Chapter 39
Kade
Athunderous echo of hatred reverberated across the void before we even saw Thames’s army.
When they appeared, the sheer magnitude of the force rippled over our soldiers, and the confidence Lana had worked to build faltered. We were vastly outnumbered.
“Steady!” Lana shouted, allowing her voice to carry as it had before.
Thames’s army marched forward, not halting until they were halfway through the void. The masses cheered, taunting and shouting at our troops.
The calm that always came over me before a battle settled my nerves, allowing me to take in as much detail as possible. My gaze shifted over the enemy until I caught sight of him.
Thames.
He marched in the middle of his army before raising his hands and rising off the ground. I couldn’t even be sure what the core of his magic was at this point.
“Fae of Atheria, you have been deceived,” his cold voice sounded around us, and there was a part of me wondering if people could hear him all throughout the land.
“The darkness I offer is not the evil you’ve been told it is.
” The grin on his face did nothing to hide the monster inside of him.
“It will bring you strength. It will enhance your magic. Don’t you want to know what real power feels like?
Especially those of you who have been burdened under the weight of being less than for so long. ”
A wicked laugh left his mouth.
“We will not cower before you or betray our world,” Lana shouted back at him. “Not one of these Fae is less than. It’s you who hold that distinct honor.”
He tilted his head back, laughing harder. “Ah, you of all people know what it’s like to be powerless, Illiana Dresden.” His voice slithered across his dark ones, across the entire void, directly toward us. “To be worthless.” He tsked. “Pathetic.”
I kept my eyes on Thames while moving my hand toward my mate. His words echoed the ones Andras had tortured Lana with years ago. Words that were meant to make her cower in fear.
This time? His words did nothing to cause her pause. Instead, I saw her lips twitch upward from the corner of my eye.
“How easy it would be for you, if your words meant anything to me, Thames. Unlike you, I’ve already proven my worth. Can you say the same?”
“Maybe let’s not taunt the evil being that couldn’t be killed and was trapped instead, yeah?” Jax hissed.
“Let her rile him,” I responded. “He’s more likely to make a mistake.”
Thames rose higher in the air, his grey mist seeping out over the front lines of his army. “Why don’t we find out, child.”
Thames raised his hand up to the sky and a swarm of voidlings launched from behind him, flying toward our army.
Our people shouted, never having seen the beasts. Before I could give an order, the strox cawed from behind us, rising in response to the new, winged threat.
I watched in awe as the battle beasts flew over our army and made their way directly toward the voidlings. The creatures met far above us in a flurry of wings, roars, and screeching.
Shouts from the ground ripped my attention from the skies as charging dark ones came into view through Thames’s grey mist, ready to engage.
“For Atheria,” Ian shouted as our own soldiers surged forward in response.
The final battle for Atheria had begun.
Lana used her sword instead of her light, cutting down dark ones like she was born to do it. Fates, she was born for this.
“Keep count,” Storm shouted at me, shoving me sideways as he jumped and plowed his blade through the neck of a dark one to my left. “I swear to the Fates themselves if you exaggerate your kills this time, I’ll take all the coin left in Mount Legion as my winnings.”
“You’re on,” I shouted, materializing my shadow sword alongside my other blade.
Though I fought the soldiers before me, my attention moved back and forth between them and Thames. He stood, gleefully watching the battle, but not engaging himself.
What is he waiting for? my shadows asked.
I didn’t know how to answer them because I had the same question.
A sharp sensation stabbed into my leg, brushing by me as it scraped the skin. I jerked around, catching the end of Lucien’s tail swishing away from my leg. He trotted through the battle, breathing fire at dark ones as he went.
“Fucking pugron,” I muttered, unable to stop a smile at the thought of Lana’s pet being just as headstrong as her.
I slaughtered three more dark ones before turning to see a shimmering portal appear and Jax’s panther form jumping through. He popped out behind the group of dark ones around him, shifting back so only his claws remained and driving them through their chests. He laughed, looking down at the pugron.
“Damn it, Luci, brilliant execution.” He shook off the partial-shift and picked up a sword from the ground, twirling it before starting his attack on the next group.
Storm shot fire forward toward a battalion approaching on our right. A whooping cry rang behind us as the noblewoman Keena sprinted toward it, throwing her hands out and fueling Storm’s fire as it blew forward, covering two entire lines of soldiers. They screamed, flailing, engulfed in magic.
Storm whipped around, staring open-mouthed at the woman.
“Damn, I didn’t know that would work so perfectly. Carry on.” She winked toward my now sputtering friend and ran off toward another group of Fae.
“I can’t tell if he’s intrigued or angry,” Lana chuckled as she watched Storm chase after the woman.
“Both,” I confirmed.
She grinned at me. “Definitely both.”
I looked at Lana, checking her over for injuries and found nothing substantial. Despite fighting by her side and knowing she could hold her own, there was an uneasy feeling growing that I couldn’t quite shake. The bond between us ached in my chest knowing what might happen today.
