Chapter 49
Zane
Talon and Zane sat next to each other in the library, silently reading through books and holding hands underneath the table.
They had been through an untold number of textbooks and tomes to try to find information on how to banish the stars, and they’d come up with exactly zero leads.
Zane was about to suggest taking a break for lunch when the doors to the library burst open.
The two men snapped their heads up towards the entrance, and Zane cursed that he’d become so comfortable and complacent in Istoria that he’d stopped bringing a weapon with him everywhere. His first thought was that the stars had finally arrived, and the palace was under attack.
But it was Camilia who walked through the doors. The elderly queen strode toward them at a brisk pace belying her age, a fierce look of anger on her face.
“What did you do?” Talon whispered.
“Why do you think I did something?”
Before Tal could answer, the queen was standing before their table, absolutely seething.
“Your Majesty?” Zane ventured cautiously. “What can we do for you?”
Her chest heaved with each breath. “You can prepare for war, Emperor Zane.”
Zane and Talon glanced at each other before he braced his hands on the table and stood. “You’ve decided to join us, then?”
“Those bastards completely destroyed the village of Imothia. They’ve brought their fight to my nation, and now I have no choice but to retaliate. I see, now, that you and my husband were always correct on these matters, and I will bear that in mind for the future.”
Oh gods. Imothia?
Talon stood as well. “You said Imothia, Your Majesty?” he asked. She nodded. “Were there any survivors?”
“We don’t know yet,” Camilia said through clenched teeth. “The entire village has been reduced to cinders, and no bodies have been recovered. So either they were able to leave before the destruction was wrought, or the stars have done something with their corpses.”
“Emmeric and the others were going to go through there,” Talon said, his eyes wide. “You don’t think…”
Zane shook his head, refusing to believe that all of their friends had been erased from this earth. But there was no way to know for certain unless they went to search for themselves.
“Queen Camilia,” Zane said. “Prepare your army for war. We will send word to Nyr about your agreement, but Talon and I need to go find our friends.”
“I will do everything that needs doing here,” she said. “Bring my great-niece back alive, young emperor.”
“If anyone can do that, Your Majesty, it’s Zane,” said Talon.
Even though worry had penetrated his entire body, Zane’s heart still warmed at the words. He appreciated somebody having confidence in his abilities.
“We’ll leave at once,” Zane said with a bow. Camilia nodded and then stormed out of the library, calling out orders to anyone she came across.
Talon and Zane rushed back to their rooms and packed their belongings in a whirlwind of nervous activity.
It would still take them several days to travel to Imothia from the capital, and they both would be worrying the entire time.
They questioned if they should stop to bid farewell to Halim, but decided speed was of the essence.
However, they didn’t need to worry—the prince consort met them at the stables as they readied their horses. Zane was tightening the saddle on Ryunn when Halim entered the space. Talon nodded to him, respect from one soldier to another.
“Boys,” Halim said. “I understand my wife was a little intense this morning. I apologize.”
“Nothing to apologize for,” Tal said. “I think it’s a monarch thing. Zane gets that way sometimes, too.”
Zane frowned at him. He did not. He was extremely reserved and soft-spoken.
Talon raised his brows. “Did you or did you not threaten to throw a bunch of your father’s men overboard, then completely destroy his bedroom?” Oh, he had done that. Zane had been trying to repress those early memories from right after Talon was revived.
Halim’s eyes crinkled at the edges as he smiled at them. “I wanted to see you off, and also let you know not to worry about getting word to Nyr. I have more than enough people at my disposal to see to that myself. You two focus on finding your friends.”
“Thank you, Halim,” Zane said. He clasped arms with the old man, then Talon did the same. They mounted their horses and left the palace grounds.
It was market day in Istoria, so weaving through the city took much longer than either of them were comfortable with.
Once they made it to the open desert, they could push their horses harder to hopefully arrive at Imothia faster.
Zane would track the missing villagers, sending them to the capital for temporary housing.
They hoped their friends were with the Imothians, but if they weren’t, then Zane would track them as well.
He always found his man, and this time would be no different.
He swore it to himself and to Talon as they made it to the edge of the city.
Without a word, they both kicked their horses into a gallop. When Istoria was nothing but a speck on the horizon behind them, the skin on the nape of Zane’s neck prickled. Pulling Ryunn to an abrupt stop, he glanced around them. Nothing seemed out of place, and yet…
Talon trotted back towards him. “What’s wrong?”
“I’m not sure…” Zane’s gut instinct had him drawing his sword from the scabbard at his side. Talon immediately did the same. Ryunn pranced to the side skittishly. He was never like this. The last time Zane had seen his horse so spooked was in Imothia, when—
Six stars appeared out of the air, standing on the desert sand and surrounding the two men. Zane had to fight Ryunn from bucking and tossing him off.
There were four men and two women. All of them were tall, lithe, and gorgeous, with a slight glow about them.
Cocky little smirks were on all of their faces.
None of them carried any visible weapons, but Zane supposed they didn’t need to when they had magic.
He’d seen Altair wield a sword made out of fire, so who knew what these six were capable of.
Fuck.
