punches and a stabbing? It’ll take more than that to kill me. You’re all weak.”
Kade snapped his shadows forward, wrapping them around Andras’s neck and squeezing.
He stalked forward slowly, materializing his shadow blade in his hand while assessing Andras from head to toe, utter disdain filling his features.
“I won’t bother wasting too much time on you either,” he said, holding up his blade.
“Kalliah so kindly stabbed you where I would have, so instead, I’ll just leave you with this.
” Kade drew his sword down Andras’ right arm, then his left, while the advisor screamed.
“Know that you will die for nothing. Thames will be destroyed.”
Andras coughed up blood as unhinged laughter sputtered out of him. “Who will destroy Thames?” He choked. “You?”
“No.” Kade’s lips turned up in a smile. “My queen.”
As Kade made room for me, I took my place, Apollo at the ready. “They saved the best for last. For out of everyone here, you caused me the most trauma, the most pain. Now you are mine.”
Andras cackled as the blood, so dark it looked black, dripped down the shredded remains of his shirt. “You think you can win? You think I’m scared of you?”
Even with the cool air flowing through the dungeons, sweat began to form on my back, on my palms. Something I’d wished to happen for so many years was just moments away.
“You should be.” Slowly I started making tiny cuts up and down his arms, and small swirls of darkened mist seeped from the wounds. “Tell me, will you be so brave when the darkness is drained out of you?” I whispered.
Andras smirked. “You can’t purge the darkness out of someone when it has become a part of their being.
This power has coursed through my veins for years and years.
No dagger or magic will ever be able to rid me of who I am.
No dagger can eliminate darkness this deep without death. If you were hoping for that, you lose.”
Catching my breath, my eyes wandered to Kade’s. His words were most likely meant to hurt us. Despite the fear at what it meant if he told the truth, I refused to analyze it here. This wasn’t the time nor the place to delve into those thoughts and feelings.
Instead, it was time to end this. Time to rest with the people I loved and walk away from this cell, physically and mentally, forever.
“Ah, there’s the doubt creeping in,” he needled.
“It’s always there. It’s who you are.” He snorted, his movements to escape slowing down now.
“Princess, you will live with my marks forever. My death will not end the torment I’ll impose for the rest of your pathetic life. ” He spit a bloodied glob at my face.
Lucien roared, and the room heated, on the verge of unbearable. The fire from his snout threatened all of us. How the rest of my friends stayed so calm, I will never know. I wiped the spit from my face and flicked it right back to him.
“I will live despite my heartbreak. Despite the torment you have caused. I will live remembering my loved ones who’ve been lost by your hand. But I will live. You? You will die. You will be nothing. Your name will be nothing. Not even a memory.”
Gathering all of my strength, I slammed Apollo directly into Andras’s heart and the darkness living inside of him for so long exploded outward. Using the blade didn’t drain me like I thought it would. Instead, the magic inside of it seemed to beckon my light, fueling it instead of using it.
The room temporarily turned so dark, it swallowed us whole, but the dagger glowed through it all. I pushed harder and harder, letting my light flow into the blade until the smoke cleared and Andras’s body slumped forward, as he breathed his last breath.
“And it’s queen, you worthless piece of shit.”