We’d either walk away with a free Atheria or we’d die. I couldn’t stomach the thought of Lana not existing. I had to physically battle the desperation rising inside of me in order to focus. I couldn’t make a mistake. Not now.
Screams and agonized shrieks echoed toward us from the edge of the battle. Dark ones and our Fae ran farther into the fray.
We braced ourselves, unsure of what to expect from the sudden panic when a stampede of razorven came into view. Lana ran, shoving through to get to them as I chased after her.
“It’s okay,” she shouted to our army. “Hold! Hold your positions.”
She stopped in front of the razorven, watching them. Sure enough, they ran right to her side as if awaiting instructions.
“Kade.”
Cassandra’s voice was soft, brushing against my ear, even though she wasn’t standing anywhere near me. I turned, looking around the battlefield until I saw her next to Vivienne toward the back by a few strox standing proudly, protecting the seers.
She waved a hand in the air, beckoning me. “Lana,” I said hesitantly, not wanting to break her concentration with the creatures.
“We fight Thames and his army of dark ones,” Lana addressed the beasts. “Our soldiers will fight alongside you. The dark ones are yours to do with as you please.” She shouted to our people nearby to spread the word that the razorven were with us, just like the strox.
I shook my head. Mystical creatures emerging to fight alongside the love of my life? It wasn’t something I could have dreamt up myself.
Lana turned toward me, smiling.
“Cassandra’s calling us,” I said loudly, shouting over the noise of the battle around us.
She nodded, and we raced to the back, while she encouraged the army along the way, praising their work against the odds.
We stopped before the seers, and Cassandra cupped Lana’s face.
Her eyes were almost white, but not quite.
I didn’t know if she was having a vision or merely trying to take in as much of the battle as she could.
The softness she displayed toward Lana now reminded me of the woman who healed me growing up.
“You can’t forget the prophecy,” she said to Lana. While moving her hand to Lana’s shoulder, she reached her other toward me.
“Banish all ties to darkness with light, if any remains, so will this blight,” she whispered. “There is an entire army of dark ones with his evil embedded in them. He will win if that darkness remains.”
Lana’s frantic gaze darted between Vivienne and Cassandra.
“You will need everything you have if you want to banish it,” Vivienne said. She stared straight at Lana until her face softened.
She whirled to face me. “The most powerful our magic has ever been was in the volcano. We obliterated not just the darkness, but the volcano itself.” Her voice trembled with excitement.
“If we tried it again, if we channeled our magic together, we might be able to draw the darkness out of his army, just as we did the lava.”
I nodded slowly at first, understanding seeping into me as every word she said settled, making sense.
Cassandra dropped her hands and heaved a sigh of relief. “Conserve your energy and build the momentum together.”
The seer stepped back, chanting under her breath before she circled her arms in a wide arc around us.
A shimmering, almost translucent dome appeared above us and she opened her eyes.
“It feels good to use my sorcery again,” she said.
“This will offer some protection. If Thames figures out what you’re doing, he’ll come directly for you.
He won’t want to keep playing around if you have a chance of bringing him down.
I don’t know what he knows of the final prophecy.
I’d like to think nothing, but I wouldn't take a chance.”
“Once we destroy the darkness, it should make the battle much easier,” Lana said, glancing over her shoulder at the fight still waging.
“Do not underestimate hatred,” Vivienne cautioned. “Though some are with Thames by force, others chose evil. Getting rid of the darkness does not automatically mean his army will be nothing.”
“Hurry,” Cassandra urged. “We’ll help others as we can while making sure you have time to fulfill your destiny.” She laced her fingers together before cracking them. “Care to watch me work like old times, Vivi?”
“Show-off,” Vivienne muttered, but the two walked off toward the very back rows of our army.
Lana smiled, glancing up and around at the glittering dome still encasing us. “Kade,” she said, excitement building in her voice. “This is what we were missing.”
I frowned, unsure of what she meant.
“I’ve tried to merely cut the darkness out like I did with Ian. But it’s not enough with how deep it lies embedded in your body.”
She took my hands, eyes glistening, with a brilliant hope shining through both her gaze and her words.
“When we do this, once our magic explodes, I’ll grab the dagger and use it on you.
Our magic should be at its peak. We didn’t even include the dagger when we banished the darkness out of Firestone.
Imagine the power it will contain with both of our magics infusing into it?
It was created to destroy the darkness for good, but it will take everything we have together to do it. ”
I let out a disbelieving breath of air. “You’re a genius, Little Rebel.” I pulled her in, claiming her lips for far too short a kiss. “A genius.”
We moved forward, finding a spot less occupied with our troops. The dome moved along with us, unable to block out the cries filling the air from the war. I tried not to think about how many were fighting and falling.
Lana reached out her hand, taking mine in her own. Her light flared, and shadows twisted from my palm around hers. This time her light crept over my skin too. There was no need to coax it out of her, it lay ready.
“Let’s rid Atheria of his darkness once and for all.” She grinned up at me. “Then destroy him.”