Zane and Talon rotated so that their horses were facing opposite of each other, able to keep an eye on all the stars. The emperor squeezed his sword a little tighter. It had been a while since he’d been in an actual fight, and he had to say he missed it just a bit.
“Talon, I want you to—”
“If you’re about to tell me to leave you, Zane, then you can fuck right off. I’m staying.”
“I appreciate the sentiment, my soul, but I was going to say I want you to take those three and I’ll take these.”
“Oh,” Tal said. “In that case, I’ll race you.”
Zane smiled wickedly at the stars before him, the persona he’d perfected over the previous twenty years coming out to play. One of the women raised her brow at his bravado. She didn’t know it was only surface-level, and that deep down, he was panicking. But they could do this. They had to.
“The itty-bitty emperor thinks he’s a big boy,” the female star said, pouting. The rest of them laughed. “Let’s see you play with the real big kids, hmm?”
“Sorry, doll,” Zane drawled, looking her up and down with a sneer. “You’re not my type.”
She bared her teeth at him and then all six rushed in, faster than they had any right to be.
Zane swung his sword at one and connected with his shoulder.
Ryunn kicked out behind him, catching the female in her stomach and knocking her backwards.
Gods, he loved his horse. A strong current of air threatened to unseat him, but Zane took his hand off the reins to grab a dagger from his boot and hurled it at the star, creating the gusts.
The blade struck true, right in the middle of his chest, and he crumpled to the ground.
Zane heard the sounds of fighting behind him, but he couldn’t spare a glance to see how Talon was doing.
The female had recovered and the other star—who Zane knew he cut almost clean through his shoulder—appeared whole.
The male star grinned and motioned to their comrade currently bleeding out into the sand.
“That’s not a fatal wound for us, young emperor.”
Zane couldn’t believe that wasn’t fatal for anyone. He was certain he had pierced the heart.
“You’re going to have to try harder than that,” the star taunted.
Was he bluffing? The star on the ground certainly didn’t appear to be breathing, but Zane had never thought to ask what it would take to land a killing blow. Fuck.
There was a cry of pain behind him, and Zane whirled around to see Talon tackled to the ground.
Zane bellowed and kicked Ryunn’s flanks, charging at them.
Before he could get anywhere near the man he loved, a large rock hurtled towards him and hit his temple.
Dazed, Zane could do nothing to stop himself from tumbling from his saddle.
His head struck the hard-packed desert sand and black spots danced in his vision.
He thought he heard someone screaming his name in the distance. Zane needed to get up. Get up. But when he moved, those black spots only intensified, and he felt like his stomach was trying to escape his body. A boot tilted him to the side, and he groaned as he was rolled onto his back.
The female star crouched before him, her gold eyes sparking with malice and glee.
“Nighty night, emperor,” she sang. Zane felt all of time and space ripple around him and a tugging sensation in his navel. Then those black spots converged and unconsciousness dragged him under.
Zane!
Someone was calling his name. He swam towards the sound, the world slowly coming back into focus. With consciousness came the worst headache of his life. Zane groaned.
“Zane?” It was Talon’s voice. “Are you awake?”
He groaned again, rolling onto his back on the chilled floor.
“Oh, thank fuck,” Tal said. “You’d been out for so long, I wasn’t sure if you were going to wake up.”
Why did he sound so far away? Peeling his eyelids open, all Zane could see was cold, gray stone.
“Wha’ happened?” Zane mumbled.
“The stars, my heart. Remember? After you were knocked out, they teleported us back to Athusia.”
At Talon’s words, Zane’s eyes snapped open fully.
He could only see stone and was lying on a cold, hard floor because he was in his own godsdamn dungeons.
Pressing the heel of his palm to his forehead, Zane sat up carefully.
The room still spun, and he had to close his eyes until everything stilled.
As he got a better sense of his surroundings, he realized Talon wasn’t in the cell with him.
“Talon?” he asked in a panic.
“Here, love,” said Tal’s voice to his right. “I’m in the next cell. I’m okay.”
No, no, no. This couldn’t be happening. They had just spent the best days of Zane’s life together, and now they were locked within a dungeon. He should have known it was too good to last.
“Oh, Tal,” he said, his voice breaking. “I’m so sorry. I should have thought this through more before rushing out after them. This is all my fault.”
“None of this is your fault, Zane.” Talon sounded so sure of himself with that answer.
Tears sprang to Zane’s eyes, and he let them fall freely. “You don’t belong here, Talon. You’ve been through so much already.”
“And you haven’t?” Tal asked, sounding angry.
“Phaedros take me, Zane, stop putting my well-being upon your shoulders. We both made the decision to go. There was absolutely no way the two of us were going to defeat six stars who possess magic. Neither of us belongs here, but we’re here, and we’re going to deal with it. ”
Talon’s hand emerged from the cell next to his.
Zane reached his hand out as far as it could go, but it only allowed them the barest brush of their fingers.
He wished he could see him. Hold him. They stayed like that for several minutes—straining against their enclosure for that simple, light touch.
Zane’s tears fell faster than before, and he held in a sniff.
He didn’t want Talon to know he was crying.
“I’m here, Zane,” Tal whispered. “I’m with you. Until the very end.”
Until the very end.