Chapter 63
Chapter Sixty-Three
JADEON
I flew through the night, so fast the air scarcely filled my lungs. My heart raced as I feared what Orpheus was doing with Ingrid at Stonehenge.
Whatever it took, I was ready to face him.
And with thoughts that had no time to settle, I considered how to destroy him. Snowstrom had said that within me lay the power to change everything. With a sense of what had to be done, my heart was heavy.
The stones loomed up, obscuring the horror within. Fabian was correct sensing Ingrid’s danger. Catherine was slumped at one of the pillars. Orpheus had drained her, leaving her weak. It was a terrible sight to see her so fragile.
Our gazes met.
I am here now, I reassured her as best I could.
And then I saw him, my brother laying unconscious at the foot of a stone. “Alex!” I yelled.
Alex stirred enough to keep the dread at bay.
“You’re too late,” Orpheus said, peering over his shoulder at me, leaning over Ingrid, her blood on his lips.
No, this was monstrous. “Orpheus, what is this?” I was horrified. “Get away from her.”
“I will finish this.”
I drew close to Ingrid and squeezed her hand. “I’m here now.”
Ingrid shifted. She’d heard me.
I had to handle him with care, every word and movement measured. One misstep could spark a reflexive response, and I knew he could kill her outright.
“Get out of here,” Orpheus said, “before I kill you.”
“This ends here, now.”
“How did you know we were here? Did she warn you?” Orpheus glanced at Catherine. “I thought she was incapable.”
“Snowstrom,” I said.
“Yeah, right,” Orpheus said. “Go away, Jadeon.”
“I have something you want,” I said.
“I doubt that.”
I glanced behind him and detected the impending sunrise. “I have Sunaria’s ashes.”
“Dangerous words, Stone Master,” Orpheus said.
“One of the lords of the Stones collected the ashes after the ceremonies, and it was during the time Sunaria was here.”
“Who?”
“His name is Jacob.”
That made Orpheus pause. “I had a son called Jacob.”
Was he insinuating I knew this, that somehow, this knowledge had found me? Could Jake Rock be one and the same? Orpheus’s son?
My thoughts were locked down to him, fearing his reaction.
“Where is she then?” Orpheus said.
“She is reforming.” I stepped closer. “Soon, you’ll be together again. But I’ll only tell you where she is if you leave Stonehenge.”
“You bastard,” Orpheus shouted.
“This is what I offer you.” I pointed to Alex, Catherine, and Ingrid. “In exchange for them.”
Orpheus glared. “I should have killed you when I had the chance. Sunaria . . . lies in there.” He gestured to the pillars.
“You must listen.”
Orpheus lunged at me, throwing a punch.
I fell back.
Orpheus grabbed my throat, choking me. “I will pour Catherine’s ashes into those stones and watch you wail at their base.”
“I thought you loved her.”
“Yes, but you love her more!”
He threw me up and out of the circle. I landed with a thud. Orpheus leapt at me and thrust his foot onto my throat.
“Where is she then?” he said. “Prove it.”
“With Fabian.”
Orpheus’s foot came down hard, smashing my cheekbone. Alex came to my defense and yanked Orpheus back. Orpheus threw him against a pillar. He slammed into the bluestone bone and breath, shattering on impact.
This war had reached its breaking point, and fury surged through me, irrevocable.
I was no longer the gentle being I had been.
Something primal had awakened. I would defend them at any cost. I fought the pain and leapt up, swinging wide.
My fist met Orpheus’s jaw with a crack. My blow, driven by rage, landed with a devastating force.
He lay there, stunned, breathless, unable to move, unable to think.
As with all eternal beings, bone healed, flesh healed. We the creatures of the night rallied again with terrifying speed.
I pulled Alex to his feet and we untied Ingrid. I lifted her into Alex’s arms. I turned toward Catherine.
Orpheus lunged, thrusting me against the altar.
My head crashed against the sandstone. “Alex, go.” I fended off another blow. “Now!”
“Alex,” Orpheus yelled. “Don’t.” He struggled against me.
I rammed Orpheus against the rock. I pinned him with all my might, monster against monster, holding the line between him and them.
Alex untied Catherine, and she fell against him.
A flicker of hesitation passed between us, but I met Alex’s glare, letting him know there was no other choice. He had to be part of this. He had to protect them, to be brave, and I could not do it alone.
With Catherine’s help with Ingrid, they ascended and headed south. Ingrid had flown into the air, flanked by two immortals, her mortality stark against the moment. I wondered how she would remember it, brilliant or terrible, the best or the worst of experiences, a nightmare never to recover from.
Even now, as my brother and beloved friends flew into the air, I couldn’t shake the ache of failure. It had come to this, them in danger, even as I had strained to find a solution.
They moved like angels, not in form, but in essence. No wings, no fanfare—only that strange, devastating beauty that marked them as something older, something beyond comprehension. You are safe now.
Orpheus threw another blow, knocking me to the ground. His foot struck my right arm. I staggered back and cringed at the fracture. Gasping for breath, I grappled for Orpheus’s foot as he lunged toward me again. Pulling hard, I knocked him off balance.
Orpheus regained his poise and punched me. He struggled free. He threw me into the air and my spine cracked against a horizontal stone, causing the lintel to give way behind me, grating off its structure, spraying dust in its wake. Tumbling after it, I crashed onto the large oblong stone.
I lay still, shocked by the numbness in my limbs. Horrified, I flinched at the blinding white light that stung my eyes and smarted my skin.
Orpheus rose into the air.
If he reached them, there would be nothing left but ruin.
With supernatural force, I willed my rapid recovery and sprang after him, unrelenting. I grabbed his legs again and yanked him down hard.
Whirling, we fell fast.
Sunlight melded flesh with light. Being and brightness intertwined. We twirled endlessly, bodies, alight, burning together in the swirl of light.
Agony.
Sunaria called to him.
“No!” Orpheus screamed as the fluorescence blurred his vision.
We plummeted, staring at one another, disintegrating. Our minds collided, a tempest of thought and desire, flesh melting into shadow, indistinguishable, eternal. In this dark communion, two became one, consciousness and corporeality entwined, a single terrifying force.
The sun gnawed hungrily away.
For you.