Chapter 32
Lana
Despite knowing in my gut that Thames had kidnapped Kade, hearing it stated didn’t make the confirmation any easier to accept.
I wrapped my arms around my stomach as if I could hold myself together. If Thames had Kade in the volcano, which was the weapon we needed to destroy, how would we win?
We hadn’t agreed on much, but not meeting Thames until the darkness was eliminated seemed the most important, the one thing we all knew for sure.
“Okay,” I said a few times to myself under my breath.
“One step at a time. Just like before. We think, we plan, we execute. We don’t rush so we avoid making mistakes.” Storm’s hands rested on my shoulders, giving me strength as I closed my eyes.
I stepped out of his touch and turned, facing the room so I could take in each of my friends. Kalliah tended to an injury on Jax’s back, while Raya and Ian sat side by side on the couch, whispering to each other.
Storm didn’t take his eyes off me though, tracking my every move. My anger at the seers would be enough to distract me, so I avoided looking toward where they stood in the corner of the room.
Instead, I paced in front of my fireplace.
“How is the weapon the volcano?” I questioned. “Or does it only work if Kade is thrown in somehow?”
Ian sighed, leaning his arms forward onto his legs. “I don’t know.”
“It’d be safest to destroy the whole thing,” Jax surmised, turning his head to face Kalliah. “I know you love me, but you needn't worry, beautiful. I’m already healing.”
Kalliah smacked the back of his head before retreating to one of my chaises. She crossed her arms, rolling her eyes at Jax, who merely grinned at her.
“How do you destroy a volcano?” I ran a hand up my arm to ground myself and not allow my panic to rise at the impossibility of it.
I’d never even seen a volcano. “Describe it,” I said, not bothering to direct my command to Ian or Jax specifically.
“What does it look like? Where is Kade in relation to it?”
Jax leaned back against the side of the couch. “It’s a fairly large monstrosity. It took Ian a few minutes to fly around the perimeter to gather the size of the army.”
“Which is massive,” Ian said, running a hand over his face. “A few thousand at least camped at the base of the east side of the volcano.”
Storm grunted. “He’s been busy for years. I’m surprised it’s only that.”
“Oh, and don’t forget the voidlings,” Jax added.
I shuddered. Raya had told us immediately about Thames keeping the beasts locked away with his army.
“We’re working on creating the antidotes,” Vivienne said. “We’ll have as much as we can before the battle.”
I closed my eyes, rubbing the bridge of my nose at just how much we had to accomplish in such a short period of time.
“There are tunnels inside of it, pathways,” Ian continued “One entry has a line of dark ones that look like they’re being tossed into the pit of fire inside of it.”
“Lava,” Jax said. “It’s called lava. We avoid it or it will kill us. Burning death.” He shuddered. “No thank you.”
“Right,” Ian continued. “Kade is…” He paused, giving Jax a side-eye glance. “There. We overheard Thames say that he’d throw Kade into the lava and the volcano would erupt. That no one could stop him.”
“So he needs Kade to die in the volcano for it to erupt. Meaning the eruption is the weapon?” I tried to process all of the information, but I didn’t understand. “There’s no weapon we have that could take out what sounds like a mountain.” I stopped pacing and stretched my neck.
If I don’t think this through, Kade will die. I’ll lose him forever.
My breath hitched and my light stirred, rising in response to my anxiety.
Instead of fueling it, it warmed my chest, where I felt the connection to Kade most, soothing it.
Focus.
“Nothing is as it appears at first glance,” Vivienne said from the side of the room.
I lifted my gaze to her. She smiled at me, waiting, like she thought the statement gave me an answer.
She raised her eyebrows when I remained quiet. “How many times do you need a prophecy to tell you that light is what defeats darkness? You have light within you, Illiana.”
I clenched my fist. “Do you think the Fates could do us a favor and give us something concrete instead of measly breadcrumbs that take more time to decode than we have?”
Cassandra tsked. “Every single choice you make can change the course of fate.”
The seer’s eyes had been filled with hatred since the last time we saw her. Before Thames escaped, she’d cared for Kade, she was kind to me.
Since then, she’d taken on a stern demeanor. It was almost as if she was a different person entirely. For a brief moment, the flicker in her eyes just now betrayed her. I stared at her and watched the cold, indifferent mask slip back into place.
But I’d seen it, a crack that gave her away.
I took a step forward, and as I reached for her, she stepped back, turning away from me.
“The Fates don’t give us carte blanche to see all there is.
They give us what they want us to know at the time.
They want to see who is worthy. They want to see how we respond.
We are not here to steer fate; we are here to guide you along the way. Do not think that we are omnipresent.”
I lowered my head. “I apologize.”
I didn’t know why Cassandra was freezing everyone out, but she must have a reason. Perhaps the Fates were testing her, or she feared Thames. Regardless, I didn’t have time to wonder about her intentions.
“Do you have any suggestions?” I asked, rubbing my arms, attempting to reel in my anger.
Cassandra and Vivienne exchanged a look.
“Child, you are right,” Vivienne said softly. “You can’t meet Thames before the end.”
I ran my fingers through my hair. “So either we need to get Kade out and destroy an entire volcano without being detected or find a way to call Thames away to give us more freedom to do what we must.”
“I can attempt getting into someone’s mind,” Raya suggested. “Maybe try to find a dark one to tell Thames you’re attacking somewhere? Or within his reach—anything to get him to leave.”
I stared at her. “I thought you couldn’t enter anyone’s mind but Ian’s?”
She gave me a small smile. “Apparently there’s something to the mate bonds that makes your magic stronger. I was able to talk to Jax when they were in Firestone.”
Jax laid his head back on the couch. “Freakiest moment of my life, hearing Raya in my damn head.”
Cassandra scoffed. “That’s just a fraction of what you could do if you trained your magic now that you’re bonded,” she said as if it was common knowledge. She looked out the windowed doors leading to my garden.
“They didn't have the knowledge we did from before Thames was trapped,” Vivienne reminded her sister.
Cassandra softened, but only for Vivienne. “You’re right,” she whispered.
The others continued talking, thinking through ideas for destroying the volcano, but I was processing everything Cassandra revealed to Raya.
The mate bond made our magic stronger? Maybe it wasn’t only my light that drew Kade out of his darkness but the bond between us.
Perhaps both of us needed to work together to purge the darkness from him.
I closed my eyes, breathing in a few times, continuing to push down any emotion not helping me focus on freeing Kade.
On destroying the volcano and ensuring Thames rotted away forever once I killed him.
Refocusing, I thought back to the moments when I felt most connected to my magic. Most of the times when it exploded out of me or burst out in a show of strength were when our magic entwined together, calling to each other. Kade was a part of my soul.
Those of us in this room didn’t need to destroy the volcano.
Kade and I did.
Nothing is as it appears at first glance.
“Let’s try it,” I said. The others stopped talking and stared at me. “Raya, let’s try it. We find someone in Mount Legion who can convince Thames—”
“No,” Cassandra interrupted.
I frowned at her and noticed her hands clutching the chair in front of her, knuckles white.
She saw my stare and quickly let go, stretching her hands. One by one, she looked at each person before straightening her spine impossibly tall. “There is one way to guarantee he won’t be there.”
We stayed quiet, even as Vivienne gripped Cassandra’s shoulder as if to stop her.
“He’ll come for me if he thinks he has a chance to take me,” she said. Her hardened voice matched the cold facade she now masked herself with. “You’ll have to work quickly, but I will draw Thames out and you—” She stared at me. “You will free Kade and destroy the volcano.”