38. Aniah
Aniah
The wind was freezing, and the snow relentless.
Ryker.
Recognition struck instantly. Though it didn’t read as the magical signature Witches leave.
This tasted ancient. A power of a different caliber.
I’d only learned of his power the day of the downfall.
We didn’t have the freedom to compare it or understand it better these past years, though I wished we could have.
The fact that he had it at all was a miracle in and of itself.
It was beautiful and pure, unlike the darkness that tainted mine.
I found a blanket to drape across Malachai’s shoulders, careful not to touch or jostle his wings.
Pain flared in his eyes, even though he claimed it wasn’t that bad.
My jaw tightened, gaze darting to that necklace around Lyra’s neck and that nasty little orb, knowing if I had my full power, I could heal him.
I could sense my magic’s presence within—as if that darkness was taunting me with it.
Thanks to Ryker’s coverage, we made it to a crop of trees.
The Fae King’s voice carried on the wind as he barked orders at the remaining soldiers to search the grounds.
I even heard Evanee’s name—they believed she was the one causing the storm.
My mind instantly went to her—a sinking feeling settled in my gut as I glanced back at the castle.
It killed me to leave her to face Aiden alone.
But Malachai would've tried to help, despite his injuries. And the orb couldn’t fall into their hands.
I squinted through the thick snow, waiting for any sign that she, too, had made it out. Nothing. The door to the servant’s hall stayed closed.
Malachai leaned against a tree, hands braced on it to keep weight off his leg.
“Where to?” Lyra yelled over the wind, wrapping her arms around herself. I placed a finger over my mouth, not trusting Fae’s ears not to hear what we were saying.
A frustrated cry left my lips as I shook my head.
“We need to get away from here. They’ll find us too fast.”
Lyra glanced back at the castle.
Malachai grimaced as he shifted to face us.
“Go get her,” he forced out through clenched teeth. I looked at his broken, torn body, my fists tightening in resolve.
I’d called upon Thaddeus the moment the manacles had fallen. Magical bindings worked differently from regular magic. The magic that fueled bargains came from the one who struck it. Even though they forced that magic-blocking concoction down my throat, the bond stayed awake through Thaddeus’ magic.
A tingling sensation ran down my arm where that golden thread hid beneath my skin, tying me to him until our bargain was complete. I knew instantly he would come. Just no clue when.
“Lyra, watch over Malachai. If I don’t return—”
“Don’t speak like that, Aniah,” Malachai chastised.
I took a breath through gritted teeth. “If I don’t return, get him home. By any means necessary.”
Lyra nodded as I approached Malachai, craning my neck to gaze into the golden eyes I’d spent many afternoons memorizing after making love.
This brutal, beautiful, fierce warrior before me.
Hard and closed off on the outside. Yet, he let me see the real him beneath.
The scars he kept buried deep within. A laugh almost—just almost—crept up my throat as memories drifted in of how we first met.
How much he hated me. Distrusted me. He was that way toward all Witches.
Though I wasn’t his biggest fan either, at the time.
Witches were not meant to marry or fall in love.
But I never really followed the masses anyway.
Those memories, as fond of them as I am, would have to stay tucked away for now.
“I’ve missed you. And I wish we had more time.
But I’ve called in Thaddeus’s help. The bargain has begun.
Once we no longer need his aid and Evanee is safe, I have to go with him for one year.
I don’t know where he’ll take me or what I’ll be doing in that year, but you mustn’t try to find me.
I’d understand if you can’t wait for me. I would never ask that of you.”
His hand tilted my chin up.
“You never need to ask me to wait. You are mine, and I am yours. If you’ll still have me.” Tears fell down my cheeks as I nodded. Then he leaned down, his full lips warm and familiar against mine.
“Oh sweet moon, that’s just so dadgum beautiful!” Lyra wailed behind us, the sound of her nose honking as she blew it, made me chuckle against his lips.
“I don’t know who will be taking care of whom,” he muttered.
I hugged Lyra too. And as I carefully crossed through the storm that continued to batter Fae soldiers, I clutched the small rope chain with the orb, which I reclaimed right from Lyra’s neck.
The echo of steel clashing and angry grunts sent a wave of nausea through me. The servants’ halls felt like an endless maze as I frantically weaved through them, until I made it to the other side of that wretched room with the heads on the wall—
My slippers skidded as I came to a screeching halt, eyes widening in horror at the scene before me.
Aiden drove Evanee back across the hall, her talons leaving gouges in stone as she blocked his advance.
Evanee’s hair was loosening from the tight braid, her raven black strands darker than her Gargoyle coloring, the sweat on her brow visible as she roared, teeth gritting with the effort to keep him at bay.
