Chapter 41
Lana
The wind whipped through the mayhem, angry, as the sky morphed from grey to black.
Lightning flashed briefly, illuminating the sky. Nature fought just as fiercely as we did, furious at the way the battle unfolded.
Thunder boomed again, rattling my blood-soaked armor.
A loud, eerie cackle carried above the storm.
“You think you can destroy the darkness?” Thames’s voice shouted, as lightning flashed across the sky once more.
I looked across the field at the man who was the reason for all of this.
His eyes gleamed with the mania of a madman as he stood on the edge of the void, watching Kade and me with malevolent glee.
He clasped his hands in front of his chest. “The darkest of them all still stands beside you. My prized possession.”
After draining my magic, my mind moved slowly, processing what Thames said.
No. No, I wouldn’t accept this outcome.
“It doesn’t matter.” I stumbled forward, gripping my sword.
“If I can rid the darkness from an entire army, I can save him too.” Running my fingers over Apollo at the sheath on my thigh to reassure me of its presence, I glanced around me.
“You underestimate the lengths I would go to protect my mate.”
Some of the dark ones who were turned against their will, now free, fled the battlefield. Yet others in Thames’s army fought back against the torment they’d endured, switching sides.
Those still loyal to Thames, however, didn’t back down. They continued their fight on the bloodied battlegrounds.
The momentary elation from our perceived success quickly crumbled.
Our forces were exhausted. Even though the dark ones had lost their magical boost from the darkness, they were still unyielding in their need to kill.
Those who fought for Thames knew if he won, they would be rewarded for their undying loyalty.
At least I’m sure that was what they believed.
It was exactly the sick and twisted mind games Andras played his entire miserable life. It would seem he learned from the best.
Thames stood among his people as they fought around him, watching, waiting for me to make a move.
He knew, just like I did, it would come down to us in the end.
He was perfectly content to let his army die while biding his time for my final move.
I hated the bloodshed and death. So many innocent lives lost for nothing more than this Fae’s greed to dominate a world.
“You've given your heart to a monster, and while he lives, you’ll never be rid of me.” Thames’s laughter echoed as loud as the thunder rolling over us. “You failed.”
Kade grunted as he sent his shadows to destroy the few dark ones closest to us, buying us time as Thames was pushed back by the force. His magic was as weak as mine, exhausted from the fight and the enormous amount of energy we’d just expended eliminating the darkness.
Kade turned to me, panting and desperate, “Lana—”
The look in his eyes held a resignation I would not accept. “No,” I cried.
“Lana,” Kade yelled, and my eyes widened in shock when his pupils flashed black.
He raked his hands through his hair. “We can’t escape this any longer.
Your light, while it holds the darkness within me at bay, doesn’t work on me like it does with everyone else.
” He paused. “We’ve tried everything. You can’t save me. ”
I couldn’t form a response, the words lingering on my tongue unable to be spoken. The truth I refused to believe for so long had finally left his lips.
You can’t save me.
“I can try again.” Adjusting my grip on the dagger, I moved closer to Kade. “It will work this time. It has to work.”
Utter delusion overtook every rational thought.
I reached to grab his arm, but instead, he tugged me closer to him.
Kade rested his forehead against mine as he held me against his body.
“Lana, it’s time,” he whispered. “A willing sacrifice of life,” he said, repeating the damned prophecy.
“I am willing. I will not let myself be the reason Thames remains alive.”
“No!” I screamed at him again, slamming a fist against his chest. “I refuse to lose you. After everything we’ve been through.” My voice cracked, and a sob wailed out of me as the overwhelming burden of his words suffocated me. “We are so close. It can’t end like this.” Tears streamed down my face.
Cassandra battled a dark one a few yards away, and after taking down her opponent, ran to us. She looked at Kade, who nodded at her. An unspoken acknowledgment that ripped through me as I realized this wasn’t a shock to her.
“You knew,” I screamed.
Cassandra grabbed my arm. “Time runs short.”
I shoved her off, turning my blade on her instead. “You will not take him from me.”
Her own eyes filled with tears. “I can’t make this easier for either of you, but I can buy you as much time as I can to say your goodbyes.”
Cassandra stepped away, but Kade moved toward her, pulling her into an embrace. “Thank you for everything. For all of those years when you were the only one looking out for me, healing me, protecting me. I owe you my life.”
She smiled. “No, Kade, I owe you mine. I have lived a thousand years separated from my sister. Until you, it was a lonely existence. You were the son I never had.” She kissed his cheek, patting it once before pulling away. “Be strong.”
Kade nodded once, and Cassandra ran, leaving us behind. “Thames,” she yelled, her voice loud and filled with a millennium of rage. “You’re mine.”
Thames drew his sword and readied himself for Cassandra’s attack, but I couldn’t watch.
My heart pounded in my chest so painfully I wanted to fall to my knees. I’d rather die than live one day without him.
Sweat and blood dripped down in rivulets, touching every part of my body. Kade’s shadows swirled at my feet, snaking up my legs, calling to my light as it rose to the surface, exhausted but responding to the love from its shadows.
It’s time.
I didn’t know if it was the shadows or my light telling me, or both.
“We can’t give up,” I whispered.
Kade took my hand, the one holding Apollo, and pulled me back to him. “We’ve tried every way to get this darkness out of me, and it hasn’t worked. I am the last piece of it; the last connection to Thames. When I am gone, you can destroy him.”