Aiden lunged, towering over her, the grand entry nearly too small for the two of them.
Evanee’s tail whipped behind her, smashing through a statue, the stone shattering as it hit the ground, shards skittering across the floor.
I placed the orb around my neck, tucking it between my breasts as I eased around their fight, keeping close to the wall.
Evanee shouted as she hurled her dagger, and it embedded in Aiden’s shoulder. I dropped into a crouch as his tail whipped toward me, the force rustling my hair.
Blood poured from the wound as his bellow felt like it shook the foundation of the castle itself. With swift, brutal ease, he pulled the dagger free, hurling it hard back at Evanee, the blade burying to the hilt in her thigh.
My hands flew to my face.
Her eyes flared wide in pain, a strangled cry escaping as her step faltered. Blood covered the shining specks on her leg as it flowed from the knife.
A slow, cruel smile carved across his mouth, canines glinting as his gaze dragged over her. His tongue snaked over his bottom lip as he watched her stumble.
I reached my hand toward that orb, thinking maybe—just this one time—if I used it, it would be to save my friends. The realms even. What if this was the answer to everything—what if this would rid us of the Coven Council, and the Fae King, and all else that stood in our way—
I shook my head violently, releasing the evil artifact clutched in my fingers as my thoughts cleared. The feelings that had been slowly building evaporated from my mind and soul.
CRASH.
The doors exploded outward as Evanee’s body was thrown through them and vanished into the storm, Aiden a blur as he shot after her.
My heart stopped. I took a step toward her and froze—I tried to move, but my muscles were locked tight, as if invisible ropes held me.
A binding spell.
“Going somewhere?” Laverna cackled, her ancient, cruel face appearing in front of me within a plume of shadows, her wispy white hair pulled tightly back. Only my eyes could move as I tried to see where the other three were. My pulse pounded in my ears. The orb. They can’t get it.
“She’ll be going with me.”
My eyes flicked to the spot where Evanee had been thrown through the doors.
There, leaning casually against the broken frame, was Thaddeus in shining black fighting leathers, a golden emblem of a raven with a snake hanging from its mouth—the sigil of the Elementals—picking at his fingernails as if he hadn’t a care in the world.
His lean, muscled body appeared relaxed but I knew better.
Nerissa hissed at him from somewhere behind me, “You should be dead!”
Those golden eyes flashed dangerously as they settled on her.
“Yes,” he crooned, pushing away from the frame, snow blowing in behind him.
“I should be. Very foolish of you not to ensure the job had been done before hiding away at your Dead Isles.” He examined them, his demeanor dangerously calm.
With a snap of his fingers, I was released, stumbling to his side.
Ondine bristled. “This is Council business. The bitch stole something of ours and—”
Thaddeus waved a hand in the air, brushing her off. “Yes, yes. She stole something, you want it back…. It’s an overplayed story. One I tire of.”
Nerissa screeched, moving her hands, a violent chant starting as black-tinted blue magic took form, to strike at Thaddeus and me. Thaddeus shouted words so fast, words I couldn’t even understand or comprehend, then stuck his hands toward the council, a blaring white light shooting out for them.
I shielded my eyes as it threw them back into the hall, the force of the blast so strong that stone and mortar rained down from the second floor, until the ceiling gave way and buried them.
Dust lodged in my throat making me fall into a coughing fit.
“Are they dead?” I rasped.
Thaddeus snorted. “If heavy objects could kill them, they’d have been dead long ago. Come, we must leave.” He grabbed my arm, pulling me away from the wreckage, but I yanked myself free.
“I can’t leave!” I exclaimed. “Evanee, Ryker... Malachai, they all need me.”
“My allies are on their way here now. My part of the bargain is complete.”
I found myself shaking my head. “No, you said you'd help me free Evanee. You haven’t upheld your end of the bargain—she’s still out there fighting—”
“But she had been freed.”
I froze, the blood draining from my face as a pit formed in my stomach.
His face hovered inches from mine as he hissed, “You freed her the other night. I gave you sanctuary. No one would have found you there. But you chose to return for the male Gargoyle, knowing Ryker and Evanee wouldn’t abandon you.
So, I most certainly did uphold my end. Now, will you uphold yours?
Because your death would be a terrible waste. ” He held his hand out.
Tears streamed down my cheeks as I thought of leaving and not knowing whether my friends would live or die. Knowing my year started now. But I wouldn’t know their fates if I were dead. So once more, I took his hand.
Evanee’s cry was the last thing I heard before golden smoke swallowed us whole.