He lifted my chin with his other hand and kissed me, sending every ounce of love through his touch. Filling the empty well of sadness heaving in my chest with a devotion so pure, it obliterated everything.
When he broke the kiss, he rested his forehead against mine, stroking his thumb across my cheek. “You have to kill me, Lana. With your dagger, with your light, let my darkness explode. It’s the only way.”
My body trembled. “You’re my mate, my love.
I can’t be asked to do this. It defies everything we are made to feel.
” The world turned black around the edges, and I couldn’t catch my breath.
Panic and rage fought for dominance, and I threw the damn dagger on the ground at our feet.
“You’re my soul, Kade. I can’t, I can’t. ”
Panic won, rising in my throat. What Kade asked of me, what the fucking Fates asked of us, was unthinkable. It may be one thing to banish your mate to the void, never to be seen again, but to kill—no, murder—your mate… Never.
I fell to my knees, and Kade joined me on the ground.
“I give my life, so you can live, Illiana.” Kade kissed me again.
“Deep down, I’ve always known I would have to sacrifice something, and as the prophecies continued, it became clearer it would be me.
Every part of this story, of Thames’s reign has been built on giving up the impossible.
This is what great magic is built on. This is the only kind of magic powerful enough to defeat the darkness for good.
Evelyn and Jasper knew it. Cassandra knew it.
” He stroked his thumb again over my tear-streaked face as he sucked in a sharp breath. “I know it.”
Kade reached for Apollo, placing the dagger in my hand, and wrapped his fingers around mine.
“I love you too much to let you fail now,” he said softly.
This was exactly how my father had died, yet now I was the one ending the life of someone who didn’t deserve it.
“You’ve endured suffering your entire life.
You’ve given enough,” I argued, Kade blurring in front of my eyes.
I quickly wiped them on my shoulders. I didn’t want to miss a moment of my time with him.
He had spent his life beaten and infused with darkness.
Spent his life with a power-hungry father who’d killed his mother.
I touched his mother’s necklace hidden beneath my armor.
It would be the only piece I’d have to remember him by, and it shattered me in ways I couldn’t even begin to fathom.
We were never even given a chance by the Fates. They let us lead our tortured lives, finally granted us utter happiness, only to rip it out from underneath us.
“I did suffer, but then I met you.” He smiled at me, despite his own tears gathered in his eyes.
“You walked through the forest and met Storm and me”—he stumbled over his words, emotions raging in torment across his face—“and I swear my shadows wanted you then. They've always known. I wasn’t much further behind them.”
This couldn’t be happening. I whimpered, leaning into his hand on my face.
“I loved you before I understood what was happening. And loving you…” He paused, kissing my forehead. “Loving you saved me. It made every horrible moment in my life worth it because it led me to having you. My mate. My life. My love.”
“It's not fair.” I trembled, only remaining upright by Kade’s strength now.
“I know,” he said. "Words cannot express how grateful I am to say that I was given this time with you. To be able to love you, to hold you, even if it was just for this tiny blip of time.”
I threw my arms around him, my body shaking as my tears soaked his shirt.
“Even the Fates can’t keep me from you,” he said, stroking my hair. “Death can’t keep me from finding you, on this side of the world or in the afterlife. My heart is connected to yours, and it will beat for you until we are whole once more.”
Bellowing screams sounded close by and thunder boomed, shaking the ground.
“Now, Lana,” Kade said, holding me back to look at me. “We can’t wait any longer.”
Gripping the dagger, I cursed, roaring as I let it rest in my palm. “I love you, Kade Blackthorn. This is not the end of us. Mark my words. I’ll rip the Fates apart to get to you again.”
He laughed, a tear streaking down his face as he took me in. His gaze warming me, showing exactly how much he loved me. I would never live a moment wondering how my mate felt. Not a single moment.
“I have no doubts, Little Rebel.”
We kneeled before each other, staring into each other’s eyes.
Kade stayed stronger than I did, but the slight waver in his hand told another story as I placed the tip of the dagger at his heart.
He wrapped both of his hands around mine and leaned forward.
He placed one last kiss upon my lips and his shadows cocooned around our hands, solidifying our grip on the dagger’s hilt.
Apollo hummed, glowing as we said our final goodbye. My light spilled into it, raging as angry and broken as I was while it met Kade’s shadows one last time.
All it took was one forceful motion, one thrust to slice through Kade’s shirt and pierce his heart.
His face contorted with pain that he immediately tried to mask. His eyes fluttered, face strained in agony, but he didn’t look away. I refused to as well, watching the brilliance of his grey eyes fade.
“I love you, I love you, I love you,” I repeated over and over.
Blood leaked from his wound, and he hunched over, into my arms. Delicately, I laid him on the ground, the dagger still stuck in his chest. His shadows, waning, retreated inside of him.
We’ll miss you.
I forced my light to fuel the dagger, feeling the pain of our bond shattering.
With his dying breath, Kade whispered, “From now until forever, Illiana Dresden, I love you.”
The earth shook. Thunder roared. And Kade took his last breath.
I screamed before throwing my body on top of his.
A burst of darkness exploded outward, shrouding everything in the vicinity in what looked like the darkest night.
Kade’s lifeless body lay unmoving beneath me. The darkness dissipated, evaporating from existence, all while I screamed in agony as my soul ripped in two.
I couldn’t breathe, couldn’t move as the scream died on my lips.
Killing Kade may have destroyed the darkness, but it came at the cost of my soul. My heart shattered into a million pieces, never to be whole again.